Blackhawks game
The Stars are in another offensive funk or you can just say the offensive funk continues. They've scored one goal in each of the last two games and they've been able to muster just one goal in three of the last four games. Over the last 11 games they are 5-6-0. They have scored one goal in a game six times and been shutout in another. Two of those times they scored one goal they ended up winning 1-0. That's not something you can count on regularly, as they found out this week.
That's why you want to extend those leads. Cashing in on a power play every now and then would help. It didn't hurt them last week against Nashville. It killed them against Detroit.
Marty Turco? Well, I don't think you can pin the last two losses solely on him. He's getting no offensive support. On the other hand, the argument could be made - as it has in the past - the Stars could have used the big save both Monday and Wednesday. Turco didn't deliver on that front.
You can throw that in the mix along with the offensive struggles, the mistakes and you get team losses, which these are.
But the biggest concern right now has to be this team's offense. A lot of guys aren't getting it done on the offensive end. Chances are great and hitting posts leads to that neat sound, but you've got to finish. You've got to score more than once in a game to reasonably expect to pick up points in a game. That's being realistic.
I thought Mike Modano probably got hooked on that play towards the end, but you can't assume it is going to get called. He did and got burned.
Was that first Chicago goal tipped in with a high stick? I am not sure. If the Stars had been able to clear the zone it wouldn't have mattered.
But the bottom line is the Stars got outplayed by Chicago over the last two periods. The final score reflected that.
30 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Tonight's game/All-Star Voting
Tonight's game should be an interesting one for the Stars, even though it comes against a struggling Chicago team. The Blackhawks have a new coach, which could provide an emotional boost. From reading the Chicago papers Denis Savard is going to have his team attacking offensively and he'll live with the defensive breakdowns that come as a result. He'll also hope the Bulin Wall can mop up the messes. That could make it an entertaining game.
I'll be interested to see what the Stars do on the power play. Chicago's PK is respectable and it has been very good at home.
The latest round of All-Star vote tablulations came out yesterday and the local boys are doing pretty well.
Perhaps Brett Hull has a future as a campaign manager. The TV campaign is brilliant. If you haven't seen the ads for Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov, Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow they are excellent. It's always nice to see people use a sense of humor to make their point. The kid at the end of the Modano spot is hilarious.
Mike Modano ad
Sergei Zubov ad
Marty Turco ad
Brenden Morrow ad
29 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Boucher article
The Canadian Press has an article on Philippe Boucher. You can
read it here.
28 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Red Wings game
I know there is a lot of talk about Marty Turco and his struggles against the Red Wings. But I don't care. After the game ended that was not on the top of my list of issues. It was the power play. Any of you who read the main portion of the site know it has gotten a few mentions lately. It started with the brief talk I had with Doug Armstrong I had a week ago. I asked where the team needed to improve and he said the power play.
He was on The Ticket Friday night, the team had just scored four power play goals and he was still talking about how it had struggled at times this season.
I wonder what he is thinking now.
Going 0-for whatever is one thing. Giving up two shorties in the third perioid to lose a game is even worse. The power play as an offensive tool was totally ineffective Monday. I don't recall it generating much in the way of shots or great chances. Stephane Robidas hit a post.
At times - most times- there just seems to be no sense of urgency when it comes to the Stars' power play. The puck moves around a lot, but the players don't. It's static and predictable. The results reflect that.
As for Turco, I am sure he would like to have both goals back but I have a hard time pinning this one on him. I just don't see it.
I thought Mike Ribeiro was probably the Stars' best player and his line with Jussi Jokinen and Antti Miettinen may have been the team's most effective line. Ribeiro also gets high marks for registering one half of the Stars' power play shots in the game. He had one of the two I counted.
(FYI: As I write this Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov just scored nifty shootout goals against Martin Brodeur as the Kings beat the Devils. Marc Crawford has the Kings playing some decent hockey.)
But in the end, the Stars just couldn't capitalize on the few chances they had and Detroit did. That was the difference in the game.
