WINNIPEG, Manitoba _ The Stars' banged up covered wagon crashed in the Canadian prairies Wednesday, and maybe that was needed.
Limping along with six missing forwards, Dallas had been able to pick up some points and stay within shooting range of the eighth seed in the West while relying on minor league call-ups and defensemen playing forward.
But it all unraveled at MTS Centre against a Jets team that is battling some of the same problems. In taking an 8-2 loss, the Stars allowed a Jets team that couldn't buy a power play goal to get three. They allowed a Winnipeg squad that had been manhandled to the tune of 21-5 in second periods in the first 13 games to score four goals in the second period. They allowed a Jets team that they dominated last season to take a second convincing victory over their Central Division bunkmates and drop the Stars to 3-5-1 within the division.
It was ugly, but maybe it needed to be.
"We made some really dumb mistakes that we paid dearly for," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "We're too short-handed to be a dumb team."
Among the dumbest were leaders Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Seguin was on for five goals against and said he has to step it up.
"It was an embarrassing loss," Seguin said. "I made a lot of personal mistakes. Five goals that I have to be accountable for. You can't play a game like that and be a leader on the team."
Seguin wore an "A" as an alternate captain and said in the morning he was trying to concentrate on better defensive play. But after Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews led Chicago to a sweep in two games, and the Jets' top line scored five goals Tuesday, Seguin said he and Benn have to be better.
"It's a matter of leaders leading the way," Seguin said. "Against Chicago, the best players on their team were better than the best players on our team. Same here."
Benn added that the recovery will have to be team-wide.
"This is pretty much rock bottom," Benn said. "We all have to look in the mirror and figure it out."
The Stars actually had a 14-5 advantage in shots on goal in the first period, but Winnipeg was opportunistic and received two pretty goals from Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine. Dallas then cut the deficit to 2-1 on a Patrick Eaves goal early in the second period, but that's when things really fell apart.
The Stars lost all concepts of team play, were outshot 17-4 in the second period, simply chased their tails the rest of the way. Laine, the 18-year-old rookie taken second overall in the 2016 draft, tallied three goals and an assist. Scheifele had two goals and two assists. A Winnipeg team that was in a 1-3-1 slump and trailing the Stars in the standings moved up to 6-7-1 (13 points) and ahead of 4-6-3 (11 points) Dallas.
The Stars skated Jason Spezza in the morning, but he wasn't ready to return from a lower body injury. The Jets meanwhile saw the return of defenseman Tyler Myers from a five-game injury absence and also welcomed back defenseman Jacob Trouba from a contract holdout. Trouba didn't play, but he should be ready soon, and that's more good news for the Jets.
If Winnipeg can start getting healthy, maybe it can become a surprise in the Central Division. If it does, that will make it even tougher for the Stars to find a way to make the playoffs.
Now, Spezza could return Thursday at Calgary, and Patrick Sharp (concussion), Jiri Hudler (illness) and Cody Eakin (knee) might be closing their return dates to sometime before Thanksgiving, but the mountain only gets higher.
In the short term, Dallas plays at Calgary on Thursday, at Edmonton on Friday and at Vancouver on Sunday. In the long term, Dallas is playing 16 games in 29 days in November.
They have to fix this on the fly.
"The best way to do it is to jump right back in it," Benn said. "Next game can't come fast enough."
