Goals come too late for Stars in frustrating loss to Red Wings

Maybe the Stars are who their record says they are.
Dallas did it again Thursday, losing a game it probably should have won, falling to Detroit 3-2 and falling to 9-10-7 on the season.

They have won four of their past 15 games and are holding onto hope for a playoff spot only because of losses in overtime and shootouts. They struggle to score goals when they dominate 5-on-5 play. They struggle to score goals when the game is on the line and they are on the power play. They struggle to score goals for large portions pretty much every game.
On Thursday, Dallas had a 40-21 advantage in shots on goal against the Red Wings, but only cracked the net in the third period, including an extra skater goal with 1:20 left in regulation. Three of their past five goals have come with the goalie pulled in frantic situations. And while that's not the worst trick in the world, they can't continue to play like this.
"It is a little bit of frustration," said defenseman John Klingberg. "We're here to win games, and to win games we've got to score more goals."
Dallas has scored just 12 first period goals in 26 games. They have scored 32 in the third period. Are they waiting too long to get into the game? Are they slow starters? Well, on Thursday, they had a 14-4 advantage in shots on goal after the first 20 minutes and they were down 1-0.
For some reason, they seem snakebit.

"It's not lack of intensity," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We put 40 shots on net. Sometimes you make mistakes and they end up in the back of your net, and sometimes the other team makes more mistakes and it doesn't end up in the back of their net. That's hockey. We forced a lot of mistakes on their part and we didn't score, we made a couple that ended up in the back of our net. It's frustrating when you put 40 shots on net and you only get two goals. That's frustrating."
Dallas couldn't find a way to beat Detroit goalie Jonathan Bernier with consistent pressure, and then Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was beat by Robby Fabbri in transition. Klingberg made a bad read to allow Fabbri a clear shot, and that was the first of three goals on the night for Fabbri.
Klingberg accepted the blame, but it was just another sign of the Stars having to pay for their mistakes.
"The only thing we can do is we have to work at it, we have to stick with our game," Klingberg said. "We had chances again, and we didn't bury them, and then it's tough to win."
Bernier had to leave after suffering a lower body injury in the second period, and Fabbri's hat trick gave the Red Wings a 3-0 lead with 10 minutes left to play. While the Stars were able to get two of 18 third period shots past reliever Thomas Greiss, it wasn't enough.
Detroit moved to 10-17-4 with the win.
The frustration is such that it can affect how the Stars play. After all, this team is 26 games into the 56-game schedule and they seem to be repeating the same storyline over and over. That can't be just coincidence, right?

"It's always frustrating when I think you play pretty good hockey and you keep finding ways to lose," said center Radek Faksa. "We keep finding ways to lose games, and we don't know the reason. We'll keep playing hard and hopefully it will turn out."
That's really the only choice. Because of COVID and weather delays that caused eight games to be postponed earlier in the season, the Stars are playing the busiest schedule the rest of the NHL season. They trail Chicago by eight points for fourth place in the Central Division and they have five games (or 10 potential points) still in hand.
But they have to win those games if they want to catch up, and it would be a pretty good idea to start winning those games soon.
Are they who their record says they are? Bowness doesn't think so.
"Fix it?," Bowness said incredulously when asked if the team had enough time to fix its problems.
"We're playing well enough to win, so it's not like we have all of these problems, that's not the case at all," he said. "We are outshooting them, 2-to-1. It's not like we have to go back to the drawing board and fix all of these issues … we don't. It would be nice to be scoring on those breakaways and some of those opportunities, but we didn't, so that's what you have to look at.
"How we're playing as a team is not the issue. The issue is getting that puck in the net."

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at Red Wings; Saturday 6 p.m. CT
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.