Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Stars-Sharks thoughts

You can’t fault the effort in this game. The Stars played really well. Even though they were without Mike Modano (flu) and then lost Toby Petersen (lower body) in the second period, they still outplayed San Jose for the most part. The difference was Evgeni Nabokov, who had a very good game in goal. He made some nice saves. The Sharks cashed in on one of their chances and that was the hockey game.

I thought the Stars were really good in the first period. I thought they looked really good on that first power play early in the second period. None of it added up to anything as far as goals and you need some of those to win.

I thought Brian Sutherby stepped up and played a nice game with Modano out. A lot of guys played hard. But no points out of this one, and that’s the bottom line.

The effort is something they can build on moving forward, but the effort has to add up to some points. It’s just too close to slip even a little. The Stars are 3-4-0 over their last seven games. They are 6-5-0 in February, which was supposed to be the month where they wanted to make a strong push. Actually, they have slipped a little. They had a pretty good grip on fifth place based on points percentage, but are now 7th, barely behind Minnesota and barely ahead of Edmonton.

St. Louis will be another big game, and don’t discount the Blues. They are playing some decent hockey and have been for more than a month. They have points in 14 of their last 17 games (9-3-5).

Here are postgame quotes from Stars PR and Dave Tippett audio:

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Renney out in NY, Tortorella to take over

Tom Renney is out as head coach of the New York Rangers and John Tortorella will be taking ovver. Steve ZIpay of Newsday is keeping up with all the latest on this and so is TSN.

The first thing that popped into my mind when this all went down was: What about Sean Avery? If the Rangers were to pluck him off re-entry waivers and put him on a team with Tortorella behind the bench, it would be interesting.  Tortorella had some not so nice things to say about Avery back in December, when Avery pulled his stunt in Calgary, got suspended by the NHL and became a pariah to the Stars. Tortorella, during his gig as an analyst for TSN, offered this on Avery.

“He’s a selfish ass. … He’s embarrassed himself, he’s embarrassed his organization, more importantly he’s embarrassed his teammates. … Send him home. He doesn’t belong in the league.”

We’ll see what happens. 

Stars practice in Farmers Branch Tuesday

Just got a note from the Stars that Tuesday’s practice (February 24) will be held at the Farmers Branch Dr Pepper StarCenter from Noon to 1 pm. It is open to the public. The Farmers Branch facility is located between the I-35 Access road and Denton Drive, just south of Valley View Lane.  12700 N. Stemmons Freeway.

Ovechkin vs. Crosby

NBC’s Game of the Week turned out to be a good one because it featured two of the game’s biggest stars - Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby - and things got a little heated. Here’s how the AP opened its recap of the game:

After a little push-and-shove, Sidney Crosby was still running his mouth, even as his helmet came off and a linesman tried to push him back toward the bench.

Alex Ovechkin responded with a dismissive, “bye-bye” wave of the left hand, practically taunting the Pittsburgh Penguins star.

It’s official: The two biggest names in the NHL don’t care for each other. Ovechkin is tired of Crosby’s constant jawing, and Crosby has no love for Ovechkin’s theatrics. The emotions were there for all to see Sunday as Ovechkin scored his league-leading 43rd goal and the Washington Capitals thumped the Penguins 5-2.

“What I can say about him?” Ovechkin said. “He is a good player, but he talks too much.”

And what does Crosby make of Ovechkin’s showmanship?

“Like it or lump it, that’s what he does,” Crosby said. “Some people like it, some people don’t. Personally, I don’t like it.”

Here is more on the verbal jousting during the game from the Washington Post blog.

Here are clips from the isolation cameras that NBC had on Ovechkin and Crosby. About a minute in is where there is the little scrum and some of Ovechkin’s reactions on the bench.

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Sunday practice update

It was an optional skate today and a pretty energetic, long one too. A lot of the younger guys stayed out on the ice a long time. Everybody else was working out off ice. The only guy not around was Mike Modano, who is battling the flu. He was battling it during yesterday’s game as well.

Among the players on the ice today was Doug Janik, who was recalled from his conditioning stint with Rockford of the AHL. That pushes the Stars to 23 active players, which is the maximum. They have 13 forwards (Landon Wilson is still on IR), eighth defensemen and the two goalies. They are expected to swap out goalies this week, bringing back Tobias Stephan and sending Brent Krahn down so he can get some playing time.

Coach Dave Tippett said Stephan’s time in the minors should have him up to speed if the Stars need him, which was the goal of the assignment, but that it probably won’t change much as far as how Marty Turco will be used.

“We’re in a tight playoff race and we’re going to play the people that give us the best chance to win every night,” Tippett said. “If there is a situation where we feel like Marty is fatigued or for what ever the reason the other guy gives us the best chance to win, we’ll put him in.”

Stephan loses in shootout

Tobias Stephan stopped 17 of 19 shots in regulation and overtime and seven of ten in the shootout, but lost 3-2 Saturday night in his latest game with Bridgeport. Stephan is 4-0-1 with a 1.91 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. Stephan should be back to Dallas this week.

Here are the highlights of last night’s game, including a rather long shootout.

Sunday morning look at the West

The Stars are still in seventh place after yesterday's full slate of games, but they've dropped to sixth based on points percentage. The Canucks, who won in Toronto yesterday, have eight wins in nine games and now rank 5th in both points and points percentage. Today's only key game is Minnesota playing at Chicago. The Wild notched a big win in Detroit yesterday and, while in 10th in points, moved into eighth based on points percentage.

