Dallas Stars Drop Final Preseason Home Game To Avalanche
The Dallas Stars finished their home preseason play last night with a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. But it wasn’t as bad as you might think.
It’s tough to lose in the same fashion as the 2014-15 Dallas Stars. What fashion is that, you might ask? The fashion of outplaying a team, especially on offense, yet still finding a way to lose.
That’s what happened Wednesday night when the Stars dropped their final home preseason game of the year to the Colorado Avalanche. Dallas only lost the game 1-0 to the Avs, and it was not as disappointing as you think.
First and foremost, it was only a preseason game. This carries no weight into the regular season (except for the fact that besides two instances last season, the Stars have not beaten the Avs in a game in almost three years). The performance was a strong one, and the Stars can take pride in their effort, even if it did come up short.
The Avs scored after just 8:25 of play, leaving the rest of the game to be a battle of defensive wits. Dallas stepped up and answered the call through the rest of the game, even with a variation of injuries holding their lineup back from looking like the typical group.
When comparing the numbers, the Dallas Stars reigned supreme. The shots on net were 28-20 in favor of the Stars, meaning goaltender Calvin Pickard finished with a 28-save shutout. They also went 8/8 on the penalty kill. Though it’s an absurd number of penalties, it’s encouraging to see the Dallas PK put on a shutdown performance. They did, however, strike out on the power play, going 0/4.
Face-offs? The Stars won 58 percent of the draws. Physicality? The Stars outhit Colorado 19-10. Overall, Dallas played a statistically sound game but faced a goaltender who was in the zone.
Kari Lehtonen did a good job in net, stopping 19 of 20 shots (.950 save percentage). Curtis McKenzie dropped the mitts late in the first period with Rene Bourque. Patrick Sharp (18:38), Radek Faksa (18:56), and Jason Spezza (18:22) led the forwards in ice time. Dan Hamhuis (21:39), Julius Honka (20:50), and Esa Lindell (20:01) led the defensive group.
Jason Spezza led the team with five shots on net. Cole Ully and Jordie Benn had three shots.
The Dallas Stars have one final preseason game to deal with before the regular season starts up, and it’s on a big stage. The Stars will play the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night as a part of the Frozen Fury event being hosted in Las Vegas. It’s all in an attempt to help the sport of hockey grow in Vegas before their new franchise kicks off in 2017.
Apparently the game is scheduled to be broadcasted on the NHL Network, so tune in to see the Stars last game tomorrow night. The Stars should be sporting as near to their opening night lineup as possible in tomorrow’s game. So get hype.
More from Blackout Dallas
This article originally appeared on 
