The Dallas Stars are taking a tumble in the Western Conference standings. Injuries to two of their top fowards might not help end the nosedive unless some of the other issues get cured immediately.
 The Dallas Stars hoped to soar back into the Western Conference playoff skies, but losing their top two centers and five straight games has sent them hurtling down to earth.
Dallas currently has a five-game skid. Four losses occurred last week with Mike Ribeiro out with a knee injury and Jamie Benn out following an appendectomy.
The good news is that Ribeiro is expected to return Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks. The bad news is Brendan Morrow is out with a neck injury, though it might be a consolation that the injury is not considered long-term.
The Stars’ early-season lead in the Pacific Division now seems like a distant memory as they have sunk to 11th place in the conference. They have scored just six goals in those five losses.
“There's no secret, we've got Benn and Ribeiro out, that's a lot of our offense. So if we don't dig in here and play a certain way then we'll be in trouble,” coach Glen Gulutzan said Jan. 17, the morning between a loss to St. Louis and a shootout loss to Detroit.
During the slump, the Stars had to face some tough pivot duos, like Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg as well as Tampa’s Steven Stamkos and Vincent Lecavalier.
Still, they also lost to defensive-minded St. Louis and a pair of clubs with significant injuries to their own forwards. Minnesota played without top pivot Mikko Koivu, while Colorado has been missing their No. 2 center Matt Duchene due to injury as well.
Gulutzan roasted his team after the loss to Tampa Bay. He critiqued their poor start, lack of consistent effort and inability to get up for a lower-profile opponent than they had faced in their previous back-to-back with Detroit and St Louis.
“It's a sign of weakness if you can't bring that little fear and adrenaline in your game every night,” Gulutzan said after the home loss to Tampa, one of the NHL’s weakest away teams that rode an 0-5-1 road skid into the contest.
While the losing streak has brought its own unique set of woes, there are also some familiar issues for the Stars.
They have developed a nasty habit of giving up goals after they tie games or gain leads.
Against Colorado and Detrot, the game-winning and game-tying goals came within six minutes of an important Dallas tally.
Worse yet, against Tampa Bay, it took just 2:14 for the Lightning to regain their edge for good.
“Those are tough goals, we get back in it, we're feeling pretty good and we've worked hard to get there. Those ones take the wind out of your sail,” defenseman Alex Goligoski said Jan. 20, after the defeat at the hands of Tampa Bay.
The Minnesota loss was particularly demoralizing, as the Wild struck three times in 59 seconds 2:24 after Dallas took a lead.
“It gets in your psyche and momentum is huge in this game,” left wing Eric Nystrom told reporters after the Jan. 21 loss.
The Stars have also struggled mightily in back-to-back games this year. They lost a both back-to-back sets this week. Over the course of the season they are a feeble 0-7-1 in the second half of back-to-backs and have been outscored by a 27-10 margin.
Dallas did show a bit of grit in its losses to St Louis and Detroit. Captain Brenden Morrow said he thought it was the Stars’ best back-to-back effort of the year to date, even if it did not deliver the results they sought.
“We have kind of a depleted lineup with our two big centermen out,” Morrow said after the Detroit loss. “This is the way that we're gonna have to play, we're going to have to scratch and claw for 60 minutes and hope for breaks. If we keep doing these things we're doing, they'll eventually come.”
Those games left them with little to build off of though, as new problems and ongoing issues coalesced to deliver embarrassing loses at the hands of Tampa and Minnesota.
“You have to make them aware that they are not good enough, with or without Jamie Benn and Mike Ribeiro in the lineup, to not be a hard-working team” Gulutzan said after the loss to Tampa.
“That's the message: they're just not good enough.”
Notes
The Anaheim Ducks continued their surge this week, going 2-0-0 behind more stellar play from Jonas Hiller, who surrendered just three goals in two contests and turned in a 43-save showing Sunday night against Colorado. … Anaheim D Francois Beauchemin tied a career high with two goals in the Ducks’ 6-2 win Wednesday over Phoenix. Two days later, the team announced a three-year contract extension for Beauchemin worth $3.5 million per season. His contract, set to expire in July, now runs through 2015. … The L.A. Kings went 1-1-1, mostly behind the play of their top line of Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Justin Williams. … Williams has a seven-game point streak cooking, during which he has scored nine points … Simon Gagne remains out indefinitely with concussion symptoms, there is no timetable for his return … The Phoenix Coyotes continued to struggle in tight games, posting a 1-2-1 record … Phoenix was already without Adrian Aucoin, now another veteran defenseman, Derek Morris, sustained a lower-body injury … The San Jose Sharks were 1-3-0 with a losses to conference powers Vancouver and Chicago included. … Sharks coach Todd McLellan still has the best winning percentage (.677) of any coach since he stepped behind the San Jose bench. …Tomas Vincour returned for the Stars against Detroit, he had missed 14 games with a knee injury. ... Dallas D Alex Goligoski signed a four-year contract extension that is worth $18.4 million and will take him through the 2015-16 season.
Photos by Getty Images
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