Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Friday morning look at the West

The Stars are still in seventh based on points and fifth based on points percentage after last night's games. Vancouver and Columbus both won, and Minnesota lost in overtime. The Wild rank tenth in points but moved up to eighth based on points percentage, just ahead of the Oilers.

Anaheim is in Detroit tonight. Ducks really need to start picking up some wins or they are going to be in bigger trouble than they are now.

Last night's games:

Dallas 4, Edmonton 2
Vancouver 5, Ottawa 2
Columbus 4, Toronto 3 (SO)
Chicago 4, Florida 0
St. Louis 2, Nashville 1 (OT)
Calgary 3, Minnesota 2 (OT)
Phoenix 4, Atlanta 3 (SO)
San Jose 4, Los Angeles 2
 

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Friday
1	San Jose	56	39	8	9	87	idle
2	Detroit	58	38	12	8	84	vs. Anaheim
3	Calgary	58	34	18	6	74	idle
4	Chicago	56	33	15	8	74	idle
5	Vancouver	58	29	21	8	66	idle
6	Columbus	59	30	23	6	66	idle
7	Dallas	57	29	21	7	65	idle
8	Edmonton	58	29	25	4	62	idle
9	Anaheim	59	28	26	5	61	at Detroit
10	Minnesota	56	28	24	4	60	idle
11	Los Angeles	57	25	23	9	59	idle
12	Nashville	59	27	28	4	58	idle
13	St. Louis	58	25	26	7	57	idle
14	Phoenix	59	26	28	5	57	idle
15	Colorado	58	27	30	1	55	at Washington

Here are the points percentage standings.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PTS%
1	San Jose	56	39	8	9	87	.777
2	Detroit	58	38	12	8	84	.724
3	Calgary	58	34	18	6	74	.638
4	Chicago	56	33	15	8	74	.661
5	Dallas	57	29	21	7	65	.570
6	Vancouver	58	29	21	8	66	.569
7	Columbus	59	30	23	6	66	.559
8	Minnesota	56	28	24	4	60	.536
9	Edmonton	58	29	25	4	62	.534
10	Los Angeles	57	25	23	9	59	.518
11	Anaheim	59	28	26	5	61	.517
12	Nashville	59	27	28	4	58	.492
13	St. Louis	58	25	26	7	57	.491
14	Phoenix	59	26	28	5	57	.483
15	Colorado	58	27	30	1	55	.474

Stars-Oilers thoughts

With the Canucks and Blue Jackets both winning Thursday night, the Stars win over the Oilers was a big one. They are all big, but this one helped them keep pace with those other two teams and create a wee bit of separation from the other teams. That may be the first time I’ve used wee bit on the blog, but it’s appropriate with how tight things are these days.

I thought the big positive out of this game was the defensive play. It had been a little suspect the last few games, but was very good against the Oilers. Edmonton had a few chances, but not a lot. Marty Turco was solid again and won the Stars goaltending battle. I thought Dwayne Roloson let in a couple of goals he would like to have back, especially the Ray Sawada goal. He may have gotten fooled by the Fabian Brunnstrom shot, but the Sawada one shouldn’t have gone in.

The Stars penalty kill was good again and the power play scored once. Special teams advantage to the Stars.

You play well defensively, get good goaltending and win the special teams battle you are going to win more than your fair share of games. That’s what they did tonight.

Sawada had a good first NHL game. He had the goal, which was big. He played well in the rest of his time and was pretty solid. It was a good solid debut. I am happy for him. He’s a great kid and he’s got a chance to be a good solid NHL player. That fourth line with him, Brian Sutherby and Krys Barch was very good. I thought all the lines worked well. It was a good team effort.

This was just the kind of effort they needed in the first game without Richards. It was a well balanced effort where they played pretty well in all areas. They had some guys step up like Brunnstrom, who I thought had a real strong game. I think his confidence grows with each game. Mike Modano’s ice time was way up over what he’s been playing lately. No points, but a very strong game.

This game was far from a work of art or anything like that, but I really liked a lot of what I saw. They did a lot of the things they need to do to win and that’s what they are going to need here in the next few days.

The next two games are going to be great tests. Chicago on Saturday afternoon and then the Sharks in a nationally televised game Monday night.

Here are some postgame quotes provided by Stars PR and some audio from Mark Fistric’s appearance on The Ticket after the game. 

