DALLAS _ Slow starts continue to be a problem for the Stars, but they are finding ways to overcome.
Dallas allowed the first goal against Chicago, New York and Arizona in recent games, and still found a way to win. On Friday, they spotted Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead, but then came back and patiently won a 4-3 shootout to stretch their winning streak to five games.
And to put this one in perspective, the Stars traveled to Chicago Thursday and won a physical game, 4-2. Heavy snow delayed their departure and they arrived in Dallas at 3:40 a.m. They had defensemen Julius Honka (upper body) and center Martin Hanzal (lower body) sidelined by Thursday injuries, and they still found a way to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions who had won four of the past five.
It was a huge win in front of a sold out American Airlines Center.
Dallas moves to 33-19-4 (70 points) and stays a point behind third place St. Louis in the Central Division. Pittsburgh falls to 30-22-4 (64 points) but still is one of the hottest teams in the league.
Hitchcock warned before the game that the Stars needed to look inside and find a better way to play, but his squad wasn't able to do that early. Dallas fizzled on two early power plays and Pittsburgh's Riley Sheahan took the energy from the penalty kill and broke in and scored on Kari Lehtonen. On the Stars' next power play, Carl Hagelin stole a puck from John Klingberg and scored short-handed.
Hitchcock seemed prophetic at the time.
"I don't think we're playing that well, quite frankly. We're winning, but I don't think we're playing that well," Hitchcock said before the game. "That's what we're trying to put the brakes on. Winning begets losing sometimes. You start getting habits that you get away with, so you try to get away with them again. We're trying to stop those habits right now."
But it also forces you to dig inside, and the Stars did that. Tyler Seguin scored off a great pass from Jamie Benn to cut the first intermission deficit to 2-1. Then, Klingberg gained redemption with the tying goal and Dan Hamhuis got a go-ahead goal in the third period.
Pittsburgh tied the game at 18:47 of the third period to force overtime, and eventually a shootout. Seguin scored, and Lehtonen stopped Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel to get the win.
It was indeed a slow start, but with these kinds of finishes, the Stars are defying the odds right now.
