Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Western Conference playoffs

Only one playoff matchup in the West is set and that’s (4) Chicago vs. (5) Calgary. Everything else comes down to the result of the St. Louis at Colorado game this evening. The Blues can finish either sixth or eighth. Here’s how it breaks down.

If St. Louis wins then the Blues finish sixth and the pairings look like this:

(1) San Jose vs. (8) Anaheim
(2) Detroit vs. (7) Columbus
(3) Vancouver vs. (6) St. Louis
(4) Chicago vs. (5) Calgary

If the Blues lose - whether in regulation or OT/shootout - they end up in eighth and it will breakdown this way:

(1) San Jose vs. (8) St. Louis
(2) Detroit vs. (7) Anaheim
(3) Vancouver vs. (6) Columbus
(4) Chicago vs. (5) Calgary

Climie update

For those of you wondering what’s up with Matt Climie now that he’s back in the ECHL, he stopped 36 of 38 shots Saturday but the Idaho Steelheads lost their playoff opener 3-1 to the Victoria Salmonkings. Game 2 of the series is Sunday evening in Boise.

Eastern Conference matchups set

The Eastern Conference playoff matchups are set and they are some pretty good ones.

(1) Boston vs. (8) Montreal
(2) Washington vs. (7) NY Rangers
(3) New Jersey vs. (6) Carolina
Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh

Home ice is still yet to be determined in the Flyers-Penguins series. 

Vishnevskiy to AHL

The Stars have assigned Ivan Vishnevskiy back to to Peoria of the AHL. Here’s the release from the Stars:

FRISCO, Tex. - The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has assigned defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy to the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League (AHL). Vishnevskiy will join the Rivermen for the first round of the AHL playoffs.

Vishnevskiy, 20, was recalled by the Stars on April 4 and made his NHL debut April 7 in Minnesota, recording 17:18 of ice time with two penalty minutes. He recorded his first career NHL point with an assist April 9 at Colorado, where he registered five shots on goal in 20:06 of ice time. Vishnevskiy also earned an assist last night at Anaheim.

Vishnevskiy has appeared in 67 games for Peoria this season, scoring six goals and 13 assists for 19 points, tied for third among Rivermen defensemen in goals and fifth in points. He was also called up by the Stars on Dec. 31 of this season, but was a healthy scratch for three games.

Drafted by Dallas in the first round (No. 27 overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Vishnevskiy played for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) last season, scoring 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 45 games. The 5-11, 176-pound defenseman also appeared in 17 playoff games for the Huskies, posting six assists with 16 penalty minutes.

The native of Barnaul, Russia, was named to the QMJHL Second All-Star Team in 2007-08, and he led all QMJHL rookie defensemen in scoring in 2005-06 with 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists). He skated for Russia in the 2006 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge, and participated in the 2006 CHL Top Prospects Game.

Saturday update

With two days left in the season the 16 teams heading to the playoffs are set. There are still some seeding issues to sort out, but the first round should provide some good matchups regardless of how it shakes out. The bottom three three teams in the West are all good teams and will be tough opponents for the top three in the West. How ever it shakes out in the East, it should be fun too. A Boston-Montreal first round matchup would be great. New Jersey is going to have its hands full with who ever ends up at the six spot. Ditto for Washington and the seventh seed. We'll just have to see how it sorts out, but anyway you look at it, there should be some good matchups.

Western Conference		Eastern Conference
1. San Jose	117	1. Boston	114
2. Detroit	112	2. Washington	108
3. Vancouver	98	3. New Jersey	104
4. Chicago	100	4. Philadelphia	97
5. Calgary	96	5. Carolina	97
6. Columbus	92	6. Pittsburgh	97
7. Anaheim	90	7. NY Rangers	93
8. St. Louis	90	8. Montreal	93

As for the draft lottery, the Stars are locked in at the No. 8 spot. The best they can do is win the lottery and move up four spots. Regardless of what happens there, they will get a good player in this season's draft.
 

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
1	NY Islanders	80	26	45	9	61
2	Tampa Bay	81	24	39	18	66
3	Colorado	80	32	44	4	68
4	Atlanta	81	34	41	6	74
5	Los Angeles	81	33	37	11	77
6	Phoenix	81	35	39	7	77
7	Toronto	81	33	35	13	79
8	Dallas	82	36	35	11	83
9	Ottawa	81	36	34	11	83
10	Edmonton	81	38	34	9	85
11	Minnesota	81	39	33	9	87
12	Nashville	82	40	34	8	88
13	Buffalo	81	40	32	9	89
14	Florida	81	40	30	11	91

That’s a wrap

Well, t’s over. What’s been a disappointing season for the Stars came to an end with a 4-3 shootout loss in Anaheim. There will be plenty of time to hash out the season in the coming days. The team holds it season-ending meetings Monday in Frisco and then they players head off into the offseason. Management has plenty of work to do, so there will be plenty to talk about as the team moves forward. Draft lottery is on Tuesday. After that most of the focus is going to be on the playoffs, which should be great. Some of the Stars players will end up playing at the World Championships, so that will be something to follow too.

Anyway, on to Friday’s game. It was a good effort. They played hard and gave the Ducks a good game.  Steve Ott had a great game. That scene with him and Mike Brown on the bench at the start of the third was classic (YouTube video below). Fabian Brunnstrom notched another goal. As I said yesterday, he’s really played well down the stretch here. There’s still a ways to go for him, but he’s made some big strides. Ivan Vishnevskiy had another really strong game. A lot of the young players played big minutes down the stretch or they played in key roles or special teams, and all that is good experience for down the road.

