Dallas Stars Game 7: The Good and the Bad

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Dallas Stars lose to the Los Angeles Kings 5-2.

Shots: Dallas 29, Los Angeles 34

PP: Dallas 0/5, Los Angeles 1/3

Hits: Dallas 29, Los Angeles 50

Faceoffs: Dallas 32, Los Angeless 35

Blocked Shots: Dallas 18, Los Angeles 6

The Good:

Ellis (minus the Clifford goal)- Ellis wasn’t as bad as the score may make his night seem. He was solid in bailing the Stars out of their horrible turnovers. He stopped several breakaways, fought through screens and did well handling the puck. This game could have gotten out of hand if Ellis let in goals on just the plays where the Kings knocked the puck out of the air and took it in for a shot. One of his best saves was on a one-timer from a few feet out during the first period. He didn’t get much help on the first Williams goal. A fortunate bounce off a cross-crease pass is tough for any goalie to stop. His defense didn’t help enough on the second Williams goal. The only goal I really had a problem with was the Clifford goal. A simple shot from barely inside the zone shouldn’t flutter into the goal, whether or not it was a knuckler or slightly deflected.

Los Angeles goal #4

Top line- Seguin, Benn and Peverley may not have dominated the game, but they did produce and were constant threats the whole game. The line scored both of the Dallas goals and created several other chances in the game, including the power play. They ended up even on the night and combined for 9 shots.

Dallas goal #1

Dallas goal #2

The Bad:

Special teams- Terrible. They simply couldn’t capitalize on their chances and were bad at stopping the Kings’ chances. 0-5 on the power play is embarrassing. They mustered a total of 6 shots on goal and one off the post. Six shots on five power plays? They should get 6 shots on one or two power plays. The Kings managed to clear the zone 14 times. Dallas moved the puck well a few times on the first power play, looked patient on the second power play and took lots of shots on the third and fourth power play. They need to find a way to combine all the good things they do off and on here and there. They need to find a way to be consistent. The worst part was watching them try to enter the Kings zone. They had no rhythm, no flow. Missed passes, turnovers, circling back around and losing a dump-and-chase happened way too often for anything positive to happen with the man advantage.

Los Angeles goal #2

Turnovers- 14 giveaways. Let that sink in. 14. They gave the Kings the puck 14 times. Add to that how many times they lost battles along the boards, miss-handled the puck or  dumped the puck in unsuccessfully and you get the idea. They have to be better with the puck. Fortunately, Ellis bailed them out of a lot of mistakes, but it wasn’t enough. Missed passes in their own zone, intercepted passes in the neutral zone and loss of possession entering the Kings’ zone killed the Stars tonight.

Probably my favorite save of the night from Ellis. 

Faceoffs- Seguin won 4 of 9, Benn won 4 of 11, Peverley won 4 of 11, Fiddler won 7 of 13, Eakin won 5 of 9, Horcoff won 6 of 11 and Chiasson won 2 of 3.

Lines seen tonight:

Benn-Seguin-Peverley

Whitney-Eakin-Chiasson

Roussel-Horcoff-Cole

Macdermid-Fiddler-Garbutt

Gonchar-Goligoski

Dillon-Robidas

Daley-Jordie Benn

PP- Benn-Seguin-Chiasson-Whitney-Gonchar

PP- Eakin-Peverley-Cole-Nichushkin-Goligoski

PK- Fiddler-Garbutt-Dillon-Robidas

PK- Eakin-Chiasson-Goligoski-Jordie Benn

PK- Fiddler-Garbutt-Daley-Robidas

Notable Notes:

Roussel's fight with Carcillo

Los Angeles goal #1

Los Angeles goal #3

Los Angeles goal #5