28 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Kings game
It was nice to see the Stars' power play come to life and it was especially nice too see Philippe Boucher get the hat trick last night.
This has been a nice little run for the Stars, who seem to have gotten back on track after losing for of six games. They've won three straight games and pulled ahead of San Jose based on winning/points percentage.
I thought Mike Smith played a solid game. He had a great week and I expect to see Marty Turco in net when the Stars play the Red Wings in Detroit on Monday.
I'll be honest on the Antti Miettinen goal. I thought it went in when I saw the play unfold in real time. Of course, I think that a lot of times and then see a replay and I find out I am wrong. But that one, to me, looked like the puck went under the crossbar and then came out. The replay proved me right on that one. Why it wasn't reviewed is baffling. Why the Stars didn't press the issue after the whistle stopped play is another matter. It doesn't do any good to gripe to the official after nothing can be done about it.
It was a good win for Stars, but I was impressed with the Kings. They didn't roll over after falling behind 3-0. They made a game of it and kept it interesting until Jere Lehtinen put it away with the empty net goal.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Brenden Morrow. It appears he rushed back into action. He lasted two shifts in the game and was pulled for precautionary reasons after he tweaked the groin again. That injury can really turn into a long-term problem if not handled properly. It appears it wasn't handled well Friday.
25 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
The goalie thing
Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated chips in on the goalie situation in Dallas with a piece which carries this this headling on SI's website: A change in the air? Red-hot Smith stirs goalie controversy in Dallas.
I don't see a controversy at this point, but Muir did need material for a column. And I think the comparison with the Dallas Cowboys quarterback changing of the guard is a bit premature.
24 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Odds & Ends
I watched the Ducks and the Sharks last night it was big advantage to the Ducks, who won handily by a 5-0 score.
Sharks center Joe Thornton summed it up this way: "They took it to us tonight."
That they did.
Evgeni Nabokov held the fort for the first half of the game, but even after a while he relented under the Ducks' pressure.
Anaheim just forechecked the Sharks into oblivion.
That's the best Anaheim has looked this season and I have watched the Ducks play quite a bit.
On to tonight's Stars game. So, Mike Smith gets the start. You know what? He probably deserves it right now. Marty Turco has been off his game for a bit here and Smith is coming off a solid perfomance against Colorado and has played well each time they have put him in. Why not put him in there tonight?
I am not going to ready too much into it otherwise. It's one start. If Smith gets a lengthy run of starts then there is something to talk about.
22 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Avalanche Game/Rail Cam
Good game last night. Highly entertaining. There are still some disturbing trends in the Stars' game, especially these slow starts. But those were a good two points.
I watched some of the Rail Cam stuff last night on DVR and it was awful. Versus' use of it really disrupted the ability to follow the game. Even when the usual camera angle was used, Rail Cam was a distraction. There were a couple of times the camera was moving along, I caught it in my peripheral vision and thought someone was joining the rush. The rail itself on top of the glass was kind of a distraction.
I think it just took away from the game coverage from what I saw. Often times Versus lost the play when going to Rail Cam and never recovered until a replay could show what actually happene. Maybe they'll get better at it with time. My suggestion would be it is not a good live camera tool, but perhaps something better for replay/analysis.
Just because you have the ability to do something and it looks cool doesn't mean it effectively enhances your coverage of the game or helps the viewer in watching a game. Hockey is a fast paced sport and Rail Cam - like the Stars early - just wasn't up to the pace of the game.
21 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Carolina game
I guess you can look at the final score, the fact that the shots were even and that the Stars made a game of it in the third period, but I didn't think that was an impressive performance by the Stars. There were some strong elements like the penalty killing, the faceoff wins and some more of the depth guys scoring. Overall the Stars were sloppy. Too many penalties and too many turnovers.
I think Carolina's speed and aggressive play on the puck had a lot do with it. That caused the Stars to take penalties and cough up the puck, which led to a lot of the problems in the game.
The Stars are in a funk. I don't think they have played that well over the last three weeks and their record reflects that. They've lost four of six games. They are 5-5-0 in their last ten and three of the wins in that stretch have come against St. Louis, Los Angeles and Phoenix. It's been an inconsistent stretch of hockey.
