Dallas Stars

[NoWayOut]

Interesting tack here from Ruff, moving all his veteran D to the right side and putting the 'kids' on the left. I've been meaning to watch the zone exits from the Stars for a while and see if they do better when coming out on their left wing side. All the Stars D are left hand shots, so puck handling could be a bit awkward if they aren't comfortable on the offhand side. That's been a bugaboo for a while, getting hemmed back in their own zone. They also struggle with teams that can put on a good forecheck.

Dillon-Daley
Benn-Goligoski
Connauton-Gonchar

Close your eyes it's Lindback time. Ruff said you just have to put him out there at times and no excuses, he has to perform.

[NoWayOut]

I don't even know where to start....just speechless.

Sad fact of the night, the Stars are the only, only, team to allow two or more goals in every game this season. Let that sink in....Buffalo has held opponents to one goal, 3 times. Carolina has one shutout, and another game with only one goal against.

Dallas....nada, everybody has notched at least two goals against. They've allowed 15 goals against in four games this month. Ouch! And the Stars are tied for 29th, with Buffalo, for winning percentage when leading after 2, .500. Only Colorado's .400 is worse.

They just can't finish, and still when things start to go wonky, they just go straight to fubar. They've got find the leadership to settle things down, maintain composure, and regroup quickly before the defecation hits the rotary oscillator. Tonight was another example of how quickly it can all unravel for us.

[NoWayOut]

I know I will likely be alone on this, but I don't think you can lay the blame 100% on Lindback for this one. I know people will want to because he's the easy target with his play so far. But when you look back at the two Burns goals they weren't on Lindback. On the first the goal it should have been waved off and Burns should have gotten two for interference, incidental contact or not. We've all seen less than that get called, but moving on. With a 2-on-1 Jordie should have stepped up and taken away the pass and let Lindback go 1-on-1 with the puck carrier. Typical Jordie though he makes a half-assed attempt to poke the pass away, belatedly, the puck was damn near on Burns' stick when he lazily poked at where the puck had just been, and well the inevitable happens there.

The second one off the Gonchar clearing attempt that hits the ref, when Burns grabs the rebound to shoot, Lindback has Connauton practically laying on top of him. Connauton laying there cuts off any chance for Lindback to get position to make a save. Not much chance no matter who you are in that situation. Spezza not looking and drifting through between Lindback and Burns instead of at least making an attempt to throw a block, doesn't help either but I'm not surprised. I'm not one to jump on the Spezza hate train at every turn, but I don't defend him either when he effs up, and that play right there is what we have come to accept as the price of admission for his talents on the other end of the ice. Like it or not, like him or not, it's part of the package you sign up for with players like him.

I know, I know, I'm cherry picking but take away those two goals and from that point on things are different. The Stars were still looking like they could pull this one out before those two goals, they were still up 3-2. And yes Lindback does have to make saves, but he also needs to get some help up front. If you don't have faith in the guy in net, so what? Step up your play anyway and support him anyway.

One other thing, sometimes, and we saw it tonight, Roussel's game can come back to bite the Stars square in the ass. It's a double edged sword with him, and the thing that makes us love him in fantasy, and real life for Stars fans, can carry a hefty price. That boneheaded stunt of slamming into Stalock, you just can't do that. Leave him be and that hilarious fail at clearing the puck nets the Stars a power play. Instead it's an offsetting minor, and then you go and sucker punch a player, who the ref is holding.....yeah not smart Antoine. The Stars were pouring out every ounce of effort and had Stalock on the ropes at times just prior to that, and then it comes unravelled.

The long and short of all that, this still a team loss, not any one player. And this current full tailspin is just that as well, a team problem, No one player takes all the blame and no one gets a clean pass on their part.

[NoWayOut]

Few things in the news for the Stars.....

- Antoine Roussel gets fined for his sucker punch on Justin Braun. I don't think anybody was expecting a suspension, but...well I guess you just can't ever be sure what the powers that be will do anymore.

- Val Nichushkin back on IR. Is anybody else getting a queasy feeling this is heading in a really bad direction? The first two week stint on IR to just rest this injury netted very little. If another go of that doesn't do the trick what next? Is it more serious than they're letting on? Hopefully this round of rest does the trick.

- John Klingberg gets his chance to bring his game north from Austin. He's been lights out so far down there, 4G-8A in 10 games. He's a rarity for the Stars, a righthand shot on D. He's also good with the first pass to exit his own zone which has been an ongoing, cringeworthy spectacle for the Stars. Here's some thoughts from Mike Heika about the situation with 8 healthy D in Dallas....

The Stars will have eight defensemen, so they might have to make a decision both on the lineup and possibly on sending a player to the minors. They could take out either Jordie Benn or Kevin Connauton from the lineup or they could take out both and insert Klingberg and Jamie Oleksiak. They also could assign Oleksiak to the AHL or they could place Jordie Benn or Connauton on waivers.

All of it is in play.

For the love of god, get Jordie Benn out. Connauton has been bad but Jordie has been a one man train wreck.

[larrylintz]

- Val Nichushkin back on IR. Is anybody else getting a queasy feeling this is heading in a really bad direction? The first two week stint on IR to just rest this injury netted very little. If another go of that doesn't do the trick what next? Is it more serious than they're letting on? Hopefully this round of rest does the trick.

