You can't fault the Stars' effort last night. They were all over the Rangers, outshooting them 45-20. Execution and finish were different matters. The end result was a 5-2 loss. Give a lot of credit to Henrik Lundqvist, who was brilliant and stopped everything he saw. He was screened on both Dallas goals, which again came from defensemen Philippe Boucher and Sergei Zubov and again on came on the power play.

It's nice to see the Stars pot a couple of power play goals but it masks a couple of other areas where their offense is failing. This team has three even strength goals in the last six games. Yeah, they are tough to score but you aren't going to win a lot of nights scoring just power play goals alone even if you get two. Yes, they were on the power play a lot last night but this is a trend that goes beyond one game.


The scoring from the forwards has completely dried up. Since Mike Modano went out of the line up four forwards have scored goals. Jere Lehtinen has two and Mike Ribeiro, Jussi Jokinen and Niklas Hagman each have one. All of those have came in the two recent wins over Phoenix.

And I don't think this slump, offensive or basic .500 play should be put on the recent rash of injuries. You can go back all the way to early November as to when the offensive woes started to settle in and the team's record has been so-so as far as wins and losses. Starting with that 2-1 loss in Vancouver on November 6 they are 9-10-0 and are averaging 2.2 goals per game. It's not just a recent slump. It's been going on for several weeks.

Last night's game was a bit like the Columbus game. The Stars score a goal to gain some momentum and less than a minute later they give up a shorthanded goal that ties the game. Momentum is gone. The goaltending was a little spotty. It was a rough night for Mike Smith.

Then throw in that Brenden Morrow boarding penalty late in the third with the Stars up 3-2. That hurt. It then turned out to be a killer when the Rangers scored on the power play to make it a 4-2 game.

So it's now on to Los Angeles for a Saturday afternoon game against the Kings. It will be interesting to see how they play in that one. But the bigger tests will come Wednesday and Thursday when they'll have a couple of measuring stick games against the Ducks and Sharks.

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