But I am not going to read much into a ten-game stretch. Those are going to happen over the course of a long season. We'll see who they play over the next little bit. They have some good games coming up, starting with Colorado on Monday. They also have games on the horizon with Nashville and Detroit, two teams that have been playing very well as of late.
As Dave Tippett said after the game: "We have a lot of work to do with this team."
19 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Thrashers Game/Khomitski update
I guess people can take their fingers off the panic button for now. The Stars found some offense. The Thrashers, who have been giving up a lot of goals lately, were apparently just what the Stars needed. That's not to take anything away from the Stars. They did a great job getting people and pucks to the net. It's what they worked on a lot in Thursday's practice. They carried that mentality into Friday night's game and it paid dividends.
It was nice to see Patrik Stefan have a big night in his first game back in Atlanta. He, Mike Ribeiro and Matthew Barnaby made the most of their ice time on this night. That line was outstanding. It was nice to see Sergei Zubov pick up a couple of assists as well.
A good win and now it is on to Carolina. The Hurricanes are playing well so that should be another good test.
If anyone cares, defenseman Vadim Khomitski, who left the Iowa Stars for Russia a couple weeks ago to be with his pregnant wife, has started playing in the Russian Super League. He scored a goal in his first game.
18 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Tonight's game
Checked out the Thrahers' official site this morning and found this little tidbit on the morning skate update:
Jon Sim is looking forward to playing his old team (eight players are left form his days with the Stars) and he's looking forward to getting under the skin of a select few players. Sim prides himself on being a bit of a pest and says he plays his best when other teams are gunning for him.
Sim has seven goals in 20 games, but most of them came early in the season. He has just one in the last ten games and two in the last 14 games. If you do the math, he scored five of them in his first six games.
As for Niko Kapanen, he started the season poorly but has been coming around a bit and playing better. His ice time has gone up recently and he has been centering a line with Marian Hossa and Slava Kozlov on the wings. He had a couple of assists in a recent win over Ottawa, but for the season he has just one goal, three assists and a minus-five rating. He's averaging 10:24 of ice time and is getting very little special teams time.
17 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Stars-Islanders
Well, the Stars have hit a bump in the road here in the first quarter of the season. Actually it's a hole. An offensive hole. Three goals in four games. It's not just the power play either. It's everything offensively. They have one even strength goal in the last four games and none in the last three. That's not to say the power play isn't a problem. It is. Plenty of chances were squandered last night.
I understand what the Stars' goal is with scoring, the depth and scoring by committee and all. It looked promising early, but right now it has disappeared. Maybe it's just a slump. Maybe we were all lulled into a false sense of security by what happened early in the season.
But I pointed out before that a lot of things were going to have to go right for the Stars to produce offense this season. Some players had career years or close to career years last season and they would have to come close to matching those numbers again this season. Some of them aren't at this point. Others who were pleasant surprises early have cooled off and now it is adding up to a disturbing, albeit short, offensive slide.
It thought the Islanders were very good last night as a team. They played an excellent first period and made the most of their chances in periods two and three. I like Ted Nolan and am glad to see him back in the coaching ranks. He's done a nice job so far and really seems to be getting the most out of Alexei Yashin, who played an outstanding game last night.
16 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
NHL & YouTube
The NHL is team up with YouTube. The details are here.
A couple of excerpts from the press release:
- The partnership marks the first time that a professional U.S. sports league has entered into a content agreement with YouTube. The agreement will enable users to access video highlights of NHL regular season games, which will be available within 24 hours of the original broadcast, in addition to other on and off ice footage.
- Through its partnership with YouTube, the NHL will be able to take advantage of YouTube’s “Claim Your Content” program, which features an advanced content identification architecture and reporting system allowing the league to identify and protect its copyrighted content. The league will have the option to remove the content from YouTube or allow it to remain and share the revenue from the advertising placed adjacent to the content.
