Game Recap: Stars Miss Huge Chance For Key Points, Fall To Canadiens At Home 5-3

You know that old hockey cliche when one team gets a scoring chance on one end and the opponent ends up scoring going the other way? That was Tuesday night’s game for the Stars against the Montreal Canadiens.

While they played far from perfect and made way too many costly mistakes, they also outshot Montreal 51-22, recorded 101 shot attempts, hit six posts, and came within inches of tying the game on multiple occasions.

“There’s a lot of positives,” Rick Bowness said. “We had 101 shot attempts, we certainly haven't done that in a long time. We had 30 scoring chances, haven't done that in a long time. The mistakes we made ended up in the back of our net because of bad puck management. They capitalized on every chance that they had and we didn’t. The game could have been 7-5 very easily but the kid in the net was outstanding, so we will go from there.”

Sam Montembeault was spectacular in the net for the Habs, making 48 saves on the night, earning him the first star of the game. His performance was needed for a team struggling to win at all this season, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and missing some key players to COVID protocol. With the win, the Habs broke out of a six-game losing streak, while the Stars fell for the third straight game.

The game exploded in the second period when the Canadiens scored two goals in 22 seconds, pushing their lead to 2-0 in the blink of an eye. After Jacob Peterson got the Stars on the board, two more quick goals gave the Habs a commanding 4-1 lead early in the third.

First, Tyler Toffoli converted on a shorthanded 2-on-1 after the Stars fumbled a puck at the opposing blue line. Then, Christian Dvorak took a loose puck on a breakaway and beat Jake Oettinger on the backhand.

As the story continued, Dallas pulled within two once again, when Tyler Seguin deflected a shot right on the top of the crease. However, just as before, Josh Anderson drove the net hard and slipped a puck through Oettinger to restore the three-goal lead. It only took 4:17 of play in the third for the teams to trade four total goals. Unfortunately for Dallas, they were outscored 3-1 over that span.

After the goal, the fifth goal allowed on only 18 shots, Oettinger was pulled and replaced by Braden Holtby. While most of the Montreal goals were golden scoring chances, Oettinger was unable to make the key save needed to keep his team in the game.

“I think we are the better team, we showed that tonight,” Oettinger said. “It’s my job to make those saves when our team gives up chances. To not be able to make those saves for the guys really hurts me. I just want to be able to help this team win and I have not been able to do that the last few games, so it’s really disappointing.”

As it has in 10 of the last 11 games, the Stars penalty kill allowed a power-play goal (Montreal was 1-3 on the night) on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play in front that gave the Canadiens their first lead. On the flip side, Dallas took seven power-play opportunities before finally scoring with the man advantage. But at that time, with the clock running down and facing a three-goal deficit, it was too little, too late.

“That was a good play they made tonight,” Bowness said. “Our penalty killers were doing a great job. They got one opportunity and they buried it. Give them credit for that play tonight. We have had some bad breaks on our penalty kill late in penalties, but we will stay with it. The penalty killing I think has been more effective than the results we’re getting.”

Late in the game, things got heated out on the ice. First, Jamie Benn took a whack at the Montreal netminder, drawing a crowd. Then, on the ensuing faceoff, Seguin was cross-checked brutally by Jonathan Drouin, resulting in a major penalty and game misconduct for the Montreal forward followed by a rather large scrap on the ice. The hit appeared to be purposefully violent and the league will likely look deeper to determine if any further discipline will be added.

To put it simply, Dallas missed out on a huge opportunity to take key points at home. Now, they head out on a four-game road trip that takes them through Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. While each of these teams sits near the bottom of the league, tonight’s game proved that nothing comes easy in the NHL.

“They all hurt,” Tyler Seguin said. “They are all opportunities wasted that can come back and bite you at the end of the year. Hopefully, this is just a blessing in disguise in a way that we have no choice but to get our act straight on the road. Coming up, going on a long road trip here, There are no excuses. We are getting down to, not do-or-die, but the urgency has to be pretty high.”

Although most road trips are deemed successful with a 50% winning rate, this trip feels like one that they need to return from with at least six points, if not the full eight.

It will be a big challenge though, as both sets of games will come on back-to-back nights. First, at Buffalo and Detroit on Thursday and Friday, followed by Philadelphia and New Jersey on Monday and Tuesday. By the time they return home for their Friday night [Jan. 28] matchup with the Washington Capitals, things could either feel better or be creeping even further towards desperation.

For Dallas, they will once again try to take the positives and move on. However, as the frustration of the team and its fans continues to grow, they know that there are only so many times you can have that mindset before you fade out of playoff contention for good.

“I agree, you can only say that so much,” Ryan Suter said when asked about the mindset of taking the positives and learning from them. “We have to work harder. When you are not scoring goals, you work harder and you get a little dirty. They are not going in easy for us right now so just work harder, muck it in, and do whatever you have to do. It doesn’t have to be pretty goals, they just have to go in.”