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The Stars’ poor goaltending is costing them valuable points

Kari Lehtonen

Kari Lehtonen

AP

In the category of “good team, too bad about the goaltending,” the Dallas Stars have replaced the Minnesota Wild atop the list.

Consider:

--- Based on team save percentage, only the Oilers have had it worse between the pipes this season. Edmonton’s at .889; Dallas is at .896.

--- Starter Kari Lehtonen ranks 25th in “quality starts,” with just 13. His quality-start percentage is a paltry .419. (In contrast, Pekka Rinne’s is .813.)

--- Backup Anders Lindback has been even worse than Lehtonen.

True, the Stars’ defense is young and mistake-prone. It’s not all the goalies’ fault. But per Dave Lozo of Bleacher Report, this is a pretty damning quote from veteran Trevor Daley:

“I think most nights we’ve felt we had chances to win and we were the better team. That’s the frustrating part. We’ve got to not let that sneak in. We have to move on to the next win and keep being the better team because at the end of the day we’re going to get the right results.

“I think we can very easily pop off 10 in a row. We have that capability. You look at our last 10 or 12 games, we probably should have won all of them.”

The Stars have only won six of their last 12.

To be fair to Lehtonen, he did play well (save for one blunder that resulted in a goal) in Sunday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Rangers. Perhaps he can build off that.

The Stars, five points back of a playoff spot, are in Boston to take on the Bruins tonight.

Related: The Wild’s poor goaltending is costing them valuable points