Road Trip Recap: Strong Start, Weak Finish

The Dallas Stars just completed a six-game road trip last night with an ugly 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The six game’s away from home is the longest stretch for the Stars all season and they went 3-2-1. The trip included wins over the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals, the Maple Leafs, and the Canadiens.

Perfect In Canada, eh

While the Stars only play in the Great White North twice, they made the most of it against the Canadiens and Maple Leafs. The team picked up their first win against a surprising Canadiens team. Thanks in large part to a two-goal second period. Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen started the scoring and Devin Shore and former Hab Alexander Radulov added two more in the third. Radulov’s came with the goalie pulled in the final seconds to secure the 4-1 victory.

Shore added another goal two days later against the Auston Matthews-less Maple Leafs in Toronto. It was a hotly contested matchup throughout until Shore’s goal in the third broke a 1-1 tie. There were no empty netters tonight, however, the Stars held on for a 2-1 victory.

Rough Finish

The Stars started the road trip 3-1-0 with victories over the Caps and Leafs. Dallas had collected nine points in the past three games heading into the tilt against the Bruins. It was a rough game and it was surprising that the Stars were able to force overtime. However, the Stars two undisciplined penalties in OT did them in against a potent Bruins offense. The first penalty was a too many men on the ice call and the second was a cross-checking call against Esa Lindell.

It’s hard to stop a 5-on-3 in regulation let alone overtime and the Bruins winger Brad Marchand potted the game-winning goal as the Stars lost 2-1. The very next night, the team traveled to Ohio to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the result was similar. Dallas was outplayed the entire night and they looked flat-footed and slow. Perhaps the back to back games had an effect but nonetheless, it was unacceptable.

So What’s Next?

The Stars return to action Thursday night to take on the San Jose Sharks at the AAC. With the sudden emergence of depth scoring from the likes of Devin Shore and Jason Dickson, this team is in great shape. It’s way too early to call but this team looks like an actual contender. Now if they could just improve on consistency…