15 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Zubov and the Russian National Team
Sergei Zubov hasn't played for the Russian National team since the 1996 World Cup. Well, he's apparently ready to start playing for the Russians again according to this article on the Russian Hockey Digest website.
14 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Boucher
Philippe Boucher, who has been away from the team for personal reasons, was back at practice today.
14 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Odds & Ends
This schedule for the Stars is getting kind of old. Bunch of games in a short amount of time. Long break. Another bunch of games in a short time. Another long break. That's about to change. They'll be playing on a pretty regular basis for the next month or so. They have a three-day break the week before Christmas. Other than that they'll be playing games on a regular basis.
A lot of good games coming up over the next few weeks. First and only games against Atlanta and Carolina. First games against Nashville and Minnesota and Nashville. Another crack at Detroit. Three games against San Jose in December and another one against the Ducks. The New York Rangers will be at the AAC in about a month.
Speaking of the Rangers, one of the featured games on Google Video is Game 7 of the Rangers-Canucks 1994 Stanley Cup Final. That was a great game. I was home in New York for that one. I wasn't one of the 7.5 million people who have claimed to be at the game over the years. I was at a watching party. Check out #21 on the Rangers. That's a young Sergei Zubov.
13 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Coyotes Game
That was a defensive gem by the Stars last night. They needed it since they could muster only one goal for the third straight game. Phoenix got nothing offensively because the Stars' team defense smothered them or the Star had the Coyotes pinned down in their own end. It looked like men against boys at times out there. Not even close.
Offensively it was a different story the Stars, who scored just one goal for the third straight game. Curtis Joseph had something to do with that. He was outstanding. He wasn't flopping around, stand on your head outsanding, but he was virtually flawless. His positioning was superb, no bad rebounds and no major mistakes. Considering how badly his teammates were outplayed and the territorial advantage the Stars had, it was a superb and a wasted performance.
I don't think the Stars really forced Joseph to come up with any spectacular saves off a flurry of shots.
But it was two points for the Stars. An important two points. The Ducks and Sharks both won last night. Anaheim clobbered Vancouver 6-0 and San Jose beat LA 7-3. This Pacific Division race is going to be fun. The Sharks play at Phoenix and LA before the Stars play another game, so when Dallas plays next chances are they'll be in third based on points. Anaheim hosts Calgary and plays at Minnesota before the Stars-Islanders game on Wednesday.
10 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
The NHL season so far
Kevin Allen of USA Today, one the top hockey writers in the business, has some interesting material on the NHL season over the first month.
- Goal scoring is down 6% from last season
- Power play chances are down 15%
- Even strength scoring is up 3%
Players have obviously adjusted to the obstruction crackdown, but St. Louis Blues president John Davidson told Allen coaches are adjusting as well.
"I think we are seeing a lot being more cautious than they have ever been," Davidson says. "The sticks are down and there is much less hooking and holding, so the game has been much better in that regard. But coaches won't play run and gun. They are playing more conservatively. The coaches probably slow the game more than anyone else in my opinion."
Link: Players make adjustments, so do coaches
Allen also has a short article on attendance being down 2.1% so far this season.
09 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Flames Game
If you go back to the that Vancouver game a couple weeks ago the Stars have been in a bit of a lull. Their play has slipped a bit and they are 4-3-0 over the past seven games. Some of it has been due to fatigure and travel. It is probably just part of the ebb and flow of a long season.
I am not going to read much into it right now. Same way I didn't get too excited over the quick start. It is a long season. I'd like to see where they are at the end of this month. That's a ten game stretch and it includes games in Atlanta, Carolina and Detroit, and a game against Nashville. That will be 25 games into the season. That's a good place to have a pretty good read on the team.
Right now that scoring depth that has been serving them well has dried up a bit. The power play is struggling. Those offensive woes that were a concern to some are an issue right now.
We'll see how it goes in Phoenix.
08 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Canucks Game
I must say that was pretty boring game until the last minute goal. That added some excitement. But other than that, it was boring.
