Pavelski: Dramatic loss vs. Panthers 'won't be a low point' for Stars

Joe Pavelski is opting to take a glass-half-full approach after the Dallas Stars coughed up a three-goal lead in Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers.

"For us ... this is a great reminder of what's ahead of us," Pavelski told reporters postgame. "We're going to be in this situation again against good teams in the playoffs (where) you're up by two, you're down by one, the game can't change. You've got to go out and win periods, create momentum, keep moving the game forward.

"We didn't do a good enough job, so we'll look at a few clips ... and take this as a lesson. This won't be a low point for us at all. We'll be looking to right it and be better next time."

The Stars led 3-0 before the midway point of the middle frame and were dominant for the game's first 40 minutes, controlling around 70% of the expected goals at all strengths while holding a 16-2 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Sam Reinhart got Florida on the board with a power-play tally before the second intermission, which wound up being the first of four unanswered goals for the Panthers. The Cardiac Cats scored three times in the game's final 10 minutes to secure the comeback victory, with Aleksander Barkov striking twice on the man advantage.

"I think there's a little bit of a natural reaction to sit on a lead a little bit, but you also know they're going to push," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. (The Panthers) weren't great through the first 40 minutes. That's a proud team that knows how to win, and you knew they were going to push for the last 20 minutes.

"Even having said that, I didn't think we gave them a lot until we gave them the power plays."

Florida went three-for-four on the man advantage against the league's eighth-best penalty-killing unit. The Stars entered Tuesday's action with an 81.7% success rate.

Pavelski is confident Dallas' penalty killers will rebound from a tough outing.

"We've got a lot of trust in our PK," he said. "They've shown it all year. They'll bounce back. I got no worries there. They're a hard-working group, they're committed to it."

Next up for the Stars is a date with the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

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