I was thinking the same thing, that it sounds like the kind of groin issue (i read somewhere it was a groin, stand corrected if it's not) that haunted Hasek for a long time and that they came back too soon and tweaked it. Bad call

[NoWayOut]

I know I'm a broken record on this....but.....damn it Jordie, you glove the puck down and then lay it right on the opponents stick. Right on his stick. Your stick is the one at the end of your arm, not the guy wearing red. Wow, great awareness.

It's only 20 minutes but so far the rookie Klingberg is looking fairly good. A couple times he got caught chasing the puck on the perimeter when maybe he should have been back inside. That's the only real knock on him so far that I've seen so far. He's been pretty good handling the puck and his first touch he showed his speed and some moves to carry the puck out of the Stars end and all the way to a shot on Smith on the other end. A good start is always a plus, so let's see where it goes from here. I've got to admit I'm kind of stoked to see him get his chance, a lot like I was for Nemeth. Different styles and tools but both could be key contributors in years to come if all goes to plan. Hey with what seems like ages where the D has been a serious liability it's easy to got excited for anything positive.

Still got to clean up the turnovers. Spezza had a real 'beauty' that led to an odd-man rush on Lehtonen. Kari bailed 'em out on that one.

[NoWayOut]

[NoWayOut]

Who the hell needs scoring balance when you have Tyler Seguin. Seguin has accounted for the last five Dallas goals in the last game and two-thirds, singlehanded.

[NoWayOut]

[NoWayOut]

Hmmm. I post an image regarding the Stars shooting themselves in the foot, and then they come back to right the wrong on the scoreboard....maybe I should start posting these right from the drop of the puck.....

[NoWayOut]

That was a good win. Exercised some third period demons, though those demons haunt them more at AAC than they do on the road.

That's the Kari we've been looking for. He got the big saves, Boedker and Rieder's great point blank chances jump to mind, when they needed them. Got the traffic crossing in his face on the Murphy goal can't really ding him there, plus if not for a turnover that shot doesn't get fired.

Klingberg gets 18:32 TOI in his first ever NHL action. Plus 1:36 power play time with the second unit. Really thought he was impressive for his first game. Showed lots of jump, and he looks like a perfect match for the speed game of the Benn-Seguin line. Kid has a good set of wheels and isn't afraid to jump in on the rush. Damn near got his first goal trailing right on the heels of I believe, Hemsky maybe. Anyway he just, jjjust missed the rebound and had Smith beat if he gets his stick on it. And he can stickhandle too and isn't shy about firing pucks on net. I know I was high on Jokipakka after his first game and then he came back to earth a bit, so we'll see how Klingberg does from here on out but I think he's going to be just fine.

I won't waste time banging on about the usual issues, turnovers, scrambly sloppy play in their own zone. There were still problems in those areas tonight but they aren't going to go away over night. Just good to see the guys battle back and get into the win column again.

[newfcollins]

Thanks for all the updates NWO. I don't watch enough Dallas games to comment, but I find your postings to be pretty valuable as I own Spezza and Benn in my keeper pool (and thinking of picking up Daley in an equalization draft this week). I know it must seem like you're talking to yourself sometimes, but I like reading the posts.

[larrylintz]

Thanks for all the updates NWO. I don't watch enough Dallas games to comment, but I find your postings to be pretty valuable as I own Spezza and Benn in my keeper pool (and thinking of picking up Daley in an equalization draft this week). I know it must seem like you're talking to yourself sometimes, but I like reading the posts.

ditto

[mister_mcgoo]

That was a good win. Exercised some third period demons, though those demons haunt them more at AAC than they do on the road.

That's the Kari we've been looking for. He got the big saves, Boedker and Rieder's great point blank chances jump to mind, when they needed them. Got the traffic crossing in his face on the Murphy goal can't really ding him there, plus if not for a turnover that shot doesn't get fired.

Klingberg gets 18:32 TOI in his first ever NHL action. Plus 1:36 power play time with the second unit. Really thought he was impressive for his first game. Showed lots of jump, and he looks like a perfect match for the speed game of the Benn-Seguin line. Kid has a good set of wheels and isn't afraid to jump in on the rush. Damn near got his first goal trailing right on the heels of I believe, Hemsky maybe. Anyway he just, jjjust missed the rebound and had Smith beat if he gets his stick on it. And he can stickhandle too and isn't shy about firing pucks on net. I know I was high on Jokipakka after his first game and then he came back to earth a bit, so we'll see how Klingberg does from here on out but I think he's going to be just fine.

I won't waste time banging on about the usual issues, turnovers, scrambly sloppy play in their own zone. There were still problems in those areas tonight but they aren't going to go away over night. Just good to see the guys battle back and get into the win column again.

Like Colorado they're giving up way too many goals on too many shots, they need to fix that, Seguin can't carry them just by outscoring everyone

[NoWayOut]

Thanks for all the updates NWO. I don't watch enough Dallas games to comment, but I find your postings to be pretty valuable as I own Spezza and Benn in my keeper pool (and thinking of picking up Daley in an equalization draft this week). I know it must seem like you're talking to yourself sometimes, but I like reading the posts.

ditto

Not a problem guys I'm glad to help. Newfcollins, your last point there, I don't worry about it. I figure someday people will join in or tell me to shut the (bleep) up. Until then I just keep on doing my thing, spreading the gospel of the father, the son, and the holy Seguin!!! Can I get an amen from the congregation!!!