Another overtime loss for the Stars has them on the longest losing streak of the season. Defensive breakdowns and costly penalties are fueling the slide.
The Dallas Stars have found it tough to win in overtime this season, and the trend continued against a stellar 3-on-3 team with a 4-3 loss to Montreal Sunday afternoon.
Dallas is now 1-5 in overtime while Montreal picked up their 7th win in the overtime period when Lane Hutson fired a wrist shot past Jake Oettinger. That marked the fifth straight loss for the Stars, who are losing ground in the ultra-competitive Central Division.
Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque (22) skates off the ice after scoring a goal against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) during the first period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesThe Stars are second in the entire NHL, but are tied with Minnesota for that position thanks to the overtime point earned Sunday. The Stars and Wild, combined with the Colorado Avalanche, are the top three teams in the league, all of them at least five points better than the best non-Central team. With five losses in a row now, Dallas is in real danger of being out of position to even have home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It seems unthinkable given how good of a season they are having, but it is the reality with how good Minnesota is playing, and how unstoppable Colorado has been.
The reality is any losing streak more than two games in a row, overtime or not, can be lethal this season. Sure, the team may cruise into the playoffs compared to the wild card teams far behind them in the standings, but an extra home game could be the difference when playing a tough Wild (or Avalanche) team in round one.
There are positives still from the losing streak, in that three have gone to overtime or a shootout and those games are somewhat of a coin toss. The two regulation losses were a little more concerning, with Buffalo dominating the second half of the New Year's Eve game and Chicago beating Dallas way worse than the 4-3 final score.
The concerns are with the defensive performance and the goaltending that is at the very least not covering up that sloppiness from the team defense. Aside from the 5-1 win over Toronto, the Stars have allowed three goals or more in every game since Dec. 18. That is seven of the last eight games, which is a big enough sample size to be concerned about. The sweet spot for wins in the NHL is when a team allows two goals or less, and the Stars simply are not giving themselves that chance.
There is also concern with the amount of penalties being taken, which head coach Glen Gulutzan addressed with the media after the loss Sunday. The Stars have taken nine penalties over the last two games, which is too much pressure to put on the goaltender to keep bailing everyone out.
Now with six road games in a row, the team needs to shore that up more than ever. Tight defense, good goaltending and great special teams are the keys to grinding out wins on the road against good teams with talented offenses, which they will face in almost every game in this stretch.
The Stars need to right the ship quickly, or they will soon be looking up from below at the Wild and Avalanche.
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