Is it just me but are about 95 percent of all delay of game penalties for putting the puck over the glass pointless? I thought both the calls against the Stars were just mishandles of the puck that went over the glass. I don't seen the point of the penalty in that case. They should rethink that rule. I guess determining intent could be difficult. Anyway, it was a good thing Darryl Sydor fell down and drew a penalty on Jan Bulis to keep the Canucks from getting a lengthy five-on-three.
The late elbowing call on Brenden Morrow was kind of iffy, but he did get his elbow up and coupled with Josh Green's head snapping back it sure resembled a penalty. Payback for what happened in Edmonton the other night. Who thought it would have evened out so quickly. Doesn't do the Oilers any good since all it meant is that Vancouver moved three points ahead of them.
The Stars power play? It's becoming a sore point.
I thought Mike Smith was OK. The Kevin Bieksa goal was ugly, but I liked the way Smith bounced back. People screw up. How they handle those screw ups is important and I think Smith handled it well.
Flames tonight. Another desperate team. I haven't seen much of the Flames this season, so I am looking forward to watching them tonight. The game against the Stars and their next two (Ducks and Canucks) are big games for them. They really need these games to get back on track.
Another win for the Ducks last night. They beat the Pens in OT. They are now 11-0-4. It's an impressive start.
07 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
GM Meetings
General managers meet tomorrow in Toronto to discuss a variety of issues. Among them is the schedule, which a lot of people seem to dislike for reason or another. I don't like it because I get sick of seeing games against the Coyotes, Kings, Ducks and Sharks and not all the teams in the East. Carolina GM Jim Rutherford wants to scrap games between Eastern Conference and Western Confernce teams. Others want to keep the status quo.
TSN's Bob McKenzie recently offered a middle ground solution that would keep the eight games against divisional foes, but have teams play every other team in the league as well by playing one fewer game against other teams in the conference.
Arbitration will be discussed as well. There will be a discussion of the officiating so far this season.
Of course the trade rumors are starting to heat up as well.
06 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Tonight's game
So, it looks like Mike Smith gets the start tonight against the Canucks. You had to figure he was going to start one of the games on the trip and the Canucks may be the toughest opponent, so it will be a good test for Smith. Of course, the Canucks, Flames and Coyotes are all struggling right now.
Still, I'd rather see Smith in a game against a team like Vancouver than see him play again against Phoenix or the offensively challenged Flames. He'll have his hands full with the Sedin twins skating around for 20 minutes tonight. That should keep him on his toes and be a challenge in itself.
06 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Walkom on McGeough and officiating
Good
article in today's Edmonton Journal on the Mick McGeough call in Friday's game. It's an interview with Stephen Walkom, the NHL's head of officiating.
05 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Injury reports
It's well known that NHL teams can be vague about player injuries. The Minnesota Wild will now have an official policy on discussing injuries going foward. The team will be, well, vague. Here's a story that on the issue earlier this week in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I don't think any of the issues discussed in the article should should come as a surprise, but it is still a good read.
05 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
The MacTavish fine
Craig MacTavish gets fined $10,000 for his post-game rant about the officiating Friday night. Did he have a right to be furious? Sure. Did he have a right to say he was furious. Yep. Should he have been fined? Yeah. Using words like "retarded" and "spastic" were what got him in trouble. The league just can't let that go.
I had to chuckle when I listened to his comments after the game. I don't think I've heard anyone use the term spastic since high school. Parts of his rant sounded like an upset teenager. The league probably expects better from its coaches and as a resutl he got fined.
04 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Oilers Game
I've had some Stars fans tell me that they think Mick McGeough has it in for the Stars. I listened to the Oilers post-game show last night and some of their fans were complaining that Mick has it in for their team. Right now, the Oilers fans have the better argument.
I usually don't comment much about the officiating. It's part of the game and I think when all is said and done, players decide games.