The points pace for the eighth and final spot remains at 89 points, which is seven games over .500.

Here are yesterday's results.

Chicago 3, Dallas 1
Phoenix 6, Los Angeles 3
San Jose 3, Atlanta 1
Vancouver 3, Toronto 2 (SO)
Anaheim 5, Columbus 2
Minnesota 5, Detroit 2
Nashville 1, St. Louis 0 (OT)
Calgary 3, Edmonton 2 (SO)
 

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Sunday
1	San Jose	57	40	8	9	89	idle
2	Detroit	60	39	13	8	86	idle
3	Calgary	59	35	18	6	76	idle
4	Chicago	57	34	15	8	76	vs. Minnesota
5	Vancouver	59	30	21	8	68	idle
6	Columbus	60	30	24	6	66	idle
7	Dallas	58	29	22	7	65	idle
8	Edmonton	59	29	25	5	63	idle
9	Anaheim	61	29	27	5	63	idle
10	Minnesota	57	29	24	4	62	at Chicago
11	Nashville	60	28	28	4	60	idle
12	Los Angeles	58	25	24	9	59	idle
13	Phoenix	60	27	28	5	59	idle
14	St. Louis	59	25	26	8	58	idle
15	Colorado	59	28	30	1	57	at Carolina

Here are the points percentage standings.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PTS %
1	San Jose	57	40	8	9	89	.781
2	Detroit	60	39	13	8	86	.717
3	Calgary	59	35	18	6	76	.644
4	Chicago	57	34	15	8	76	.667
5	Vancouver	59	30	21	8	68	.576
6	Dallas	58	29	22	7	65	.560
7	Columbus	60	30	24	6	66	.550
8	Minnesota	57	29	24	4	62	.544
9	Edmonton	59	29	25	5	63	.534
10	Anaheim	61	29	27	5	63	.516
11	Los Angeles	58	25	24	9	59	.509
12	Nashville	60	28	28	4	60	.500
13	Phoenix	60	27	28	5	59	.492
14	St. Louis	59	25	26	8	58	.492
15	Colorado	59	28	30	1	57	.483

Stars-Blackhawks thoughts

I thought the Stars would be better in this game. They weren’t. 3-1 doesn’t look as bad as 6-2, but Marty Turco made sure the score didn’t get out of hand. He made some big saves and one spectacular one (video below). Turco was their best player again.

The penalties early in the game didn’t help the cause. Chicago got the first goal on the power play and the Stars were chasing the Blackhawks the rest of the afternoon. They scored on the delayed penalty in the second and it was 2-0.

The Stars power play failed in the second period. It could have gotten them back in the game. I thought the Turco save on Toews, which is one of the best I have seen this season, could have been a turning point. The Stars went on the power play right after that. They score there and it could have been a huge shift in momentum. They didn’t and Matt Walker scores late in the period to make it 3-0.

Steve Ott got that breakaway goal and the Stars got a little life, but it was too little way too late.

Chicago’s a very good team. They have a lot of skill, they move the puck well, they defend well and they have very good goaltending. That makes them a tough matchup for anyone, not just the Stars. The problem for the Stars is I don’t think they’ve played a decent game against Chicago in the four games. Do that and you will get swept by a team that good. It’s pretty simple.

We’ll see how they respond against San Jose Monday. They are going to need to be a lot better.

Here’s the highlight of Turco’s save on Toews and some quotes provided by Stars PR. 

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Friday practice update

A pretty typical day out in Frisco this afternoon. A few guys had the day off to rest. Bumps and bruises, according to coach Dave Tippett. Nothing that is expected to keep anyone out of tomorrow’s game. The players off the ice were Mike Modnao, Steve Ott and Trevor Daley.

The lineup looked basically the same as last night. They just plugged in Landon Wilson. Mark Parrish and Andrew Hutchinson to fill the holes.

Ray Sawada was still smiling.

It’s bring on Chicago tomorrow afternoon.

THN ranks the goalies

The Hockey News is out with it's goaltender rankings for this season and Marty Turco comes in at No. 15, down from No. 10 last season. Considering the start he had to the season, that's not too bad. If you went with play right now he'd be much higher. Boston's Tim Thomas comes in at No. 1, followed by Niklas Backstrom, Steve Mason, Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller. Ex-Star Mike Smith came in at No. 22.

The Anaheim situation is interesting. Jonas Hiller comes in at No. 9 on the list and J-S Giguere ranks 30th.

Three guys ranked in the top five last year are not on this year's list: Marty Brodeur, Pascal Leclaire and Chris Osgood. Obviously, Brodeur is hurt. So is Leclaire and he's seen Mason jump ahead of him on the food chain in Columbus. Osgood has had a rough year and Ty Conklin is Detroit's guy on the list at No. 18.

THN also builds the perfect goalie, and decides when it comes to athleticism Turco is the standard.

"With his reflexes, he's able to do things other guys can't get away with," Stars broadcaster Daryl Reaugh told THN. "Sometimes he can be rather sloppy with his technique, but he gets away with things because of his athleticism."

Here's how THN builds the perfect goalie:

Glove - Brodeur
Stick - Brodeur
Brain - Lundqvist
Legs - Luongo
Shoulders - Luongo
Flexibility - Kiprusoff
Eyes - Kiprusoff
Size - S. Mason
Athleticism - Turco
Blocker - Vokoun
Feet - Nabokov
Spine - Luongo
Heart - Thomas

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