After struggling early in the season, the Stars have done a great job of creating a lot more possession and a lot more scoring chances.
Dallas started the year getting outshot by 6.6 shots per game (28.0-34-6) in the first five contests. They've flipped that in the past three, by outshooting opponents by 11.4 shots per game (35.0-23.6).
The problem with that is they were 3-2-0 in their first five games and are 0-2-1 in the past three. Part of the problem is they've gotten behind and have been chasing games, which of course leads to a better shot differential when the opposition starts to sit back. The other part of the problem is they simply cannot convert great scoring chances, and that's become very frustrating.
"Twenty scoring chances and one goal," said Bowness after a 4-1 home loss to Ottawa Friday. "The right guys are getting the chances and it's not going in for them right now. We can't give anybody three goals like we did tonight, but we're generating enough offensive chances to get back us back in the game at the right times, but we don't capitalize on them. It's that simple."
Jason Robertson has returned to play after missing the first six games with a shoulder injury, and that's helped. He's back with Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski, and that trio has been dangerous every game.
"You've got to find ways to score goals in this league, and we've had some great looks," said Pavelski. "We had second chances, we had breakaways, we had zone time, it's just not going in right now.
"Some of the looks we had [Friday], I'd take those all over again," Pavelski said. "There's a lot of good chances out there, and at the end of the day, you have to score. Whether it's more traffic, whether it's some tips, whether it's putting that puck inside a post or making a shot. Sometimes you just have to make a shot. There's no one thing to goal scoring, I don't think, there's a bunch of them, and it's got to be a feeling thing as well, and we need to find it."
Bowness said he'd also reunite the line of Tyler Seguin centering Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. That trio can be explosive, and by playing Benn at wing instead of center, it allows the other lines to fall together more naturally.
"We've got to get them going," Bowness said. "Clearly, we've got to get our top-end guys scoring, putting points on the board. At this point, that gives us the best chance at doing that."
The line has had its ups and downs in the early season, as both Seguin and Radulov were returning from injury rehab. However, they feel they're more in stride eight games into the season.
"I think, honestly, it'll be a bit different now," Seguin said. "Rads has been going, I feel like I've been going, too. Jamie's one shot away from breaking out. A lot more promising feeling right now than maybe the first few games. We were just in our own zone too much when we were first playing together this year."
'We're so good when we're on the attack in their zone," Seguin added. "We're so good at reading off each other and staying hounding on the forecheck and finding that dot, so get back to that."
Bowness said he believes the line can get back to the place it has been when it was clicking.
"They read off each other, there's chemistry when they're on," Bowness said. "They've had some games this year where they've been awful together, and I know that, but you still go back to that there's some history there, there's some chemistry there. They've made some plays over the years that they just read off each other, know where the other guy is. We've got to get that back."