Stars returning home from Finland with memories, lessons, but no wins

TAMPERE, Finland -- The Dallas Stars came here to not only play the Florida Panthers in the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal, but also learn about themselves and grow as a team.

Before they prepared to travel home Sunday after back-to-back losses to the defending Stanley Cup champions, they were not fond of some of the revelations, although they understood the necessity and value of them.

“It’s a good lesson for us, playing that team, seeing what you have to do to win,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said.

The Stars didn’t do enough to win either game at Nokia Arena.

A 6-4 loss to the Panthers on Friday was marked by too many breakdowns and a wide-open style that wasn't in their best interest.

A 4-2 loss Saturday was tighter, but Dallas couldn’t generate much offense, scoring each of its goals in a 34-second span of the second period.

“We did improve our game today,” Stars defenseman Esa Lindell said. “I guess it is small margins in the game and just their turn today.”

More than one player said the loss Saturday was reminiscent of games they have played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during marches to the Western Conference Final in each of the past two seasons.

“It was tight-checking and had a playoff feel there,” said forward Matt Duchene, who scored a goal and assisted on the other by Evgenii Dadonov. “The intensity was high from the start.”

But they gave up the first goal for the second straight game and spent the rest of the night chasing.

The Stars may be explosive -- Panthers coach Paul Maurice called them the most talented team in the League on Friday -- but like most teams they are not built to chase results.

“I think when we are on it and we are sharp and on our details and our compete, we are a hell of a team,” Duchene said. “When we are missing one of them, we are a good team, not a great team.

“That’s the lesson to take away from today. We should be proud of the effort, but the results [stink]. We expect wins here every game. It’s a good team over there, and I think we just have to go home and take care of business.”

The Stars departed from Helsinki on Sunday and will have a day or two of practice before hosting the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; Victory+, CHSN).

DeBoer thinks the Stars will be a different team in North America, saying they were humbled a bit this weekend and learned some harsh truths.

“We know we have a lot of improvement we have to make in some of those hard areas and getting to those hard areas of the ice and defending those hard areas of the ice,” he said.

Duchene said he hopes that the three Finland-born players on the team -- Lindell, Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz -- have pleasant memories of the six days spent in their home country.

For him, those memories take the back seat right now. He said he is a bit sour about the results and he is champing at the bit to wash it away.

“I think we showed today kind of where our level is at,” Duchene said. “I think we are still at like 90 percent; I think we have another ten percent we didn’t tap into.

“We didn’t generate tonight, but I mean, we defended hard. What I would really like to take is a little extra motivation that we dropped both over here, and it is time to go home and [run] off a few.”