Couple things I've noticed:
Ice looks absolutely brutal. We had the puck bounce on us a bunch in the first 5 minutes or so, and we've been hesitant ever since. Our offensive game relies heavily on puck movement, which doesn't work when the puck is bouncing on you, and we don't have much of a plan B.
Strategically, the Stars seem to pressure the puck carrier really aggressively, but they leave guys open on the weak side. Problem is when the ice isn't good, those passes get much harder to make. Offensively, they keep their puck movement really simple. I started watching for it, and I didn't see them attempt any of the cross-seam saucer passes that we rely on.
The Stars are also a big team, and they've been winning most of the 50/50 battles in this game. Having Bennett, Neal, Frolik, and Stone out of the lineup really hurts us in a game like this where the grindy battles in the corners are more important than zipping passes around in the neutral zone.
So my theory is that the Stars game works much better on bad ice than ours does, but on good ice they can be exposed with crisp puck movement and seam passes. Could explain why they're dominant at home and terrible on the road.
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