Observations from a (season-ending) 5-3 loss

You hate to kick a team when it's down, but the Stars themselves know this: They weren't good enough to make the playoffs, they didn't earn it. That's a harsh reality, but it is reality. They couldn't take care of that seven-game homstand (2-2-3). They couldn't redeem themselves in road games at Phoenix, San Jose and Los Angeles. They couldn't win this last game when everything was sitting there for them. If we are going to call them a gritty, gutty team when they win, we have to say that they weren't near good enough during their key moments when they lost. It is what it is, as they say in this sport. The Stars on Jan. 20 were 29-13-5, leading the Pacific Division and challenging Vancouver for first place in the West. They were one of the best stories of the first half of the NHL season. They finished the year 13-16-6. In a league where pretty much every team that is in playoff position on New Year's Day finds a way to get in, that has to be considered a monumental collapse. Stars coach Marc Crawford gave tons of credit to his players for fighthing through injuries, but I don't think injuries can be blamed for the downfall of his team. Anaheim lost its franchise goalie and found a way to go 15-5 down the stretch and get the fourth seed in the West. Detroit lost a ton of its players to injuries and found a way to finish third (including a gritty last-day win that opened the door for the Stars). You can't play the injury card with this team. They had a healthy No. 1 goalie for the entire season. They had their best players healthy for most of the season. Brenden Morrow played 82 games, Mike Ribeiro played 82 games, Trevor Daley played 82 game, Steve Ott played 82 games. Stephane Robidas played 81, Loui Eriksson played 79. Heck, Brad Richards only missed 10 games. That's less than Ryan Getzlaf or Marian Hossa or Pavel Datsyuk. The Predators were without David Legwand for 18 games and Ryan Suter for 12. They're on a tight budget and made it in. The Coyotes played 10 games without Shane Doan and found a way to survive. Other teams faced health issues and ownership issues and fan support issues, and they found a way. Making the playoffs was a doable task for this team. And when you put it all on the table in one game like the NHL did for the Stars Sunday, it's really difficult to come up with a viable excuse. The Wild sent five players to the minors after Sunday's game because the Houston Aeros need them that badly. And that's a team the Stars couldn't beat when the chips were on the line? Seriously? ``It’s the hardest thing in the world,’’ forward Adam Burish said after the game. ``I mean, we have it right there and we can’t beat a team that’s not even going to make the playoffs. It’s the worst feeling ever.’’ You don’t want to dig into the players, but this is a business about winning and losing, and the business of the Stars really needed a win here. This team needed a playoff run…even if it was short one. If they want to get to the place where the payroll isn't so much of a concern, then their part of the equation is finding a way to win and finding a way to get the fans excited again. They didn't do that this season. So, you take a deep breath and look at what they did, and you assess everything in the coming days. You assess whether or not you need Brad Richards (who can become a free agent July 1) and whether you can afford him. You assess what needs to be done with similar free agents in Jamie Langenbrunner and Karlis Skrastins and Brandon Segal and Jason Williams and Brian Sutherby and Jeff Woywitka. You assess whether this is the coaching staff that can get you there. The Stars made a ton of progress this season, but was it enough? Was it in the right direction? Joe Nieuwendyk was truly disappointed Sunday, so he didn't want to look at big picture stuff. However, he will have to do just that in the coming weeks. He has no choice. The team's performance has dictated it. Did they mess up just one game on Sunday or is the issue bigger than that? It's certainly worthy of debate. Here's some quotes for you: ``It’s just so hard to look back. You go over in your head how many times did we have a chance to get key points and we didn’t get them. There were so many games.’’ _Goalie Kari Lehtonen ``There are going to be some what ifs down the stretch on our homestand or early in the season. You are going to question yourself and what you could have done…It’s been a couple years of this and we keep saying the same thing. We’re going to use it as motivation. Go back, prepare and get ready for another grind.” _Stars captain Brenden Morrow 
“We just didn’t get it done today in the end, but it wasn’t for lack of effort by our guys. They tried their tails off tonight. I can list off a bevy of injuries that our guys have played through. I’m really proud of these guys. They just keep giving forth the effort.”  

“When you look at it down the stretch, nobody gave us much of a chance. We had to play seven of our last nine on the road, we played six games in the last nine days to end the season, and they still kept giving effort and effort. It’s really heartbreaking that we didn’t get it completed. It was there for us.”

“It’s a great group in there. It’s a great group of young players that are getting better, learning, and they got a vast amount of knowledge here over the last two months in this heated playoff race. We would have loved to be in the playoffs, that’s why you play this game, and that’s why it hurts so much right now.” _Stars coach Marc Crawford “It was up to us. It was up to the players in his dressing room to win that game, and we just couldn’t close the deal.” _Defenseman Stephane Robidas
``We put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect at the end. We had no room for error and we handled it pretty well, I thought. We were written off many times, and the ultimate thing is we win today and were in, and we didn’t do it.” _Center Brad Richards