'Our Puck Play Is Atrocious': 17 Giveaways, 19 Shots and a 3-1 Hole as Montreal Hands the Stars a Second Straight Loss

By Nolan Frost, RF Sports Radio Stars voice

Victory Green faithful, Thursday was supposed to be the bounce-back game after the worst night of the season. It was better. It was not close to good enough, and the head coach said so in words you do not usually hear in October.

The facts

Montreal beat Dallas 5-2 at American Airlines Center. Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook each scored twice, Phillip Danault added an empty-netter and an assist, and Jakub Dobes made 17 saves as the Canadiens (8-3-2) won their fourth straight, per NHL.com. Wyatt Johnston had a power-play goal and an assist, Jamie Benn scored, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for Dallas (7-5-1). Jake Oettinger made 16 saves. The official game summary shows Montreal led 3-1 after one period.

Per DallasStars.com's Mike Heika, Dallas was held under 20 shots for a second straight game (18 Tuesday, 19 Thursday), lost the shot-attempt battle 45-38 despite dominating faceoffs, and had 17 giveaways. The Stars did kill four penalties. They had been leading the league in goals-against average before allowing 13 goals in their last three games, Heika wrote.

"Our puck play is atrocious," coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Not near good enough." He added, "I'm honestly not thinking it's an effort thing." Dallas is 3-2-0 on a six-game homestand and is still missing Matt Duchene, Esa Lindell, Radek Faksa, Oskar Back and Kyle Capobianco, per Heika. The club also welcomed Trey Taylor to the NHL on Thursday, per a team post in Heika's story.

RF Sports Radio's take (opinion)

My take: when your coach uses the word atrocious, believe him. This is not a goalie problem, and Gulutzan said it is not an effort problem. It is a puck problem. Seventeen giveaways means you are spending your night chasing, and a team that chases takes penalties and gives up the easy ones Rantanen talked about.

I will give them this: the penalty kill was perfect and Benn keeps showing up. But 19 shots on home ice against a team that has now won four straight on the road is a red flag. With five regulars out, the Stars cannot play a 200-foot track meet. They have to win the boring way, getting pucks deep, getting them back and grinding.

Saturday is the homestand finale against Columbus. That is a must-get two points heading into a road trip, in my book.

What to watch next

Watch the lineup for Saturday, the shot total and whether the giveaways come down. For Tuesday's injury picture, read our Oct. 29 Capobianco and Steel update, and catch every game story on our Dallas Stars page.

Radio question: is this a two-game blip from a banged-up roster, or is there something in the Stars' breakout game that needs a real fix?

Sources: NHL.com - Caufield, Newhook each score twice, Canadiens top Stars; DallasStars.com - Heika's Take: Stars still 'not good enough' in loss to Canadiens; NHL.com - Official game summary; CBS Sports - Canadiens vs. Stars box score.