"The Stars' penalty kill hit rock bottom Monday.At least the Stars hope it did.Dallas allowed four power-play goals on five penalty kill opportunities and lost a 5-4 game to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum. The loss was the first of the year for the 4-1-0 Stars, but it featured a lot of the same problems that have been disguised in wins.The Stars allowed 40-plus shots for the third time (44 in this one), they showed they can score with few opportunities (four goals on 19 shots) and they simply could not get a kill when they needed it."We couldn't kill a penalty to save our life," a frustrated coach Marc Crawford said. "We have to be better at that."The Stars have allowed 10 power-play goals in five games. Kari Lehtonen was again spectacular in net, but the Lightning scored on deflections and tip-ins that Lehtonen simply had no chance on."In the long run, you can't win too many games if you get outshot 2-1 every night," Lehtonen. "It's simple stuff. They were just on us all of the time, and we have to learn from that and fix that."The penalty kill, which ranked 27th in the league last season, was a huge focus of the off-season. Yet, the results of a lot of hard work have been awful so far. Crawford said that he actually sees progress."We did a lot of good things, but we just didn't get in the lanes, and that's discouraging," Crawford said. "That's such an important factor of a power play and a penalty kill, you have to get in the lanes and take away shots. We didn't do it and they did."The Lightning was playing without captain Vincent Lecavalier, who has a sore finger, but Steven Stamkos stepped up and was a leader. Stamkos had a goal and two assists, and was all over the ice. In addition, Dominic Moore scored two goals by charging the net, and Steve Downie added a goal and an assist.Dallas still was in the game until the end, as it roughed up former Stars goalie Mike Smith by getting four goals on 19 shots. Brenden Morrow had a goal and an assist and Mike Ribeiro added two assists. Still, the penalty kill negated a lot of good." http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/10/18/2556705/power-play-goals-subdue-stars.html
