The Stars returned home after a 2-3-1 roadtrip looking for a win against the Lightning Sunday afternoon.

Instead, they struggled to find any rhythm and suffered their tenth loss in the past twelve games.

The first period started off promising, when Oskar Bäck kicked off scoring after he tapped a puck sent towards the net by Justin Hryckowian behind goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Stars’ good fortune continued when Erik Cernak got called for hooking Radek Faksa and sent them to their first power play of the game.

But the Lightning, who have the fourth best penalty kill in the league, stopped Dallas from scoring and even got a shorthanded chance.

A few minutes later, Dallas’ momentum expired and never picked back up.

This came in the form of Dominic James, who whipped the puck past Jake Oettinger’s right shoulder and evened the score.

Hryckowian, who had a breakaway scoring chance late in the first, was stymied by Vasilevskiy and ran into Declan Carlile. Frustrations for Hryckowian seemed to boil over, the two got into it and both ended up in the box for roughing. For the young forward, this kind of adversity only adds to his motivation to get better

“For me, it kind of helps you get up in the morning and get after it,” Hryckowian said. “It’s fuel and you want to keep building your game. It’s never going to be easy to do what we want to do in the end. So, it’s good to go through this stuff, and we’ll get out of it.”

The second period started with some drama, when Kyle Capobianco took a high stick to the face that drew blood, but it ended up being friendly fire from teammate Radek Faksa and did not result in the four minute penalty that was originally called.

Robertson, who had good chances all game, continued his efforts and raced up the ice on a breakaway chance that he passed to Duchene, who could not connect with the net. Robertson then spent two minutes in the box for hooking, but his team managed to survive the power play thanks to a nifty save by Oettinger with help from Thomas Harley.

But when Oettinger came out of the crease to stop a shot from Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel snagged the rebound and put it into the net despite Esa Lindell’s best efforts to stop him. Dallas had a chance to respond a few minutes later when Cernak got called for interference. The Stars’ top line went to work, but all that the five could seem to do was pass the puck back and forth.

As the period winded down, Jake Guentzel doubled Tampa Bay’s lead and put a rebounded puck behind Oettinger.

The Stars continued to struggle to find rhythm. The Lightning seemed to have the answer to every play they tried to set up. Vasilevskiy stopped every puck sent his way. And Dallas could not figure out how to get around the team that has not lost a game in regulation since Dec. 18.

Desperation set in as the clock continued to run. Dallas emptied its net and tried to generate a response, but the Pontus Holmberg ended up putting one in the empty net, effectively ending the Stars’ chance at a comeback.

There does not seem to be a singular fix for a Dallas team who is having its worst stretch of the season. Different things go wrong each game, and in the beginning of the year, those games ended up tilting the Stars’ way. Now, frustration is building and a daunting schedule looms.

“Did I ever think at one point that we were a .750 team for the whole season? No, I did not…” head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We’re certainly regressing to the mean, but we’re better than what we’re playing now. So, we need to get back to that.”

The Stars will stay at home, looking for a chance to bounce back as they take on the Boston Bruins Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. CT.