Bruins mistakes cost them, lose 4-2 to Stars

DALLAS, TX- DECEMBER 31: Trevor Daley #6 and the Dallas Stars get a puck past Tim Thomas #30 and the Boston Bruins at the American Airlines Center on December 31, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images)

Michael Ryder and the Dallas Stars beat the Bruins Saturday night 4-2 in a game where the Bruins mistakes cost them. In the first period, Loui Eriksson scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal to make it 1-0 Stars. Later, Tyler Seguin scored his 15th goal of the season to tie the game 1-1, as he tipped in a David Krejci shot. Later, Trevor Daley scored as the puck got up in the air and went off of Tim Thomas' back and into the net to make it 2-1 Stars. With forty seconds left in the period, ex-Bruin Michael Ryder scored a power-play goal making it 3-1 Stars.

In the second period, Gregory Campbell and Jake Dowell dropped the gloves and had a rather quick and uneventful fight. With one minute left in the period, Tom Wandell scored to make it 4-1 Stars. Near the end of the period, Milan Lucic had two big hits laying out Stars players. Which then after the buzzer Steve Ott started yapping and had his stick around the head of a Bruin. Ott made sure to hide behind a linesman before a Bruins player could get close.

In the third period, Milan Lucic scored his 13th goal of the season making it 4-2.

Game notes
The Stars led the game in shots 27-20, faceoff wins 30-27, hits 36-16, and blocked shots 19-11. Wow the Bruins haven't been outhit by that big of a margin in a while.

The Bruins went 0-for-3 on the power-play while the Stars went 1-for-4.

Tim Thomas made 23 saves on 27 shots. Thomas is now 16-6-0 with a 1.94 GAA and a .939 save percentage this season.

David Krejci had 2 assists.

Johnny Boychuk led the Bruins with 5 blocked shots.

Zdeno Chara and Adam McQuaid both had 3 hits apiece to lead the Bruins.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 24-10-1, in first place in the Northeast Division with 49 points, and in second place in the Eastern Conference behind the New York Rangers (50 points). The Bruins next game is on Wednesday, January 4th at the New Jersey Devils at 7:30pm ET.