The Dallas Stars watched as a 2-0 lead evaporated before their eyes Monday.
The club seemingly squandered an opportunity to bring the Minnesota Wild to the brink of elimination, instead watching as the Wild rallied with four straight goals to take a 5-3 victory in one of the worst performances coach Lindy Ruff has seen in some time.
"That's probably as bad as I've seen us play in maybe five weeks," Ruff said, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
The Stars conceded five goals after allowing just one in the previous two games. It was also the first time in 14 games that the Stars had given five goals in a game.
The team still owns a 2-1 series lead, but Ruff understands that one poor performance can quickly snowball.
"You look at some of the one-on-one battles we lost, you lose enough of those, you're gonna lose the big battle too," said Ruff.
The Stars will look to get things back on track when they continue the series Wednesday.
