Monday, March 29, 2010

Special Stars

Dallas takes down Los Angeles 4-1 Saturday to prevent getting swept for the season series. Things didn't look good after the first period considering the Stars were down by one and were playing extremely undisciplined (three penalties, including Jamie Benn punching Dustin Brown in the face). Captain Brenden Morrow leveled the playing field 17 seconds into the second period, then Brad Richards put it away with a pair of his own and Steve Ott finished the scoring with a tally in the third. Interestingly enough, all five goals scored in this game were on the power-play. Even more interesting was that the Stars scored on a 5-4, 5-3, and 4-3 power-plays. The referees dominated the game, calling 15 separate penalties. Lost in the special teams excitement would be the stellar play of Kari Lehtonen. Stopping 29 of 30 shots, he is giving fans hope for next season. Brad Richards is seven points away from topping his career high in points, which is quite do-able at the pace he's on. Mike Modano has begun skating again, and Krys Barch is out for the rest of the season due to a cut leg. And this just in: Mike Ribeiro will be held out of tonight's game due to missing a team meeting. Sounds like Crawford knows how to put the foot down.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Shark Bitten

The San Jose Sharks got revenge for the 8-2 beating Dallas threw down in their last meeting, as the Stars were shut out 3-0. The first period was stellar; no scoring, great scoring chances, up beat, and just about anything you could ask for. Then it hit the fan, with Dallas taking unnecessary penalties (eight total excluding the fight and game misconduct). The Sharks scored two power-play goals and never looked back, adding a third in the third. Turco initially stopped the third goal, but Ribiero looked lost when coming back to cover and Logan Couture received an easy rebound. The main highlight Dallas wise would have to be the end of the Krys Barch fight. (He later left the game after getting his leg cut by a skate) Otherwise Marty Turco played decent (the guys in front of him didn't help much) and towards the end there was an odd altercation between Steve Ott and Patrick Marleau resulting in Ott getting the boot. Overall a poor performance with not much else to say.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Signs Of Life

Nine games left. Nine points out of eighth place in the West. Until next time, goodbye.

Nah just kidding. The Dallas Stars have shown some signs of life despite just playing for respect. Since the loss to the Flyers, Dallas has gone 2-0-1. Trivia time. What do those two wins have in common? Kari Lehtonen was between the pipes. Granted, the Ottawa game wasn't the prettiest (5-4 final, Jason Spezza hat trick/four point night) but who cares, a win is a win. The best part about this in my humble opinion is that Lehtonen still isn't fully in hockey shape; meaning he will be even better next season. Why discuss next season when this one is still technically going on? The way I see it, this is a slight preview of what we have in store for next season. Let's face it, Marty Turco will not be returning next year. I will be flat out surprised if Mike Modano returns for another season, so this period of play without him is testing out who could step up into his leadership position (Brad Richards seems worthy; I would love to see him stay here long term). Offensively, I'd say this team is pretty well set. All we need is improved defense. I do think Crawford will be retained as head coach, but if by mid-season the club is underachieving, he will get axed. Or even sooner to be honest, the way hockey coaches get cut these days.

As I mentioned before, nine games left, four of which are at home. If you haven't taken the time to go see a game, be sure to do so; I have a feeling the crowd wont be too full.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Eight Games Later

Alright so there have been eight games since the last update. Of the eight, the Stars have won two of those games, oddly enough both against some of the better teams in the NHL yet we continue to lose just about everything else. Somehow we pulled off a shoot-out win over the Washington Capitals and later trounced the Sharks by six points, yet continue to struggle with finding consistent net-minding, with the team giving up 26 goals in the six games Marty Turco has started since the Olympic break. It seems like Kari Lehtonen is getting his first consistent action in over a year; he gave up six goals to the Penguins in his first game, but in the two games he's started since then he held the Sharks to only two and the Flyers to three. Not too bad for a guy coming off an injury. He didn't look too bad against Philadelphia, but he was on record as saying he felt tired as a result of the Sharks game. He will regain his stamina in the off season and prove to be a new weapon next year. Offensively, Segal and Ribiero are looking good (even Ott looked good tonight). As for the word on the street, I've heard many fans still not satisfied with Coach Crawford. I admit I'm pretty critical of him myself, but at the same time this guy has 500 wins. He does know what he's doing, contrary to how this season has gone. If after next season we aren't seeing results, the angst fans feel will be justified. On another note from the people I've heard (just to explain my "source" for these comments, it's what I read on the Stars facebook group) but there are quite a few people unhappy with the play of Matt Niskanen. I love the guy (UMD baby) but he doesn't seem to be very defensively sound, which is what this team needs. Sure it's nice to get some points out of him, but he makes way too many errors in front of our net. Look for the Stars to find a good blue-liner in the off season (which will happen if the team gets sold, but if Hicks-zilla sticks around I wouldn't expect much).

Time for a feel good story. Apparently, some teams were interested in trading for Mike Modano prior to the deadline, but he didn't waive the no-trade clause in his contract since he wishes to remain a Star. Being a Green Bay fan, it's refreshing to hear about a player that's loyal to his franchise. To be honest though, I would like to know which teams were interested and what type of value we could have received. I pray for a speedy recovery from your appendectomy Mr. Modano.

As of submission, the Stars sit seven points out of the final playoff spot. That wouldn't be too horrible except for the fact that there three teams ahead of us (Minnesota, St. Louis, Calgary). With 12 games left it isn't impossible, but it is highly unlikely. I'm ready to announce that the Stars will not be playing after April 10; that being said, they will continue to play hard and act as a spoiler to the other teams.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

They're Baaaaack!

And flatter than ever. The LA Kings dropped Your Dallas Stars 5-1 on Tuesday, continuing the slide against our divisional rival. Dallas is now 0-2-2 against the Kings this season. The only positive to take from this game on the Stars' side is that Mike Ribeiro has been hot as ever since returning from his throat injury. Otherwise, I had two questions in my head on the Dart ride home.

1) What exactly did the team do during the break? It clearly wasn't practice. It's one thing to match up against a tough goalie, but everything about the team was off. Bad passing, poor defense, leaky goal-tending, sluggish skating. Name any negative and they most likely did it.

2) At any point in this game, did Joe Nieuwendyk second guess keeping Marty Turco? If Kari Lehtonen had a better mask (right now he's reppin' the basic white) I would have loved to see him between the pipes. I can all but bet good money that he will start Thursday against the Blues.Now as I mention the Stars played poorly, but I wont take anything away from the Kings. They have a legitimate team this season. All those high draft picks are finally producing, along with the stellar play of Olympian Jonathan Quick. Although he didn't see any playing time behind Ryan Miller, he still proved doubters wrong by making team USA. He has essentially the same goals against average as he had last season, as of this point he's played 12 more games, and has 15 more wins. You can tell the improved offense is helping him out quite a bit; Alexandar Frolov and Anze Kopitar are great and Ryan Smyth brings the experience to hold it down. I'll go ahead and eat my words that this team would tapper off.

Another thing I'll do is reiterate my love for the College Rush tickets. Free Chipotle and a seat five rows from the ice; can you ask for anything more? Oh and some famous skateboard guy was there; he was skating outside but I chose to get free Red Bull from a very pretty lady instead of watching.

Oh, and this made me laugh in the shop at the AAC.