The bright spot was the play of Mason Marchment, who scored his first goal of the season.
DALLAS - The Stars were finally dealt a regulation defeat on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center.
Here are several key takeaways from the contest against the Maple Leafs:
Something needs to change: Slow starts in games have been a trend for the Stars thus far this season.
That was the case again versus Toronto, as head coach Pete DeBoer’s contingent generated just five shots on goal in the first period and trailed 1-0 heading into the break.
“The story of the game for me was our start,” said DeBoer, during his postgame press conference. “The first 20 minutes were not nearly good enough. Playing one of the elite teams in the League coming in here, we’ve got to get that fixed.”
The veteran bench boss was at a loss to explain why his troops have struggled to generate much of anything offensively in the opening stanza through six games.
Dallas has scored only two first-period goals to date, which places them at the bottom of the NHL in that department alongside Chicago and New Jersey.
“I think that’s got to come from in the dressing room, in our preparation, in our leadership,” explained DeBoer. “Once we got engaged in the second period, I thought we were really good, but you can’t play 40 minutes in this League.”
The Stars generated a notable 16 shots in the middle stanza on goaltender Joseph Woll, one of which resulted in Mason Marchment's first goal of the season courtesy of a perfect pass from Matt Duchene.
Rewarded for the effort: Speaking of Marchment, he definitely made an impression on DeBoer with his tally and team-high seven shots on Woll.
"I thought he was our best player tonight," praised DeBoer. "He was on it, he was engaged, he was inside. I think he was our best player."
The 28-year-old was clearly hungry to get on the board after being blanked for five consecutive appearances to begin the year.
"I felt good. I'm kind of slowing it down. It's more of a timing thing, and I'm starting to feel better timing-wise," said Marchment. "It’s a fast game, and throughout the season you go through ups and downs, but tonight I definitely felt more like myself."
For his part, Duchene is still chasing his first goal as a member of the Stars.
With 982 games under his belt over 15 seasons, however, he isn't pressing.
"You’ve just got to keep doing the right things. At the start of the season, a lot of teams and a lot of individuals start hot, and a lot of teams and a lot of individuals start cold. It’s one or the other usually the first bunch of games," shared Duchene. "You’ve just got to stick with it, and eventually you get one and it snowballs from there."
More on Matt: Speaking of Duchene, he's feeling more and more at ease playing alongside his new teammates... even if the points aren't coming quickly.
Given his track record, it's safe to say that it's just a matter of time until they start piling up on a consistent basis.
"I’m getting used to the differences. Obviously, it’s an adjustment. I feel good. I feel like it’s probably been an upward trend. Tonight, I was able to find the puck a bit more and kind of get to my type of game," said Duchene, who has two assists. "It’s disappointing not to have contributed more on the scoresheet, but you’ve just got to stay with the process. The results sometimes are uncontrollable, but the process, you’ve just got to stick with it."
And he foresees big things for the group as a whole if they can mimic the relentless style that was produced in the middle frame.
"I think the second period tonight is probably the best period we’ve played all year. We haven’t been overly dangerous offensively for a sustained time, and we looked really good there. We need more of that. We need to try to put 60 minutes of as much of that together as we can, and we’ll get rewarded," insisted Duchene. "We have too much talent on this team not to. Every now and then, you’re going to run into a good goaltender and a guy who plays really well, and he was great tonight. We’ve got to build on that second period. That’s the way we’ve got to play going forward."