Emotions can’t save Dallas Stars in road loss to Wild

By MIKE HEIKA

Special to the Star-Telegram

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The battle between good emotion and bad emotion is a tough one for hockey teams, and the Dallas Stars learned a little about that on Saturday night.

The Stars came out flat, got behind early and had to battle back. But in the process of joining the battle, the Stars were whistled for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties — one for captain Brenden Morrow and one for coach Marc Crawford — en route to a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

So was the emotion good or bad?

"I think it was a little of both," said Morrow, who shot the puck into the Wild’s empty net after refs whistled him for diving in the second period. "I think you have to be emotional, and you have to get into the game. We were a little flat to start the game, so we needed something. But that said, you can’t do things that will hurt your team."

Just 36 seconds after Morrow was called for the dive and the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Crawford was called for an abuse of the officials after he loudly protested a no-call on what he felt was a holding penalty.

"I didn’t even get my money’s worth," Crawford joked. "Usually you have to swear to get a penalty."

That meant the Stars had to kill 1:24 of 5-on-3. They did just that, and they seemed to draw energy from the chain of events, but Crawford said that can’t be a tool to rely on to produce positive results.

"They were sensitive tonight, but we can’t do that," Crawford said. "We’ve got to make sure we all keep emotional control. That’s when you play your best, and that’s when you coach your best, so I have that responsibility, too."

The Stars have been on an emotional roller coaster this season, and continued that in the win-loss column as they followed a win from Friday with a loss on Saturday. Dallas now is 7-4-6 and has posted consecutive wins only one time this season.

Crawford decided to start backup goalie Alex Auld in this game, and Auld was under fire early. The Stars took two penalties in the first two minutes and were outshot 17-4 in the first period. Auld was spectacular, but the Stars were down 2-0.

Dallas then rallied back and tied the game on two goals by Loui Eriksson. An attempted pass was batted into the net by Wild defenseman Nick Schultz for one goal, and Eriksson redirected a Brad Richards’ pass for the second.

But just as the Stars felt they might be taking control, Nicklas Grossman accidentally knocked in a loose puck and Minnesota’s Marek Zidlicky had the game-winning goal.

"We didn’t do the things we needed to do, and that happens," Crawford said. "It was a one-goal game, and they were probably a little better than us."

Still, this team is trying to find out what it is, and emotion can be a big part of that. While Dallas went 1-1-1 a week ago week and felt bad about its team game, it went 1-1-1 this past week and probably felt a lot better.

"It seems that way, but you just have to go week to week," Morrow said. "We’re improving in certain areas, but we have to find a way to be more consistent."

But in that consistency is there room for a little emotional up and down?

"We are an emotional group and I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing," Morrow said. "But there is a line you can’t cross."

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