Dallas Stars: Losing A Game Still Provides Positives

The Dallas Stars are in the midst of a playoff battle with the Minnesota Wild. While they suffered their first loss in Game 3, there’s still positives to look at.

The Dallas Stars are locked into a heated playoff series with the Minnesota Wild. After winning the first two games in Dallas, the team went on the road and ended up with a loss

It was a game where the Stars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, thanks to Patrick Sharp, but eventually lost momentum due to a pumped Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. While there’s never a good time to lose in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Stars could potentially benefit from their 5-3 loss on Monday night.

First of all, a loss brings the Stars back down to earth again.

It was an opening couple of games full of joy for the fans as the team secured 4-0 and 2-1 victories in Dallas, however, one game can cause that to all come to an end.

Almost immediately after Patrick Sharp netted his second goal, less than five minutes into Game 3, the Stars began to let their guard down. Turnovers became a factor and the Wild capitalized on laziness with plenty of great rushes into the zone.

Because of that, the Stars had to endure a long, hard second period in which they didn’t have much success on either end of the ice. As the final minute of the period began to tick away, the Dallas Stars saw their lead vanish after a goal from Jason Pominville. That proved to be the final straw for the team as they were never able to recover.

Head coach Lindy Ruff gave his thoughts on the loss after the game (via SportsDay):

"“We didn’t play near as well as we needed to play. That’s probably as bad as I’ve seen us play in maybe five weeks.”"

Their play was exposed in Game 3 simply because they lost, but the Stars also had a rough time in Game 2 as well, as they had 11-more giveaways in a game that got interesting in the final seconds.

Now, with a loss under their belt, the Stars can focus on bouncing back and trying to get their power play active again, as the Wild have done a marvelous job at shutting down one of the best advantages in the league. It also gives them a chance to work on the basics fundamentals in order to get back to the level of play they were on in Game 1, when they were dominant.

The bottom line is that now, the Stars have a few obvious things to work on, which should help them as their playoff journey moves along. This is provides a great chance to learn a few things going forward.

With their Game 3 loss, players like John Klingberg, Mattias Janmark, Stephen Johns and Radek Faksa, who are playing in their first playoff series, will get to learn a little bit more about the struggles of playoff hockey from the battle-tested guys on the team.

This is where Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya, who have almost gotten used to making deep runs every season, come into play, as they are some of the best players to have in the postseason. The same could be said in terms of goalies too, as Antti Niemi has played 62 total playoff games compared to Kari Lehtonen‘s 11.

As this current Dallas Stars team is set to be in the playoffs for many seasons to come, the Stars can learn a lot about coming back with strong games instead of dropping a few and letting the series get interesting. Also, it’s a good thing to face some adversity, especially when the St. Louis Blues or Chicago Blackhawks will be waiting in the second round, should the Stars get that far.

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The Dallas Stars will be back at it again on Wednesday night in Minnesota for Game 4. Tyler Seguin (day to day) and Kris Russell (illness) could potentially be back for a crucial contest.