DALLAS — When the air left the American Airlines Center, the Dallas Stars fell flat.
On the night when the franchise retired Sergei Zubov’s number, the Stars lost 5-0 to the Washington Capitals, snapping a four-game win streak and sullying a night that celebrated the best defenseman in franchise history.
“The score tells you,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We had nothing going tonight, nothing. We played a very experienced, hungry hockey club that had lost two in a row. They came in and took control of the game and didn’t let up. We just had nothing going tonight.”
Braden Holtby was yanked after allowing five goals in two periods against his former team as Nicklas Backstrom (one goal and two assists) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (two assists) each had multi-point nights for Washington. It was the first time this season that the Stars were shut out at home.
Initially, it looked as if the Stars would ride the momentum from Zubov’s jersey retirement ceremony when Joe Pavelski scored just 42 seconds into the game. But, Washington challenged the goal for offside, and, after review, Jason Robertson was ruled offside, nullifying the goal.
Roope Hintz was called for tripping moments later, and Tom Wilson gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead by scoring on the power play. In the game’s first 89 seconds, the Stars had the lead, lost it and then fell behind.
“I think we got exposed today,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. “Mistakes got costly. They’re a really good hockey team over there, so they punished (us).”
Bowness: “We couldn’t make a pass. We couldn’t handle the puck. Bad decisions all over the ice. Got frustrated, tried to do too much individually. None of those things work.”
John Carlson followed seven minutes later with a power-play goal from the point, and Trevor van Riemsdyk made it 3-0 with 6:52 left in the first period. Lars Eller drew Holtby out of his net to set up Connor McMichael’s goal in the second period, and Backstrom added the Capitals’ fifth by ringing a shot off the post and in.
“I think we didn’t forecheck well tonight and probably didn’t play that hard like we did on the road,” Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen said. “We have to watch some video and see what went wrong.”
The loss is the Stars’ first one since losing to Montreal at home last week.
Between the two losses, the Stars ripped off four straight wins over the dregs of the Eastern Conference. Dallas swept its road trip through Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Jersey to climb back into a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Now, the Stars have exactly half their season remaining, and still have not found consistency. They have fallen into losing streaks and soared through win streaks. They’ve been unbeatable at home at times, and listless on the road.
They host the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.
“We’re well aware we’ve lost two home games in a row, and we’re well aware we’re going to have to put a much better effort on the ice Sunday night,” Bowness said. “We’re going to count on pride to do that.”
Holtby faces Caps: For the first time since leaving Washington in 2020, Stars goaltender Braden Holtby faced the Capitals on Friday night. Holtby spent 10 seasons with the Capitals, playing 468 games, winning a Stanley Cup, a Vezina Trophy and a Jennings Trophy.
Holtby spent last season in Vancouver before signing a one-year contract with Dallas over the summer. Because of the division-only schedule last year, the Canucks did not play the Capitals.
“It’s going to be strange,” Holtby said before the game. “It’s going to be very odd tonight, but exciting at the same time to experience something new, I guess. … A lot of people go through it. Tonight, you’ve got to find a way to block that out and play a quality hockey game. Definitely not your normal game in the regular season.”
Holtby made 22 saves on 27 shots before he was pulled during the second intermission.
Before Holtby’s media availability, Stars general manager Jim Nill presented Holtby with a silver goalie stick and a crystal plaque to commemorate his 500th NHL game. The Stars also presented Holtby with a three-liter bottle of Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. “I don’t even know if there is a corkscrew to pop that open,” Holtby said.
Holtby left Washington second in franchise history in games played, wins and saves by a goalie.
“(Former Capitals goaltending coach) Mitch Korn always used to tell me ‘It’s a game of people, not pucks,’” Holtby said. “That stuck with me. That’s where my family grew up, that’s home for me. Pretty special to see these people again and catch up with them.”
Holtby joked that he faced a full-strength Alex Ovechkin slap shot in practice “more when I was young,” and looked forward to facing former teammates.
“This game, tendencies come in a little bit, but you’ve got to read and react out there,” Holtby said. “They’ve shot on me that many times, too, so they know me like I know them. It’s just about going about there and playing hockey.”
Back in the lineup: The Stars welcomed both forward Radek Faksa and defensemen John Klingberg back to the lineup after each missed the tail end of the team’s recent road trip.
Faksa was out two games due to a non-COVID-19 illness. Klingberg missed the win in New Jersey due to an upper-body injury.
With Faksa and Klingberg on the ice, Riley Damiani and Andrej Sekera exited the lineup.
Forward Jacob Peterson was cleared to play after he had a false positive test result on Thursday. He tested negative twice later on Thursday, and again on Friday.
‘Not very good’: John Klingberg was minus-3 on Friday night, his third minus-3 game in his last seven games played. He is now minus-19 for the season.
When asked how he felt about his recent play, Klingberg said “Not very good.” What does he want to improve?
“Be more creative, be more involved defensively and offensively,” Klingberg said.
Russian connection: Stars forward Alexander Radulov was familiar with Zubov from playing against him when he first broke into the league with Nashville, and then when Zubov was an assistant coach at CSKA Moscow from 2012-14.
Radulov played six games against Zubov as a Predator.
“You can’t get a puck from him, basically,” Radulov said. “You think you’ve got him, you think you’re right on top of him but then he do something, some move with his head or his body and then you end up on the wrong side. That was his key to success, I think, that he always know where he was going and he was quick. First pass was incredible, too. He was never going to throw the puck away blindly.”
Bones on the King: Sergei Zubov’s jersey retirement wasn’t the only high-profile one of the evening.
The New York Rangers retired Henrik Lundqvist’s No. 30 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Stars coach Bowness never coached Lundqvist, but did face off against him during the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals when Bowness was in Tampa Bay.
“I’ve never heard one bad word about that guy,” Bowness said. “He’s an outstanding competitor and one of the great all-time goaltenders. … You walk away from that series with a newfound respect for him, just how good he is, how consistent he was and what a great competitor he was.”
