Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

What a night for Fabian

I had to chuckle a bit after Fabian Brunnstrom scored his first goal. I had a real good laugh when he notched the hat trick. That’s because on Tuesday Dave Tippett was really downplaying expectations.There’s nothing wrong with that either. The hype surrounding Brunnstrom was pretty high last year and in the spring and Tippett was trying to keep things in check. Then Brunnstrom goes out and pulls off something like that. 

Take away the goals and I thought he looked very good out there. He’s really come a long way since he played in Traverse City and showed up at training camp in Frisco a few days later.

You could see once he got the first one that his confidence really started to grow. There was a point he was really banging his stick on the ice for the puck.

Obviously he set the bar pretty high and he isn’t going to hit it or even come close to hitting it every night, but it was a great way for him to start and should give him a shot of confidence moving forward.

I thought Mike Modano was sharp tonight as well. He looked good with James Neal and B.J. Crombeen. The kids seem to have jump started him a bit. Those three were a good line.

As for the team as a whole, I saw some things I liked. I thought their start to the game was much, much better than the first two. They were lousy in the first period in the first two games, but played well Wednesday night.

The power play was so-so, but it scored a big goal that got them the early lead. The interesting thing about all that is that it was an offensive zone penalty on the Predators. But because of a new rule this year the faceoff came down into Stars offensive zone and that was important because the Stars scored right off that faceoff and there were just ten seconds left in the period.

I also saw some things I didn’t like. They are still having some issues in their own end. Giving up four a night ain’t going to cut it. I am sure this will come with time, but right now it’s an issue.

Bottom line I think the two points were important. They needed the win and they got it. St. Louis will be tough tomorrow night. Andy Murray’s Blues usually play them tough and St. Louis will be rested. The Stars need to build on this one and take another step forward.

But this one goes down in the books as Brunnstrom’s debut and what a night it was. I was really happy for him. He’s a great guy. Very nice to talk to, always upbeat and very humble. Glad to see him to do well. 

Arnott out for the Predators

Center Jason Arnott is out for at least three games with a hand injury suffered in Monday night’s win over Chicago, which means he’ll miss Wednesday night’s game against the Stars.

Details here from The Tennessean. 

Practice update: Tuesday

Here’s what was going on Tuesday at practice:

Mike Ribeiro practiced and will play.

Jere Lehtinen did not practice and is doubtful. He skated on his own today and could skate with the team tomorrow morning, but is still listed as doubtful.

Philippe Boucher and Steve Ott did not practice today. Their status is up in the air for tomorrow.

“Nothing serious I hope, but we’ll see where they are tomorrow,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said about Boucher and Ott.

Fabian Brunnstrom is expected to play tomorrow, making his NHL debut. He’s excited.

Here were the lines and defensive combinations for practice. They had only 12 forwards and six defensemen on the ice.

Forwards

Morrow-Ribeiro-Eriksson
Brunnstrom-Richards-Avery
Neal-Modano-Crombeen
Lundqvist-Petersen-Barch

Defensemen
Grossman-Robidas
Daley-Niskanen
Fistric-Janik

TV schedule change

The Stars sent out a note about an upcoming change to the TV schedule.

The October 23 game against the New York Islanders will now be carried by FSN.

The October 25 game against the Washington Capitals will be carried by Channel 27

Bettman on Avery

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is in Wasington tonight for the Caps-Canucks game and while talking to reporters he was asked about Sean Avery’s comments that the NHL does a terrible job of marketing the game. Avery made those comments in an interview with ESPN’s E:60, saying: “I mean it would certainly be good for the game if we marketed the game, but the NHL does a terrible job of marketing. They just, they haven’t figured it out that villains and heroes are what sells. Our commissioner hasn’t realized that he needs to probably do a better job of marketing the game and certainly some of the players in it. But I don’t think that’s ever going to change unless they hire me to run their marketing stuff.”

Here was Bettman’s response, according to the Washington Times:

“We market, there a campaigns, there are commercials. Sean Avery is never bashful with his opinions. I respect his right to have an opinion; That doesn’t mean I agree with it or give it any credence.”

