The ignominious start to the 2019-20 season by the Stars continued Friday night with a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, extending Dallas' losing streak to five games.
This one came with a shred of hope for the Stars — the game remained scoreless until rising sophomore forward Roope Hintz scored his fifth goal of the season to give Dallas a brief lead in the second period. But three straight goals by the Penguins followed, and a glimmer of a comeback through John Klingberg's goal midway through the final frame was shattered when Pittsburgh scored in the last minute to secure the victory.
Patience is a virtue. pic.twitter.com/rucyPGlBFs
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 19, 2019
If Friday's game was played in a vacuum, it would have been hailed as a performance that could be built upon.
Except it wasn't played in a vacuum, and the Stars managed to lose their fifth in a row (and eighth loss overall, including an overtime defeat to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 10).
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The Stars now sit second-last in the Western Conference with just three points in their first nine games of the season. The only team below them are the woeful Minnesota Wild, who on Thursday had a player call out his teammates and head coach.
The Wild have amassed only two points, but they also have two games in hand on Dallas.
So how did the Stars get here?
In a season where hopes were boosted by high-profile offseason acquisitions and a bit of unexpected playoff success in 2018-19, things couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. Joe Pavelski has just two points in his first nine games as a Star, and Corey Perry rebounded from a freak foot injury to record exactly zero points and a minus-2 in a pair of contests in green and white.
The two veterans each have a longstanding history of excellence in the NHL and can reasonably be expected to get things going once they fully acclimatize to their new surroundings, but it's the lack of production from the Stars', well, stars, which stands out like a neon sign during this ugly opening to the campaign.
Tyler Seguin, who averaged nearly a point per game last year, has recorded four points (two goals, two assists) through nine games. Seguin's shooting percentage in the early going (7.1) is noticeably down from his career average of 11.1 percent, and his plus/minus rating of minus-4 projects out to the worst differential of his career by a wide margin.
And Seguin is one of the better performers for the Stars this season.
Alexander Radulov and Jamie Benn, the second and third-leading point-getters on the team last year, have combined for just seven points so far. Goaltender Ben Bishop, who was absolutely phenomenal in 2018-19, has seen his goals against average balloon to 2.83 over six games while his save percentage is a meager .899.
Bishop's backup, Anton Khudobin, was a steady understudy last year. In three games this season he's 0-3 with a 3.41 GAA and a .888 save percentage.
In short, the players that Dallas needs to perform well if the team is to succeed are all slumping at the same time. It's reflected in the win-loss column.
There is a slight silver lining: Hintz is continuing his progression showed in last year's playoffs and leads the team in goals thanks to a blistering 27.8 shooting percentage.
In addition, five of the team's losses (four in regulation) have been one-goal games. One has to imagine that a friendly bounce here or there could have resulted in at least a loser's point in one or two of those defeats.
The Stars have shown that they can keep games close, for the most part, despite the lack of production from their biggest offensive threats and a huge step down in goaltending quality. If even a few of the slumping players can pull themselves up to their career averages — at either end of the ice — Dallas may start winning some games again.
Until then, they will continue to suffer through one of the worst opening stretches in franchise history.