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Stars recall Ray Sawada

The Stars have recalled Ray Sawada and assigned Chris Conner to Peoria. Here’s the release:

The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has recalled right wing Raymond Sawada from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Stars also announced that right wing Chris Conner has been assigned back to the Peoria Rivermen (AHL).

Sawada, who turns 24 years old today, has appeared in 48 games for Manitoba this season, scoring five goals and 13 assists for 18 points with 31 penalty minutes and a +8 rating. Three of his goals have come on the power play. The Richmond, B.C., native was Dallas’ second round pick (52nd overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Sawada played four years at Cornell (2004-2008), scoring 31 goals and 45 assists for 76 points in 137 games.

Conner, 25, has appeared in 19 games with the Stars this season and has posted a career-high seven points (one goal and six assists). The native of Westland, Mich., has played in 52 career NHL games with the Stars, notching five goals and 10 assists for 15 points with 18 penalty minutes. He has appeared in 30 games with Peoria this season, posting 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points. Despite his 19 games away from the Rivermen, he remains ranked second on the club in goals and third in points. Conner was signed as a free agent by Dallas on July 13, 2006.

Busy night in the West

It's a big night in the Western Conference. Lots of teams playing. The Stars are in the seventh spot and tonight's opponent - the Oilers - are in the eighth spot based on points. When it comes to points percentage, the Stars are fifth and the Oilers are eighth, but it's tight based on those numbers too.

Columbus and Los Angeles were winners last night and play again tonight in Toronto and San Jose respectively. Vancouver is at Ottawa, which has been playing better. Minnesota hosts Calgary. The Ducks, who lost last night to the Kings, are slipping. They are ninth in points but 11th in points percentage.

The points pace for eighth is about 89 points right now, so the Stars are still in a good spot. They could play .500 hockey the rest of the way and get there, but I don't think playing .500 the rest of the way will do it. I think the point pace for the last spot will creep up a little more as things move along here.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Thursday
1	San Jose	55	38	8	9	85	vs. Los Angeles
2	Detroit	58	38	12	8	84	idle
3	Calgary	57	33	18	6	72	at Minnesota
4	Chicago	55	32	15	8	72	at Florida
5	Vancouver	57	28	21	8	64	at Ottawa
6	Columbus	58	29	23	6	64	at Toronto
7	Dallas	56	28	21	7	63	vs. Edmonton
8	Edmonton	57	29	24	4	62	at Dallas
9	Anaheim	59	28	26	5	61	idle
10	Minnesota	55	28	24	3	59	vs. Calgary
11	Los Angeles	56	25	22	9	59	at. San Jose
12	Nashville	58	27	28	3	57	vs. St. Louis
13	St. Louis	57	24	26	7	55	at Nashville
14	Colorado	58	27	30	1	55	idle
15	Phoenix	58	25	28	5	55	vs. Atlanta

Here are the points percentage standings heading into tonight.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PTS%
1	San Jose	55	38	8	9	85	.773
2	Detroit	58	38	12	8	84	.724
3	Calgary	57	33	18	6	72	.632
4	Chicago	55	32	15	8	72	.655
5	Dallas	56	28	21	7	63	.563
6	Vancouver	57	28	21	8	64	.561
7	Columbus	58	29	23	6	64	.552
8	Edmonton	57	29	24	4	62	.544
9	Minnesota	55	28	24	3	59	.536
10	Los Angeles	56	25	22	9	59	.527
11	Anaheim	59	28	26	5	61	.517
12	Nashville	58	27	28	3	57	.491
13	St. Louis	57	24	26	7	55	.482
14	Colorado	58	27	30	1	55	.474
15	Phoenix	58	25	28	5	55	.474

Ott on BaD Radio

Stars forward Steve Ott was on BaD Radio earlier this afternoon. As I mentioned in my last post, Ott, who missed Monday’s game, will play tomorrow against the Oilers. He told Bob and Dan it was a groin issue. Ott was in studio for a lengthy two segment deal, so I broke the interview into two parts and labeled them Part 1 and Part 2. 

Part 1

Part 2

Wednesday practice update

Obviously, moving on without Brad Richards was the talk after practice today.

“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us out there,’ said forward Steve Ott. “We’re pulling together. We have no other choice. We have to stick it out and guys are going to have to go in there and play different roles. We’ve succeeded in the past when we’ve gone through major injury trouble. We’ve always been that underdog, hard working team and nothing is going to change in that way.”

