Heika’s Take: Slow start and costly errors derail Stars’ comeback bid against Bruins

Slow starts have been a problem for the Stars this year, but one they have overcome on several nights.

Monday wasn’t one of them.

Dallas got down 2-0 in the first period and battled back to lose a 3-2 game to the Boston Bruins. It was both frustrating and encouraging all at the same time.

“I think I expected we might be a little flat coming back off a road trip, so this is one you give them a little leeway,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Unfortunately, we were down 2-0, and that’s a tough hole to come out of against a good defensive team. But I thought the second and third period we pushed hard and did some good stuff.”

The Stars lose their second in a row and fall to 7-3-1. However, they continue to notch their defeats against the best teams in the league. Dallas lost 2-0 on Saturday to a Vancouver team that is 8-2-1. Boston moves to 10-1-1 with the win on Monday. In addition, the Bruins lead the NHL in goals against average, while the Canucks are second. That’s one reason the Stars went five periods without a goal over the two-game span. Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman was spectacular at times and finished with 35 saves. He is among the NHL leaders in both goals against and save percentage.

That was one reason for the low scoring, but the Stars continue to struggle getting out of the gate. Dallas has been outscored 5-11 in first periods this season, with the five goals second lowest in the league.

“You’ve got to fix the first part,” winger Jason Robertson said. “You’re going against the best team in the league, you can’t have a slow start.”

Dallas was playing its one home game sandwiched around separate three-game road trips, so the timing of the hiccup was both predictable and punishing. They head out on a three-game road trip, so they really wasted a chance to make a statement against a very good team. The fact the team still is struggling to generate goals is particularly frustrating when you consider Dallas is once again in the top five in GAA.

“We know that’s an issue,” DeBoer said. “It’s something we talk about. It’s been hit or miss. We’ve had some good starts, but more poor ones than good ones, so it’s definitely on our radar. It’s something I know we’re capable of getting fixed.”

Boston got goals from John Beecher and Mason Lohrei – each the first goal of their respective NHL careers. That’s sort of how things are going right now when the Stars play good teams (they also lost earlier in the season in a 3-2 shootout defeat to 11-1-1 Vegas). The opposition in these games has been just a little more detailed, a little more efficient, and a little more, well, better.

Still, the Stars don’t fold. Just as they did in Vancouver, they pushed hard in the third period. Dallas was able to get a deflection goal from Wyatt Johnston at the 5:09 mark of the third period to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The goal was a great example of how the 20-year-old Johnston is improving, and also learning from the 39-year-old Joe Pavelski, who has made a career out of tipping pucks.

“I think seeing Joe and seeing how many goals he scores tipping pucks,” Johnston said when asked his inspiration. “That’s one thing I worked on a fair amount this summer. I think it’s tough to defend and it’s something where I’ve got a pretty good roommate to learn from.”

It was part of a huge push that would leave the Stars with a 16-4 advantage in shots on goal in the final frame, but it was disrupted by one of those bad moments that have dogged this team in games like this. Stars forward Mason Marchment got tangled up with Bruins forward David Pastrnak, and Marchment clearly grabbed onto the Bruins forward’s stick.

Boston scored six seconds into the ensuing power play to make it 3-1, and that turned out to be the game-winning goal.

“Poor penalty, poor timing. No sugar coating that,” DeBoer said. “I’d like to say it was a bad call, but it was a penalty and you can’t do that at that point where we’ve battled back into the game. He’s a smarter, better player than that.”

Marchment didn’t play the rest of the game, and DeBoer said a message was being sent.

Meanwhile, Robertson played a career-high 26:17 of time on ice. The Stars were without injured forward Matt Duchene (upper body) and Radek Faksa (upper body). Because of that, they played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, and DeBoer said in the morning he would use a forward or two to make up the slack. He picked Robertson and Roope Hintz (22:40). Either or both Duchene and Faksa could be ready to return for Thursday’s game in Columbus, so they should be back to 12 forwards, but there could be some lessons learned from this game.

“I would hope that the final 40 minutes would carry over,” DeBoer said. “We pushed hard and competed hard and did a lot of good stuff. So that fight that we showed down the stretch, we have to carry that over onto the next road trip.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.