Finally, A Second Point

Dallas pulls out their first win after regulation, topping the Maple Leafs three to four. Sure, Toronto is the worst team in the NHL, but a win is a win. There is an underlying storyline to this game though. Marty Turco vs Jonas Gustavsson. What's the big deal, he's just a rookie, right? In a way yes, but he left a bad taste in GM Joe Nieuwendyk's mouth. Before the season, Dallas was courting him, trying to win him over other teams and getting him to sign in Big D. It came down to Toronto and Dallas, and we can see how that turned out. This is why we didn't draft any goaltenders this year; we were so confident he'd join Fabian Brunnstrom in signing here. However he jilted us despite throwing out a first pitch for the (Texas) Rangers. All was not lost though; we traded for Alex Auld who has proven to be a worthy backup and the rest will be left as what could have been.

First Period (0-0)
No scoring. Stars seemed sluggish but I do give credit to Toronto, they came out fighting.
Second Period (1-1)
Dallas couldn't score from in front of the net, so Brad Richards decided to try it from behind and bingo, off Ian White and in. Toronto flattered us by imitating Richards and Nikolai Kulemin tied it up with his own "strange bounce from behind the net" goal.
Third Period (3-3)
Richards scores from in front this time on a nice slap shot during the five on three power play. Lee Stempniak tied it back up on yet another play eerily similar to how Richards previously scored. Worry set in when Kulemin netted his second of the night after Turco lost sight of his rebound, putting Toronto up by one. Then Mike Ribeiro had one of the best tips I have ever seen. Jamie Benn shot it, and from out at the end of the circle Ribeiro tipped it with his back to the net going top shelf on a play I doubt anyone could recreate.
Overtime (3-4)
This never seems to play out well for the Stars. Well, never say never. This overtime is EXACTLY what the NHL was aiming for when making it four on four hockey. Huge chances for both teams going up and down the ice, major saves, and heavy hitting. James Neal deservedly gets the game winning goal on a nice rebound to finally get us the second point in extra time.


-Matt Niskanen returns to the lineup, and in a big way, assisting on both of the Richards goals.
-Mike Modano aims to be back in Friday's game.
-25 on penalty kill, 21 on power play.
-Dallas seems to have some talent on their AHL team.
-It has been brought to my attention that the Stars Dancers are pretty pointless. To be honest this is true. They don't get the crowd into it like cheerleaders try to, because no matter how much they dance, if the Stars aren't winning or hitting, the crowd is out of it. My guess is they're just there to try and entice males to go to the games. The NHL needs all the help they can get. For example, while touring the Associated Press yesterday for my journalism class, one of the writers discussed how the different sports have different policies on when the press can talk and get involved with players. Baseball was three hours before every game, football for short periods of time a few days a week, and hockey was referred to as "very good with the press because they'll take all the publicity they can get." That being said, the dancers are useless and to be honest not very good. After Neal's goal they showed a clip and a girl in the back row was facing backwards when the rest were facing the ice. Way to bring your A game girls.


Up Next:
Well I'm in kind of a jam. The next two Dallas games are Friday and Saturday. Friday I'll be at a concert and Saturday in Denton. Not sure how good those posts will be, but I'll do my best. The Florida Panthers roll into Dallas for the Friday game. They aren't very good either, so I'll take Dallas yet again to win. Florida 2 Dallas 4