The Dallas Stars finished their four-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. Marat Khusnutdinov, Viktor Arvidsson, Elias Lindholm, and Henri Jokiharju scored for the Bruins. Joonas Korpisalo made 13 saves on 16 shots. Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, and Wyatt Johnston scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 17 saves on 21 shots.
Related: 4 Takeaways From the Stars’ Tip to Pennsylvania
The Stars have now lost six of their last seven games.
Stars and Bruins in Different Situations
The standings reflected exactly what we saw on the ice on Tuesday. The Bruins have been playing playoff hockey for months now, as the Eastern Conference postseason race has been tight all season. On Feb. 25, coming out of the Olympic break, the Bruins had 69 points and sat in the second wild-card spot.
The Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens were in the top two spots in the Atlantic Division with 72 points, and the Detroit Red Wings were in the first wild card, also with 72 points. Behind the Bruins, there were seven teams within eight points.
After beating the Stars on Tuesday, the Bruins have 94 points and have put themselves in a fairly comfortable position heading into the final seven games of the regular season. They are in the first wild card and sit eight points up on the Ottawa Senators, who are on the outside looking in.
Even though the Bruins should make the playoffs, they still have something to play for, and it looked like it. The Stars, on the other hand, don’t have much to play for standings-wise, and it looked like that, too.
“We got to find our own game from our own motivation and look at the standings to get it,” head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It should come from internal drive. If you got to light your fire by an external source, it only will burn briefly. So we go to find it within ourselves to get it going.”
Despite coming within two points of the Central-leading Colorado Avalanche just a couple of weeks ago, the Stars will most likely take on the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They are eight points back of the Avs and six points up on the Wild. If there is anything to play for, it’s home ice in the first round, but again, with a six-point cushion and only seven games left, they should be in the clear.
Bad Habits Creeping in as Stars Approach Playoffs
The Stars may have nothing to play for standings-wise, but there is still a lot to play for in general. As a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, they should be playing their best hockey heading into Game 83, not their worst, and that’s what the Stars are in danger of doing.
I can understand that it’s hard for the Stars to stay motivated. It’s human nature. The division is basically out of reach, and home ice is all but locked up, and everyone is trying to get to the postseason healthy. However, when bad habits and poor play creep in, it’s hard to flip the switch on a dime.
Last season, the Stars limped into the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak before going on what felt like a deceiving run to the Western Conference Final. It wasn’t that the Stars weren’t a good team. They deserved to be there. But their talent alone seemed to win playoff rounds more than their structure or attention to detail. Then, when they took on the Edmonton Oilers, they couldn’t out-talent their mistakes.
Related: Stars Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Rantanen Returns, Hughes Call-Up, Cinched and More
And here we are – in an almost identical situation to last season. Sometimes, the offense will dry up, but the Stars’ defense, one of the best in the league, needs to be a staple every night. Lately, it hasn’t been.
Last night, three of the Bruins’ four goals (not including the two empty-netters) were right in front of the net or the result of their players being right in front of the net. Lian Bischel lost his man all night, and Thomas Harley had a hard time boxing out properly. These habits have been creeping in for a couple of weeks now, and Dallas needs to figure it out in a hurry.
“It wasn’t one of our better games,” Gulutzan said on Tuesday night. “Certainly, there are losses, and then there are losses where you get outplayed. I thought in the first, they didn’t come out and overwhelm us, but they’re up two-nothing. We just didn’t do some things. We self-inflicted some wounds.”
That’s the thing. Even down 2-0, the Stars found a way to tie the game and then entered the third period down just 3-2. But 13 seconds into the final period, the Bruins scored, and the desperation of their situation trumped any talent the Stars have in their lineup.
Up Next for the Stars
The Stars start a five-game homestand on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets. Then, they play the Avalanche on Saturday and have a rare two days off before hosting the Calgary Flames next Tuesday.