Monday practice update

The Stars were down to 12 forwards at practice Monday because Mike Ribeiro was out with an undisclosed injury. Coach Dave Tippett said there was a chance Ribeiro could practice Tuesday and he didn’t indicate that any missed games would be involved.

Jere Lehtinen did not practice today, but he did skate on his own before practice. He’ll be evaluated later to see if he could practice Tuesday, so his status for Wednesday is still up in the air.

Here’s how the lines looked for practice, which Tippett said was geared towards getting players to work together:

Morrow-Richards-Eriksson
Brunnstrom-Modano-Avery
Neal-Ott-Crombeen
Lundqvist-Petersen-Barch

The defensive pairings were juggled with several different combinations used. 

TSN story on Avery

TSN did a story on Sean Avery and talked to a lot of other people associated with the Stars but not with Avery, who refused to talk with the Canadian sports network. Here’s the result:

http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip102027#clip102027

Avery’s misconducts

Sean Avery ended up with two game misconducts Saturday night, which means he is two-thirds of his way to a one-game suspension. If he gets a third game misconduct he’s looking at some timeoff because NHL rule 23.3 states:

In regular League games, any player or goalkeeper who incurs a total of three (3) game misconduct penalties in the “General Category” and exclusive of other designated categories, shall be suspended for the next League game of his team. For each subsequent game misconduct penalty, the automatic suspension shall be increased by one game. For each suspension of a player or goalkeeper, his Club shall be fined one thousand dollars ($1,000).

Avery’s first game misconduct was for being engaged in the second altercation on the ice. That’s why he and Dan Hamhuis both got the boot. This one is rule 47.7, which states:

47.7 Fighting After the Original Altercation - A game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who is assessed a major penalty for fighting after the original altercation.

Notwithstanding this rule, at the discretion of the Referee, the automatic game misconduct penalty may be waived for a player or goalkeeper in the altercation if the opposing player was clearly the instigator of the altercation.

The second game misconduct for Avery for protesting the call, which can be upgraded all the way to a game misconduct if the violator is particularly determined with his protest. This little tidbit appears in a couple places in the rule book:

Game misconduct penalties shall be assessed under this rule for the following infractions:

(i) Any player or goalkeeper who, after being assessed a misconduct penalty, persists in challenging or disputing the ruling of an official..

Not a great start

Well, the Stars aren’t off to a flying start here. I’d say Saturday’s game was a step back from Friday. I figured the Predators were going to be tough. They were coming off a lousy effort the night before and it was their home opener. Still, I expected a little more from the Stars.

They don’t took very good right now. They are out of sync. The execution is poor. They just look sloppy.

It’s just two games, so I think it’s way too early to even mention the “P” word, (That’s panic for those of you who might not know what I am talking about) but you don’t want what’s going now to continue to hang around their game.

You can run through a laundry list of things they need to work on, but the power play has to be high on the list. The poor preseason performance has carried over into the regular season. In fact, a lot of stuff has carried over from the preseason.

I can’t think of too many guys who have been stellar here in the first two games. There’s been a guy here and a guy there, but you won’t win many that just a few guys on board.

Still, give credit to the Predators. They played an excellent game. They won a lot of the puck battles and really did a nice job of limiting the Stars’ chances.

They get the Predators again Wednesday and then they play the Blues in St. Louis. None of these teams are ranked high in a lot of the preseason prognostications but they are all hard working teams that have given the Stars some trouble in the past. That makes them challenging games and even more challenging the way the Stars are playing.

There could be some lineup changes by then. Jere Lehtinen could be ready to play. I think there are enough guys who have been lackluster that Dave Tippett could probably pull one out and move Fabian Brunnstrom in. That might help, but his goes beyond just a couple guys. This is an entire team thing right now. 

Peca update: suspended indefinitely

Here’s an update on Columbus center Michael Peca. Here’s a blurb from NHL.com:

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Michael Peca has been automatically suspended per Rule 41, Physical Abuse of Officials, Category 2.

Peca was assesed a game misconduct penalty at 5:21 of the second period of NHL Game #15 Friday night at Dallas.

Peca has appealed the suspension but will remain suspended pending a hearing to be scheduled next week.

Page 161 of 171 pages « First  <  159 160 161 162 163 >  Last »