After a hot 3-0-0 start, the Dallas Stars fall again Thursday night, this time to the Los Angeles Kings, at the American Airlines Center.
On the plus side, they twice fought back from a one-goal deficit to take a point and stop the bleeding of the past week. On the negative side, they still lost the match and still have a tough night ahead of them with the Carolina Hurricanes come to town on Saturday.
Related: Kempe scores OT winner as Kings beat Stars 3-2
There are a few things we need to get to, so let’s dive in.
Snipers are still shooting
Our first takeaway is positive, but there is a hint of negative in it. In the first three games, the Stars scored 15 goals. In the four games that followed they scored seven. We’re going to talk about the two power play goals they scored in a minute, but their 5-on-5 scoring has fallen off a cliff, and they’re obviously going to have to figure that out going forward. That said, it’s encouraging to see Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston still scoring points, even if it’s a losing effort.
Johnston has five goals and eight points, and has a point in all but one game, and a goal in all but two games. That’s a great start for a young player looking to score more than 30 goals for his third season in a row. Robertson is right behind Johnston with three goals and seven points to start his season, and has recorded a point in five of Dallas’ seven games.
While the Stars are still loaded with scorers and playmakers like Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin, a good portion of their deep scoring went out the window this summer. The Stars may rely on Robertson and Johnston more than ever this season, so it’s important these two remain productive even in a hard-fought loss.
Special teams up and down to start the season
When we say something goes up and down, we are usually speaking as a whole. Well, in this case, the two sides of the Stars’ special teams are literally up and down. Since we’re hanging around after a loss, let’s keep the positivity and start with the side up.
In the first three months of last season, the Stars’ power play was a major problem, entering the new year at 15.3%. They ultimately finished the season at 22%, but were still 17th in the NHL in that department.
One of the main talking points when new head coach Glen Gulutzan was hired was the excellent job he did in Edmonton to turn around the power play of the Edmonton Oilers. The Stars may not have two of the best players in the world, but through seven games the Stars are third in the NHL with a 31.8% power play, and whatever he does, the scenes with his coaching staff are clearly working.
The “down” part of this takeaway is the penalty kill. Just as the power play was poor at the start of the 2024-25 season, the penalty kill was great all of last season, and has been that way for years. Last season, the Stars ranked fourth on the penalty kill at 82.0%. Currently they are 30th in the NHL at 65.2% and allowed another goal on the PK last night.
The Stars have earned the right to assume their special teams will balance themselves out. But at this point, there’s no denying that the penalty kill is costing the Stars their chances of winning hockey games.
Just breathe, you’ll be fine
The Stars got the much-discussed “new coaching bump” to start the season, jumping to a 3-0-0 start. It’s been all L’s since then, although getting a point last night is certainly better than the zero points they earned in the previous three games.
There’s no denying there are areas of concern for the Stars right now. We talked about the special teams. Thomas Harley and the defense are off to a rough start and Jake Oettinger seems to be conceding at least one shaky goal every night.
But Stars fans, you’re not alone. There are plenty of good teams that aren’t getting results at the moment. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who have high expectations every season, are 3-3-1. The Tampa Bay Lightning are 1-4-2 and the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are 4-5-0. In the West, the Oilers and Minnesota Wild are 4-3-1, and the team the Stars just played is 3-3-2. There is plenty of mediocrity to be found among the good teams. The good news? There are still 75 games to get this right.
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