Heika’s Take: Slow start dooms Stars in first regulation loss of year

Slow starts have dogged the Stars this season. On Thursday, it did them in.

Dallas has been outshot 70-47 in first periods this season (31st in NHL) and outscored 5-2 (T-27th in NHL). That trend continued against the Toronto Maple Leafs. And while the Stars recovered in the second, they still suffered their first regulation loss of the season, 4-1.

“We had enough chances to score some goals, but the story of the game for me was our start,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “The first 20 minutes were not nearly good enough.”

Toronto goalie Joseph Woll stopped 31 of 32 shots, including some point-blank tries by the Stars’ best players, to help the Maple Leafs move to 5-2-0. Dallas fell to 4-1-1 with the loss. The Stars actually controlled a lot of the analytics in the second and third periods. Dallas finished with a 32-24 advantage in shots on goal, a 73-55 edge in shot attempts, and had more than 30 scoring chances. Still, the start was what stood out the most.

“I think the second period was the best period we have played all year,” said forward Matt Duchene. “We haven’t been overly dangerous for sustained time, and we looked really good there, so we need more of that. We need to put 60 minutes of that together, and we’ll get rewarded. We’ve got to build on that second period. That’s the way we need to play going forward.”

Duchene helped create the only goal with an individual decision. The Stars had been shuffling lines, and Duchene stayed out longer on his shift because he saw a great opportunity. He helped keep the puck in the offensive zone and eventually found Mason Marchment driving the net. Marchment lifted in his first goal of the season to tie the game, 1-1, at the 11:17 mark of the second period. However, Toronto took advantage of a defensive zone mixup from the Stars as Mitchell Marner scored 1:53 before the second intermission for what would turn out to be the game-winner.

Dallas pushed hard with an 11-6 advantage on shots on goal in the third period, but Toronto was able to score on a long power play and into an empty net for the final 4-1 total. Jani Hakanpää took a double-minor for high-sticking and Tyler Bertuzzi tipped in the first man-advantage goal Dallas has yielded this season for a 3-1 lead 5:08 into the third period. That was doubly defeating for the special teams, as the Stars went 0-for-2 on the power play, including a key opportunity midway through the second period.

The Stars this season are just 2-for-18 (11.1 percent) on the power play after hitting at 25.0 percent last season.

“We’re just not executing,” Duchene said. “We’re either not breaking in, or when we’re breaking in, we’re not making that second or third play to get set up. When we get set up, we’re dangerous, but we’re not getting set up enough.”

The Stars are seeing some good things, though. Smith was elevated to a line with Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston, while Marchment played his best game beside Radek Faksa and Ty Dellandrea.

“I thought he was our best player,” DeBoer said of Marchment, who finished with a team-high seven shots on goal. “He was on it, he was engaged, he was inside. I thought he was our best player.”

DeBoer said he leaned on players like Marchment and Smith because they were fast and physical.

“Smitty gives you what he’s got every night,” DeBoer said of the veteran who signed as a free agent in the summer. “He’s got good speed. He’s a straight-line player, and we needed some straight-line physicality tonight from some more guys, so I wanted to reward that. I rewarded Mason because he was bringing that. I wish we had a few more guys on that train.”

Especially to start the game. Dallas has waded into too many contests in the young season. They have been able to overcome with strong goaltending and an 8-2 advantage in second-period scoring, but that’s not enough.

When asked what was wrong, DeBoer said, “If I knew, I would fix it.”

“I think it’s got to come from in the dressing room and our preparation and our leadership,” the coach added. “Once we got engaged in the second period, I thought we were really good. But you can’t play 40 minutes in this league.”

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.