Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer believes his club played better than the score reflected in Saturday's series-opening 5-1 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche.
"I think it's probably the best game we've played in three or four weeks," DeBoer said. "I thought we were pretty solid."
Colorado scored the first two goals, but Dallas made it a 2-1 game in the third period. The Avalanche responded with three tallies to seal the deal.
"You've got to make your bounces in the playoffs, and they worked for their bounces tonight," DeBoer said. "We've got to work for some bounces around the net."
The Stars held a slight advantage in expected goals at five-on-five (50.15%), according to Natural Stat Trick, but the Avalanche controlled 61.7% of shot attempts and 52.94% of scoring chances.
The Stars entered the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak and have now lost eight consecutive Game 1s. Dallas has made the Western Conference Final two years in a row despite the setbacks.
"The good news is we've come back and won more than our share of those series where we have, so I think we've got to concentrate on that," DeBoer said.
Dallas lost Game 1 to Colorado in the second round last season before winning the series in six.
"They're just a deeper team than they were a year ago," DeBoer said. "They're a deeper team and they didn't have (goalie) MacKenzie Blackwood last year. He obviously was a key guy for them tonight."
Game 2 is scheduled for 9:30 p.m ET on Monday.
