Dallas Stars Game 7: 4-1 Loss at the Detroit Red Wings

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The deplorable Detroit weather outside of Joe Louis Arena mirrored the play of the Dallas Stars inside the arena Tuesday night.

The Detroit Red Wings scored two goals in the second period and another two goals 23 seconds apart in the third to defeat the Stars 4-1. The Stars lost their fourth consecutive game, and they have now lost three of their four back-to-back games this season.

Kari Lehtonen turned in another strong performance stopping 23 of 27 shots, but turnovers, defensive lapses and most of all penalties did the Stars in. The Stars’ first two fights of the season came in the first period and the Stars added six more penalties. They only gave up one power play goal with a few seconds left of a 5-on-3, but they failed to score a power play goal on five attempts.

Loui Eriksson scored the lone goal for the Stars on a rebound off of a shot by Cody Eakin. Valtteri Filppula bookmarked Detroit’s scoring and Henrik Zetterberg and Damien Brunner each added a goal.

Defensive miscues led to three of Detroit’s goals. On the first goal, Pavel Datsyuk lifted Jordie Benn’s stick behind the Stars goal and passed to a wide open Filppula in the slot who one-timed the puck into the net.

The Red Wings took a 3-1 lead when Brunner was left alone in front of Lehtonen as he deflected a Johan Franzen slap shot from the point. Twenty-three seconds later Datyuk made a move up the middle of the Stars’ zone that dragged two Eakin and Whitney out of position. Datsyuk made a cross-ice pass to Filppula who had drifted away from Trevor Daley just enough to take the shot uncontested.

The Stars have two days to collect themselves and practice before they face another back-to-back. They host the Phoenix Coyotes Friday night and then travel to play in Phoenix Saturday night.