The Dallas Stars were unable to hold two separate two-goal leads in a 5-4 overtime loss against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

Stars lines

• Duchene – Johnston – Rantanen
• Robertson – Hintz – Bourque
• Hryckowian – Steel –  Erne
• Bäck – Faksa – Blackwell

• Lindell – Heiskanen
• Harley – Lyubushkin
• Capobianco – Lundkvist  

• DeSmith
• Oettinger

Scratches: Jamie Benn (injured), Nathan Bastian, Alex Petrovic.

Nathan Bastian is back on the healthy scratch train after returning on Wednesday. Kyle Capobianco also plays his second game straight after playing well in D.C.

Casey DeSmith gets the start after playing well in relief and then in Washington. DeSmith will play 7.5 straight periods if he finishes the game today. He does not often play (planned) consecutive games. But he has earned it and been the better goalie lately.

Top story

Penalties.

Dallas has taken 24 penalties in the past five games. That is nearly five per game. FAR TOO MANY.

Whether the officiating has been tight, there is a reason why they are getting called for penalties and not drawing many. They aren’t dictating, they aren’t defending with their feet, and for whatever reason, they are reaching and putting themselves in positions to get called for minors. And then, worst of all, they are just not killing nearly enough of them.

The Stars have allowed 11… ELEVEN power-play goals in their last eight games. Over 60% of the chances. That is awful, and they have to fix it. But it’s not the only problem.

Live game notebook

Period 1

• Macklin Celebrini is leading the Sharks in scoring by 37 points and 12 goals. He is the sole reason they are sitting in a playoff spot right now in the West. And early, he’s responsible for their only two scoring chances. DeSmith made a couple of good saves.
• Celebrini might play 30 minutes today. Dallas looks like it wants to get Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen out there against him as much as possible. Smart.
• The Stars came out hot, but San Jose has been the better team since the first few minutes.
• During our pregame show, we talked about linemates for Matt Duchene. Having two grinders on his wings is not going to get the best out of him, just like putting him on the wing is not ideal either. But Justin Hryckowian has more in him than just being a grinder. Well, guess what? It’s Hryckowian who stole a puck at his own blue line, burst away from the defense, and used a quick release to beat Alex Nedeljkovic over the shoulder. Nedeljkovic didn’t do himself any favors either, making himself look very small, maybe thinking deke or five hole.

• Another chance for that line, as Duchene collected a high flip and quickly found Colin Blacwell streaking to the net. Blackwell tried to go to the backhand but missed wide. He wanted a penalty — Likely tripping on the goalie — but didn’t get it.
• DeSmith absolutely robbed Igor Chernyshov on a perfect cross-ice pass. The puck squeaked through him, and it reminded me of this tweet in Denver that was taken completely wrong lol.

• Dallas began swarming, Jason Robertson clamped down on Nick Leddy’s stick and drew a hook, and then Robertson finished the rebound of Mikko Rantanen’s shot to make it 2-0.

• The Stars have now scored five goals in three first periods against San Jose. They have outscored the Sharks 5-0 in the opening frame this season. San Jose has allowed a league-high 51 goals in the first.

Stars 2, Sharks 0

Period 2

• Celebrini drew a penalty, his 24th drawn this season. That is third in the NHL behind only Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Schaefer, and Connor McDavid.
• Celebrini (again) made an elite pass to the slot, and Alexander Wennberg scored on the power play. Check out this bot I found.

• Hryckowian swapped with Sam Steel on the last shift, moving up to the left wing with Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston. He immediately got a scoring chance in tight.
• Dallas has taken four penalties again, as those issues continue. And it cost them again. This time, Thomas Harley steps up at the blue line in transition, and Ilya Lyubushkin is unable to tie up Jeff Skinner at all in front.

• Despite San Jose controlling the second period, the Stars will enter intermission still leading because of Capobianco. This is such a good rush and a shot that he absolutely leans on a 2-on-1. Nedeljkovic didn’t help things once again, this time guessing glove and opening up room past his blocker. He is not seeing the puck tonight. That much is obvious.

Stars 3, Sharks 2

Period 3

• After a whole lot of nothing, Rantanen went full Moose and scored a beauty to extend the lead back to two. Rantanen wins the race to the net, does a great job slowing up to give himself some space and positioning, then batted a puck out of mid air on the backhand.

• As much as this helps boost the Stars lead, they immediately took another penalty and are now facing the fifth San Jose power play that has already scored twice.
• And… Tyler Toffoli scored to make them 3-5 with the extra man and once again make it a one-goal game.

• Radek Faksa made an incredible sliding kick save in a beauty. And it was needed because San Jose is all over Dallas right now. The Stars could really use one of their rush goals because they are not controlling play right now.
• They didn’t get it, and San Jose scored again on a deflection to tie the game 4-4. The Sharks have just not gone away, and Dallas.

• The final minute of regulation was basically 3-on-3 overtime. Pavol Regenda got around the corner on Harley, but DeSmith made the save. Then the puck bounced the other way, and Johnston went in on a breakaway, but Nedeljkovic made a great blocker save to force OT.

Overtime

• Rantanen took an unnecessary holding penalty chasing back to his own blue line — All of these Stars penalties lately have been reaching and stopping their feet. San Jose has a 4-on-3 with a chance to go 4-6 on the power play and pull two points out of this wild game.
• And they do exactly that. Tyler Toffoli wide open after Dallas got scrambling. Yikes.

This team has to figure out how to dictate offensively, move their feet defensively, and stop taking penalties. Otherwise, this tough streak is going to stretch way further.