In the opening weekend of the 2011-12 regular season, the Stars played two games with two very different outcomes against the Chicago Blackhawks. Last night, Andrew Raycroft was not able to come anywhere close to duplicating Kari Lehtonen's performance in the opener, and did not get much help in front of him in last night's 5-2 loss in Chicago.
The Blackhawks killed the Stars in transition last night. Dallas players were guilty of mental mistakes such as leaving the defensive zone too early, failing to keep their feet moving and, in general, getting outworked for much of the game by a Blackhawks team that has also has more high end talent than they do.
The first Stars goal, which trimmed the deficit to 3-1 at the 12:51 mark of the middle period, came off a nice shot by Vernon Fiddler. On the rush, he took a pass from Adam Burish and elevated a shot inside the short-side crossbar against Corey Crawford.
Dallas' second goal briefly gave the team a faint chance at a third-period comeback, cutting the deficit to 4-2 with 9:53 remaining in the game. Jamie Benn won a puck battle and got the disc back to Sheldon Souray at the point. Souray's shot was tipped in by Steve Ott in front (Souray was initially credited with the goal).
Late in regulation, with Raycroft pulled for an extra attacker, Loui Eriksson had Ott set up near the doorstep but Ott was unable to put the puck in to reduce the deficit to a single goal. Shortly thereafter, Dave Bolland scored his second goal of the game for Chicago to put the final exclamation point on the game.
Apart from Bolland's two goals, Andrew Brunette, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp all tallied goals for Chicago. Two goals that got past Raycroft were potentially stoppable, but I don't think there are very many goaltenders -- even the top ones in the league -- who would have been able to rescue the Stars last night.
The Stars play their first divisional game on Tuesday, taking on the Phoenix Coyotes.
Dallas Stars Blogger • 
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