To win consistently in the NHL, you need to put together a full 60 minutes.
The Blue Jackets have struggled to do that of late, and they certainly failed to do that tonight against the Stars. Through two periods, it was 5-1, Stars.
In the third period, the Blue Jackets came out firing. Mikhail Grigorenko and Dean Kukan added goals, but it wouldn't be enough to overcome the massive hole that they dug themselves in the first 40 minutes as the Stars won, 6-3.
"They forechecked us pretty hard tonight. They were in our face...and we couldn't seem to break the puck out clean," said defenseman Seth Jones after the loss. "We weren't very crisp. People forget that [the Stars] went to the Stanley Cup Final last year. They're a good hockey club."
The Blue Jackets were outworked by the Stars tonight, as Jones acknowledged. Shots on goal during the first two periods were 21-10, Dallas. High-danger scoring chances were 7-2 in favor of the Stars, per Natural Stat Trick.
"I thought we struggled with the pace early on. They looked a little bit quicker than us," said head coach John Tortorella.
The Stars have an incredible power play, and the Blue Jackets gave them opportunities to convert early on tonight. Dallas went 2/3 on the man advantage with Joe Pavelski and Denis Gurianov converting. That's not to say that the Stars didn't dominate at 5v5 as well, because they certainly did.
There were a lot of preventable mistakes that the Blue Jackets made tonight. Oliver Bjorkstrand's double-minor for highsticking with 4.6 seconds left in the first period led to Pavelski's power-play goal. Just 17 seconds after Seth Jones scored to make it a 2-1 game, the Blue Jackets left Jamie Benn alone on the doorstep and he made no mistake, burying the puck to make it a 3-1 game.
"We have to get our transition going. We have to get out cleaner," said Tortorella.
Patrik Laine will get his first practice with the Blue Jackets under his belt tomorrow. He didn't have a great game tonight, but as he continues to practice with the team and learn Tortorella's system, he'll improve rapidly.
The Blue Jackets will look to clean up their mistakes and play a crisper game on Thursday in a rematch with the Stars.
