OTTAWA, Ontario _ The Stars are ready to go home.
With Sunday night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators, the Stars can finally unpack their bags back in Dallas. They can have their first three-game homestand since mid-December. They can recover from Sunday's performance in Ottawa in which the Stars allowed 46 shots on goal to the team with the third-fewest points in the NHL.
The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Stars, but Dallas now has points in nine of 11 games since the All-Star break. With St. Louis losing in regulation to Nashville on Sunday, the Stars finished the day tied with the Blues for first place in the Western Conference.
"I don't anyone's happy about tonight," Tyler Seguin said. "The different ways to win is one thing, but giving up 20 shots in the first, I think they were at 40-something when we went into overtime, the last time I looked. We don't want that, especially against Ottawa, who's not a first- or second-place team."
The Stars were coming off a comeback victory the night before in Montreal, erasing a 3-0 deficit to win in overtime. Less than 24 hours later, they were forced to twice close a one-goal deficit, tying the game in the third period on Joe Pavelski's goal before Artem Anisimov won the game in overtime for the Senators.
Stephen Johns and John Klingberg also scored for the Stars, while Seguin and Miro Heiskanen each chipped in two assists. Anton Khudobin made 42 saves.
"It was fun to play," Khudobin said, "but I was tired."
From the start, the game did not resemble Stars hockey. Instead of a tight, structured game, it was wide open. The Senators had 19 shots in the first period, 14 in the second and 11 in the third. The Stars made a late push with 15 shots in the third period.
Ottawa's Connor Brown hit a post in the first period, and Anthony Duclair was stoned on a breakaway by Khudobin in the third period. ("He's a pretty fast guy, creative, crafty but I did my best," Khudobin said. "He was going side to side, I guess they tried to spread me out today, but didn't really happen.")
Seguin and Klingberg each hit posts in the third period. Jamie Oleksiak had a prime look at an open net in the third period but pushed his attempt wide.
"It was a little loose at both ends, so that's not how we play," Stars interim head coach Rick Bowness said. "But when we fell behind, then we had to open it up a little bit."
February is a busy month for the Stars, with 15 games in 29 days, and it began with seven of the first nine games on the road. In the three weeks since the All-Star break, the Stars have not spent more than four consecutive days in Dallas.
"We've got to get some rest," Bowness said. "We looked like a tired, braindead hockey team out there at times tonight. That's going to catch up to you. We'll go home and we'll get a day off tomorrow and go back at it on Wednesday."
Bowness later clarified what he meant when he said braindead.
"Braindead is maybe a hard term for it, but just a little slow with the decisions and a little slow with the reads," Bowness said. "It gets you a little bit behind and gives them an extra step on you. Again, when you play a lot of hockey, this is our fourth game in six nights, that's going to happen at times and you play through it. We played through it and we found a way to get a point."
The Senators are not a good team, that much is clear. And the Stars did not play well Sunday, that much is also clear. But Dallas still wrestled a point out of Ottawa, and heads home with five out of a possible six points on its Canadian swing, and potentially sets up a battle for first-place Friday at the American Airlines Center against the Blues.
"Great road trip," Seguin said. "Bad finish. Managed to get a point and move on."
