The Dallas Stars fell one win short of tying a franchise record eight-game winning streak in a disappointing 5-3 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

17 in 17 + 2

Math is hard.

Evgenii Dadonov does a lot of things for this team. He is one of the most underrated skilled players I have watched, flawlessly pulling pucks off the wall and making passes in tight spaces. He is also lethal on penalty shots, but doesn’t often convert on breakaways. The 36-year-old was also staring in the face of a 17-game goalless drought heading into today and has recently been slotted down on the fourth line.

Well, both of those things were overcome, as Dadonov went top shelf on Tristan Jarry on a breakaway after a nice backhand pass from Oskar Bäck.

I also have to point out the defending, or lack thereof, of Erik Karlsson on this play. The offensive-minded defenseman had the choice to either step up and close the gap on Bäck or back off to prevent Dadonov from getting behind him. Karlsson chose neither, and Dallas made him pay.

Dadonov added another in the second, which we will discuss below.

Matt Duchene is ridiculous

In the second period, Dadonov cashed in a power-play goal to put Dallas up 2-1. But it was the play prior to the goal that deserves most of the glory.

After Matt Dumba hurried to keep a puck in at the right point, he was pressured and chipped it back down the wall. Rather than chasing it down into the corner, Duchene somehow managed to handle it, avoid the linesman, pick his head up, and absolutely FIRE a backhand saucer pass through the cross and over Jarry’s outreached paddle (over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go).

The pass landed flat and perfectly on the tape for a Dadonov one-timer, a power-play goal, and a 2-1 Dallas lead.

Remember when the Nashville Predators bought out Matt Duchene? LOL all over that one. Didn’t work out so well.

Dadonov vs Crosby

This game was odd from the start.

Once again, Dallas was heavily outshot (40-24). But once again, they found a way to stay in the game and dictated on the scoreboard until late after going down 1-0. We saw goalies in pain without leaving the game, dumb penalties, Lian Bichsel getting leveled, one-handed catches by fans in the crowd, defensemen running into each other or the end boards, and plenty more.

But the oddest part came on the scoreboard. Although this game was advertised as the Dallas Stars vs Pittsburgh Penguins, it was actually just Evgenii Dadonov vs Sidney Crosby.

Crosby put Pittsburgh up with a power-play goal in the first. Dadonov answered on the breakaway mentioned above. Dadonov converted the elite pass from Duchene to put Dallas on top 2-1. Crosby responded with a goal just 20 seconds into the third. Dadonov shot back with the hat-trick goal on a shot that just trickled over the goal line.

At that point, we knew. If Crosby didn’t complete his own hat trick, the Stars were going to win the game. Well… he may not have scored the tying or winning goal (which was just purely awful by the way), but he did complete the hat trick into an empty net for the dagger.

Quotable

Thomas Harley on the loss:

“That one hurts. For Casey to play such an unbelievable game, and then give it away like I did, it’s tough…

“Try to outskate their F1, got a body on me, lost the puck. Thought I was just going to take it and regroup. Me and Ceci run into each other, lack of communication, and then I go and play a 2-on-1 like a dips**t… my jobs to take away the pass, and I let them have it, so sorry Casey.”