Dallas Stars

[blayze]

How good has Seguin been this year?!?! On pace for 125 points baby... I'll be thrilled if he hits the century mark.

[NoWayOut]

First really big home stand of the season starts tonight. Tonight will be interesting and they need to get out of the blocks strong. The thing is, this team's knack for playing riskier and a bit shaky on home ice. Sure they have the 5-1 record, but those have been....let's say never a dull moment. They do seem to try and put on a show for the home fans and it gets them in trouble, then toss in the all too natural need for redemption for the loss in Toronto and maybe they push a little harder instead just letting the game evolve naturally. Hopefully they will play more like they do on the road. If they do they should get the W and start off on the right foot. Worryingly the Stars do tend to be extra shaky in the first game back after a long road trip.

Then comes the first real test, Winnipeg and Minny. Two teams that coming into the season were ones that we figured to be in the thick of the wildcard race with. Good measuring stick to see if this hot start is real or just the product of knocking the snot out of "weaker" Eastern Conference opponents. Kind of funny, they'll have wrapped up the season series against the Pens, Panthers, and Leafs before they play their second game in the division.

Roussel is back in tonight per Mike Heika, also Niemi in goal. That brings me back to the Lehtonen thread I commented on yesterday. There is a way to get at least a decent idea of where Ruff is going in goal each night. He seems to place a good deal of weight on trends. Anecdotal evidence: Lehts has that great record on the road, and yet Niemi starts in Philly and Toronto. Trends say Niemi was the safer bet based on his record versus those opponents, so it seems, that, more than a current run of good play will make up Ruff's mind. Lehts has been very good the last two starts, but struggles at home so on comes Niemi. If you own one or both of the tandem and want to get a jump on who to start, look at trends and not just current level of play alone.

Lastly here's a good read from Razor looking back at the first 15 games vs. goals set before the season started....

http://stars.nhl.com/club/news.htm?i...L%7CDAL%7Chome

[NoWayOut]

No morning skate today, Heika's best guess(he's usually spot on) at lines for tonight....

Benn-Seguin-Sharp
Janmark-Eakin-Spezza
Hemsky-Fiddler-Sceviour
Roussel-Faksa-Nichushkin

D pairs...same as every night other than during Demers' suspension....

Goli-Klingberg
Oduya-Demers
Jokipakka-Benn

[NoWayOut]

Can't say that I'm surprised by the result. Disappointed, yes. Pissed off, you betcha ya. Surprised, no. On paper this should have been two bloodbaths and the Stars flat out got outplayed by a bad team. Twice in eight days. Not much else to say, other than they can't play like this in the division and have a prayer.

[Jorge]

Love your reads on the Stars NWO, great job. I'm wondering what you think of Faksa and Shore? Do you think either of these guys stick for the future? I see that they lined up with Nich last night. Do you think that line could go somewhere? Thanks again.

[NoWayOut]

Love your reads on the Stars NWO, great job. I'm wondering what you think of Faksa and Shore? Do you think either of these guys stick for the future? I see that they lined up with Nich last night. Do you think that line could go somewhere? Thanks again.

Shore I'm not too sure on yet, Faksa on the other hand I think has a real future in Dallas. I think when Moen, Eaves, and McKenzie return he's probably headed back down to Cedar Park, but he has been very good in Fiddler's old fourth line role. Not sure that Faksa will ever live up to his draft spot but he's got some offensive potential and he is good in the other aspects of the game. When they drafted him I think the Stars saw the makings of maybe a #2C, but he looks like he's going to settle in as a very useful #3C. Faksa's window to stay in Dallas likely opens fully once Fiddler decides to hang them up.

Faksa I think is going to be one of those guys who's much more valuable in real life than in the fantasy game.

[Jorge]

Thanks NWO. Much appreciated.

[NoWayOut]

It's head first into the mosh pit(apt nickname for the Central) tonight.

Couple of moves, Shore was sent back down yesterday, Nemeth given a 14 day conditioning stint, and Jokipakka out and Oleksiak draws in in his place.

Lines, per Heika....

Benn-Seguin-Sharp
Janmark-Eakin-Spezza
Sceviour-Fiddler-Hemsky
Roussel-Faksa-Nichushkin

Goli-Klinger
Oduya-Demers
Oleksiak-Benn

Lehtonen

The only change up front is flipping Sceviour and Hemsky to opposite wings from last game. Lehts getting a chance to exercise the home demons.

[NoWayOut]

Two-headed goalie monster my freakin' ass....three-headed!!! Demers with the luckiest kick in the history of swinging feet. This has to be one of the most insane 10 minutes of hockey in recent memory. If your wildest imagination can dream it up it's probably already happened.

[NoWayOut]

If only Kari stops that marshmallow softy and Fidds doesn't blow his assignment or Jordie just clears that rebound out of the crease....and if's and buts were candy and nuts....

Still neither side can get the upper-hand for more than a couple of minutes. The Stars though have had some chances that have to be giving them chubbies...I mean dear merciful jeebus....adjectives fail me to describe that period. If you haven't been watching I can't possibly describe it. It was hockey on meth, acid, and Red Bull.

[NoWayOut]

You've got to be kidding me. It's suddenly legal to two-handed tomahawk chop a stick out of an opponent's hand. That play should have been whistled down right then and there. Wow!!! And like that it's 3-3. Un-freaking-real.

[NoWayOut]

Klingberg-Seguin-Benn-Boom!

[NoWayOut]

When I sober up a bit I'll post some thoughts. Between this being the first night of my vacation, the Stars, and belly full of good whisky, well take it away Stevie.....



Oh yeah good 'n tasty buzz going tonight!!!

[NoWayOut]

Great win for the Stars tonight. Tight game that neither side could entirely grab by the scruff of the neck for very long. They overcame miscues of their own, two utterly blown calls by the refs that should have stopped play seconds before the Jets scored, and one fluffy soft goal let in by Lehts. That first period was some of the most insane and thoroughly fun hockey to watch. You just can't do it justice in words, you'd just have to watch it to get it.

The Benn brothers, Goli and Klingberg, among others really stepped up. I can't believe I typed the Benn Brothers, but aside from that one split second delay in realizing the play in front of him on Trouba's goal, Jordie play really well tonight, and has all season pretty much. Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd say that, but I'm more than happy to.

As Razor mentioned in his post game Emporium, Goli was stellar on the PK, and that and the Stars special teams on both sides were huge in this one. Ruff was right to say heading into this game to expect a playoff type intensity and both sides delivered. That's what makes this one, and it is but the second game in the division, all the more satisfying. You get the sense that the Stars have grown quite a lot in the offseason and now we have some anecdotal evidence. Still many, many more of these to go before we can say definitively that they've arrived as a Western Conference power, but baby steps in the right direction.

And still the Stars have yet to lose back-to-back games. There will be another of the big tests, when they finally do lose two or more in-a-row. But that's for another day....

A thought provoking excerpt from Mike Heika about the current situation with Nemeth and Oleksiak, and what Jim Nill might do vis-a-vis making room for so many deserving players....

http://www.sportsdaydfw.com/dallas-s...medium=twitter

Plenty of angles and potential outcomes when you really sit back and look at all the pieces of that puzzle and spin them around in your head. It's a good problem to have, but one that I don't envy Nill having to make the decisions on.

[STONE.]

Nuke toiling away. Playing badly? Or just a victim of the fact that the top six are playing well enough to not tinker?