DALLAS, Texas — The Dallas Stars played their last preseason game on Sunday, which ended in a 6-5 loss to the Colorado Avalanche and concluded their 2018-2019 preseason with a 4-2-1 record. Jason Dickinson, Jamie Benn, Radek Faksa, Devin Shore and Tyler Seguin all scored for the stars. The home game was the second time the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche met in the 2018-2019 preseason, with the first game ending in an 3-1 victory for the Stars. This time around, the Stars defensive zone looked unorganized. They gave their opponent too many power plays and too much time to capitalize on them. The team did look better much better while on the power play than they did during all 7 preseason games.
The first penalty call of the night happened just a little over a minute after the puck drop. It was the first of many and a common one – Alexander Radulov made his way to the penalty box after for slashing. The Colorado Avalanche made the most out of their advantage and were the first team to get on the board when Gabriel Landeskog scored at 2:49.
The penalty box didn’t stay empty for too long. Seconds after Radulov made his way back to the ice, Dickinson was sent off on a double minor for high sticking. Once again, the Avalanche capitalized on that and doubled their lead with a wrist shot from Mikko Rantanen. However, Dickinson made up for the disadvantage he caused his teammates when he scored on the rush. He picked up a great pass from Klingberg and landed the puck into the net in a swift wrist shot at 6:13.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was sent off for hooking at 10:43, but despite their one-man advantage, the Stars failed to score. Soon after that, the Stars were on the power play once more when defenseman Erik Johnson was sent out for tripping into the 13th minute. This time, the Stars were productive –Klingberg netted his second assist of the night when he passed the puck to Jamie Benn, who was able to get past Avalanche goalminder Philipp Grubauer and land it inside of the net at 14:21.
The game stay tied for a handful of minutes – Colorado’s Tyson Barrie scored with a little over a minute left on the clock. The period ended how it started; with a penalty call against the Dallas Stars but this time, it was captain Jamie Benn who was called on for interfering at 18:58.
The buzzer called the end of the first period with the Avalanche leading the game 3-2 and in shots on goal 13-9.
After an eventful first period, things only intensified as the second period was underway. We saw the first fist fight of the preseason when Brett Ritchie and Ian Cole got into it and dropped their gloves at 2:35 in front of the Avalanche net. The fight got Ian Cole a bloody forehead and a five-minute major for fighting. Brett Richie was sent off for five minutes for the same reason but got an additional 10 minutes for misconduct. Montgomery later stated that the misconduct call was because Ritchie punched the back of Cole’s head while both players were on the ice. “That’s something Ritchie can do, but he can do a lot more than that,” said Jim Montgomery. While the physical interaction built momentum for the Stars, it also gave the Avalanche the upper hand. Brett Ritchie is currently competing for a spot on the roster so every second on the ice allows him to make a case for himself and while he motivated his teammates, he did so at the expense of his playing time
The fourth minute of the second brought Landeskog his second goal of the night. A few seconds after that, Roman Polak was sent off for an interference and at 9:21, Klingberg was sent off for holding. Neither penalties resulted in a goal for either team, but the Stars found themselves playing with a man down for the sixth time in less than forty minutes.
Radek Faksa finally scored the lone 2nd period goal for the Stars at 17:04. The one-goal differential was short lived; Avalanche’s Wilson scored at 18:44.
Although losing 5-3, the Stars are tied with the Avalanche for shots on goal with each team attempting to score 19 times.
The Avalanche opened the scoring for each period of the game. The first goal of the third period happened at 5:15 when Dries got the puck past Landon Point. Devin Shore scored at 9:28, with an assist from Tyler Pitlick and Radek Faksa. The final goal of the game was an unassisted opportunity by Tyler Seguin with one minute to go on the game.
The Dallas Stars didn’t give up any penalties in the third period– the only power play was to their advantage when Nemeth was sent to the box for two minutes for slashing.
The third period saw the most chances created by the Stars and they led the shots on goal 37-27.
Monty thinks that the Stars lacked physicality and allowed both time and space in the defensive zone. “I didn’t like our defensive game. Way too much time and space in our d-zone. I didn’t think we were going through bodies.”
The Stars have two days of practice before puck drops at American Airlines Center on Thursday, October 4th. Before that happens, the Dallas Stars left Sunday’s game with a loss and a laundry list of things they need to work on. Penalty kills should be at the top of the list, undeniably needing some heaving work. The penalty kill was an issue – it allowed two goals on six attempts. “Lots of penalty kills… It’s touch, especially in the first period. You don’t get the momentum you want to,” said Jamie Benn Radek Faksa thinks that one of the focus points on bettering their game is their communication skills. He thinks that their ability to communicate quickly with one another “we have to talk – it’s the biggest weapon”
Jamie also explained that everything that took place on the ice on Sunday and for every preseason game thus far is all part of the preseason craze and adjustment period
“That’s all part of preseason. It’s going to look good at times and it’s going to look bad. Lots of changes, lots of new guys, lots of new faces… Now we’re going to put our team together and it’s important for us to come together as a team now.”
Lineup Used
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark — Jason Spezza — Devin Shore
Tyler Pitlick — Radek Faksa — Blake Comeau
Jason Dickinson — Roope Hintz — Bret Ritchie
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen — Julius Honka
Gavin Bayreuther — Roman Polak
