Thursday, February 14, 2013

Up In Flames. Dallas Stars Game 14: 7-4 Loss at the Calgary Flames

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Yet again, the Dallas Stars fell short in the second game of a back-to-back, but this time it was truly ugly as they lost 7-4 at the Calgary Flames Wednesday night.

The Stars’ winning streak ended at four, but they added yet another loss to their dismal 1-15-2 record in the second game of a back-to-back over the past two seasons. They’ve now been outscored 63-29 in those games.

Backup goalie Richard Bachman had a rough night, stopping 16 of 22 shots, but to be fair, he didn’t get very much help from his teammates either.

Mike Cammalleri scored a hat trick and four other Flames added goals in the game. Captain Brenden Morrow scored two goals for the Stars and Eric Nystrom and Cody Eakin added one each. The Stars fell to a 3-0 deficit midway through the first period and could never recover. Nearly each time they scored they were simply reducing a three-goal deficit to two, and then they would surrender another goal to fall back further.

The Stars struggled against the Flames’ aggressive forecheck, turned the puck over often and failed to have proper defensive coverage, especially on passes across the slot. Five of Calgary’s seven goals were scored on one-timers from passes across the slot.

Antoine Roussel fought Calgary captain Jarome Iginla early in the second period, and the Stars only took three other penalties, but the Flames scored on their two power play opportunities. The Star went 2-for-4 on the power play and earned a rare achievement in outshooting their opponents (34-23).

Morrow stood out as a bright spot for the Stars. He seemed to be his vintage self. He threw his body around, won battles along the boards, went to the net with ferocity and scored both of his goals in the crease.

The Stars have a day to rest and work on their gameplan before they visit the Vancouver Canucks Friday night. 

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