The Ducks clinched a playoff spot when the game went to OT. The Blues got in earlier when they won and Nashville lost to Minnesota. Both the Predators and Wild are out. So, the playoff teams are set in both conferences, but seeding is still up in the air.

Ott & Brown on the bench

Goal, save, hit of the season

NHL.com has posted the goal, save and hit of the season as voted on by fans. Here they are.

Goal of the season: T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues

Save of the season: Joey MacDonald of the New York Islanders on Detroit’s Mikael Samuelsson

Hit of the season: Boston’s Milan Lucic on Toronto’s Mike Van Ryn

Climie back to ECHL

With Marty Turco expected to get the start tonight in Anaheim, the Stars have sent Matt Climie back to the Idaho Steelheads, who are in the ECHL playoffs. Here’s the release from the Stars.

The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has assigned goaltender Matt Climie to the Idaho Steelheads of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). Idaho will face the Victoria Salmon Kings in the first round of the ECHL Playoffs.

Climie, 26, made his NHL debut Apr. 4 vs. St. Louis, stopping 22 of 26 shots for his first NHL win. He became just the fifth Dallas Stars goaltender to win in his NHL debut with the team (also Mike Torchia, Roman Turek, Dan Ellis and Mike Smith).

In three consecutive starts with Dallas, Climie went 2-1-0 with a 2.92 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage, playing 185 minutes and stopping 76 of 85 shots faced.

Climie has an ECHL record of 27-12-1 this season with a 2.30 goals-against-average, a .915 save percentage and four shutouts. The native of Leduc, Alta., was named the RBK ECHL Goaltender of the Week for March 23-29, and received the CCM ECHL Rookie of the Month for December, after going 5-1-0 with a 2.31 GAA and a .920 save percentage for the month.

The 6-3, 205-pound goaltender was 2-0-0 at the 2008 NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich., helping the Stars win the championship. He finished his four-year career at Bemidji State ranked first in school history in shutouts (12) and second in save percentage (.908). He earned First-Team All-CHA honors as a junior, and was selected to the Second Team All-CHA squad as a senior. Climie was signed by Dallas as a free agent on Mar. 20, 2008. 

Friday update

If things had gone better for the Stars this could been a huge game tonight for the them. Now, it's just a big game for the Ducks, who are in a three-way tie with St. Louis and Nashville at 88 points. All three of those teams can clinch a spot tonight depending on how things play out tonight. With some help from NHL.com, here's how it breaks down for each team:

Anaheim

If they beat the Dallas Stars or if they get one point against Dallas and the Nashville Predators get one or no points against the Minnesota Wild.

St. Louis

If they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nashville Predators get one or no points against the Minnesota Wild.

Nashville

If they beat the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues lose in regulation to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Out East the eight teams are set. The Rangers and Canadiens both clinched spots last night, joining Boston, New Jersey, Washington, Philadelphia, Carolina and Pittsburgh in the playoffs.

Last night's key games in the West:

Nashville 4, Detroit 3 (SO)
Vancouver 1, Los Angeles 0
Phoenix 4, San Jose 1

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Friday
1	San Jose	81	53	17	11	117	idle
2	Detroit	80	51	19	10	112	idle
3	Vancouver	81	44	27	10	98	idle
4	Chicago	80	44	24	12	100	idle
5	Calgary	80	45	29	6	96	at. Edmonton
6	Columbus	80	41	29	10	92	at St. Louis
7	Anaheim	80	41	33	6	88	vs. Dallas
8	St. Louis	80	39	31	10	88	vs. Columbus
9	Nashville	81	40	33	8	88	at Minnesota
10	Minnesota	80	38	33	9	85	vs. Nashville

As for the draft lottery, the Stars are still in the No. 8 spot. That's as a high as they can go, which means the highest pick they can get is the fourth pick.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
1	NY Islanders	80	26	45	9	61
2	Tampa Bay	81	24	39	18	66
3	Colorado	80	32	44	4	68
4	Atlanta	81	34	41	6	74
5	Los Angeles	81	33	37	11	77
6	Phoenix	81	35	39	7	77
7	Toronto	81	33	35	13	79
8	Dallas	81	36	35	10	82
9	Ottawa	81	36	34	11	83
10	Edmonton	80	37	34	9	83
11	Minnesota	80	38	33	9	85
12	Nashville	81	40	33	8	88
13	Buffalo	81	40	32	9	89
14	Florida	81	40	30	11	91

Stars-Avalanche thoughts

Even though that was a meaningless game and wasn’t all that exciting until the Mike Ribeiro show in the shootout, I still enjoyed watching it. I like watching some of the younger players get a chance to log a lot of ice time in key situations. Tom Wandell got some good power play time. Ivan Vishnevskiy got significant time on both the power play and penalty kill. I thought Vishnevskiy had a pretty strong game in the offensive end. He was pretty active in this game and looked good. His skill set really stood out. Fabian Brunnstrom has been playing well lately. He’s really shown a lot of improvement as the season has moved along.

That was probably Matt Climie’s last start for now. Marty Turco should get the nod Friday night in Anaheim. Climie had a pretty good game. He was an adventure at times, got some help from the posts but he made some big saves and he came up with a nice poke check on T.J. Hensick in the shootout. Overall, Climie played well. He was a pleasant surprise. He’s been great in the ECHL, but it’s a big jump to the NHL and he handled it well. He’s an adventure at times with his puckhandling and rebounds, but he’s made an impression.

Of course, the highlight of the night was the Ribeiro shootout goal. He’s always working on stuff in practice and I don’t really recall if I’ve seen that one. That was a great move and the puck bounced his way. It’s definitely highlight reel material. If you missed it, here it is thanks to YouTube.

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