But that was quite a mess last night. I give McGeough credit for coming out and saying he blew the "hand pass" call at the end of the game. I still don't know why he made the call from where he was standing. He was across the ice from the play and there was a linesmen looking right down at the play as Shawn Horcoff and Stu Barnes where battling for the puck on the faceoff. The linesmen actually lifted his skate when Horcoff won the battle and got the puck back to the point. I just find it hard to believe that McGeough thought he had a good look where he could make a definitive call.
There were suggestions from the Stars, including Marty Turco, that the whistle blew and that changed the dynamic of the play. That's a possibility. You could see Jeff Halpern, who was well out of the play, with his hands up in the air as Ales Hemsky was getting ready to put the shot on net.
I thought Dwayne Roloson was interfered with by Eric Lindros on the first Stars goal. Jarrett Stoll said after the game that he was told by an official that call was botched as well.
All that shouldn't take away from a well played game by the Stars. Lost in all the controversy over the calls was the fact that the Oilers had a five-on-three for 1:21 with a chance to tie the game in the second period and generated absolutely nothing due to a strong Dallas penalty kill. The Oilers turned over the puck 27 times to just ten for the Stars. One of those Oilers turnovers led to a two-on-break that resulted in a Niklas Hagman goal.
The Stars caught some breaks from the officiating, but they still played an excellent road game. That's the bottom line.
04 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Odds & Ends
Stars and Oilers. In Edmonton. On a Friday night. Enough said.
The New York Rangers are starting to get their game in order and that's helped the Stars. Rangers, who are on the road, beat the Ducks in OT the other night and then knocked off the Sharks 3-1 last night. Jaromir Jagr is still one of those guys who makes a game worth watching all by himself. He picked Joe Thornton's pocket last night and created a great scoring chance at one point. The Sharks have some issues. One of the big ones is they rely way too much on their power play to provide offense.
There's a new feature over at Google: NHL Video on Google. The Dallas Stars section is here. If you get a chance watch Game 6 of the the 1974 Stanley Cup Final between the Bruins and Flyers. Not only do you get to see Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Bobby Clarke and Berine Parent play, but Stars GM Doug Armstrong's dad, Neil, is on of the linesmen in the game.
03 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Mark Cuban and Evgeni Malkin
Mavs owner Mark Cuban has interesting post on his blog about his "new all time favorite NHL player." That would be Evgeni Malkin. It's a great read.
Malkin scored again last night. Six games and he's scored a goal in each one. He had two last night, including the game-winner in OT against the Kings.
Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury come to Dallas in January. It's the first game after the All-Star break. It's not too early to start looking forward to it. Not the All-Star stuff, but the Penguins.
02 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Blues game
The fights at the end of last night's game added some spice to what was an otherwise pretty bland game. Except for Eric Lindros' peformance that is. He was outstanding. The defensive play on the two-on-break during that dismal Stars five-on-three power play was huge.
I thought Jussi Jokinen turned in a strong game as well. He's been kind of quiet at times this season, so it's nice to see him make some strong plays.
Can't say enough about Mike Modano's play this season. It's not just the goal scoring. He just seems to have an extra little zip in his game. His ice time is being kept in a reasonable range. He's just under 18:00 per game this season compared with 19:33 last season and 20:27 in 2003-04. That's being helped by the team's overall depth at forward and the presence of Jeff Halpern.
Interesting story by Richie Witt on Marty Turco in this week's Dallas Observer.
02 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
Guerin returns, Stefan debuts
Bill Guerin returns tonight and Patrik Stefan should make his Stars debut. Those will be a couple of interesting sidebars to tonight's game.
It will be interesting to see what Stefan can do. He didn't do much in the pre-season, but that may have had to do with the hip injury.
On Guerin, I believe he will also be making a return to BaD Radio on The Ticket this afternoon. It will be 12:50 p.m. according to Bob and Dan's site.
There are articles on Guerin's return today in both the Dallas Morning News and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
I've seen the Blues a couple of times and they are a hard working team and find a way to stay in games.
A couple of site notes. Site traffic is up 76 percent over this time last year. Little old Andrew's was at 825,000 page views for the month. Subcriptions to the main portion of the site were up 50 percent over October 2005.
01 November '06 - - default| - § ¶