“I look at one of the strengths of our team is we do play as a team,” said coach Dave Tippett. “With people out other people can band together and get the job done, and that’s what we look for.”

There was, as you could expect, a little bit of line juggling. Here’s what Tippett rolled in practice.

Ott-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Lundqvist-Petersen-Eriksson
Neal-Modano-Brunnstrom
Barch-Sutherby-Parrish/Conner

Defense pairs stayed the same. Landon Wilson dressed a defenseman to help with the drills.

Daley-Robidas
Fistric-Grossman
Sydor-Niskanen
Hutchinson-Wilson

As for injuries. Ott said he is ready to go. Wilson is still not ready to play.

Brad Richards was around today, wearing a cast. He did speak briefly with the media. Here’s the audio:

Stephan improves to 4-0-0

Tobias Stephan improved to 4-0-0 in his stint with Bridgeport of the AHL, stopping 23 of 25 shots in a 3-2 overtime win Tuesday night. Stephan has a 1.93 goals against average and a .921 save percentage in his four starts with the Sound Tigers. According to local media reports, Stephan could be coming back to Dallas by the end of this week.

Here are the highlights from last night’s game, which include some involving Stephan.

Conner recalled

The Stars have recalled Chris Conner from Peoria of the AHL. Here’s the release:

The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has recalled right wing Chris Conner from the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Conner, 25, has appeared in 19 games with the Stars this season and has posted a career-high seven points (one goal and six assists). His previous NHL season high was six points (two goals, five assists) through 22 games with the Stars during the 2007-08 season. The native of Westland, Mich., has appeared in 52 career NHL games with the Stars, notching five goals and 10 assists for 15 points with 18 penalty minutes. Conner made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in Game Three of the Western Conference Finals vs. Detroit last spring.

The 5-8, 180-pound right wing has appeared in 30 games with Peoria this season, posting 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points. Despite his time away from the Rivermen, he remains ranked second on the club in goals and third in points.

After his most recent assignment to Peoria on Feb. 7, Conner appeared in five games for the club, scoring three goals and adding an assist. He recorded his seventh multi-point game on the season in his first game back, Feb. 8 at Milwaukee, notching a goal and an assist.

Conner had a stellar career at Michigan Tech University, leaving as the school’s all-time leader in shorthanded goals (15) and ranking 19th among goal-scorers in MTU history with 69 tallies. He was named to the 2004 WCHA Second All-Star Team. He was signed as a free agent by Dallas on July 13, 2006.

RIchards to miss 6-8 weeks

Here’s the release from the Stars:

The Dallas Stars announced today that center Brad Richards will be placed on Injured Reserve with a distal radius fracture in his right wrist, suffered in the club’s 3-2 shootout win last night at Columbus. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

Richards was evaluated by Dallas’ medical staff this morning and it was determined that he will not need surgery on the wrist. He will be re-evaluated in a month.

Richards, 28, has skated in 55 games this season, posting 16 goals and 32 assists for 48 points. Among team leaders, he ranks first in shots (179), second in assists and points, tied for second in power play goals (5) and third in goals.

Stars-Blue Jackets thoughts

The big story out of this game is Brad Richards. The official word is upper body injury and TSN says he has a broken wrist. We’ll probably find something out Tuesday, see what the timetable is and worry about that then. No matter how long he is out, it’s a big blow.

As for the game Monday night, it was another one where I thought Marty Turco was the difference, especially in the second period when Columbus was all over them and could have really taken control of the game. They didn’t. They best they could do was build a 2-1 lead and the Stars counter-punched with the Loui Eriksson goal after that one penalty kill. The game settled in after that and the Stars got the extra point after the shootout. That was a nice shot by James Neal, who has become Mr. Reliable there in the skills competition.

If you are looking at it from the Blue Jackets’ perspective, it was a game where they had a chance to blow the game open in the second period and didn’t. The Blue Jackets let the Stars hang around the game, and paid the price. Columbus has a weak power play and it hurt them. That first goal Steve Mason allowed - the wrap-around by Richards - was weak. That stuff adds up over the course of a game.

I thought the Stars were OK in the first and pretty good in the third period. They did a nice job killing off that Columbus power play in the overtime. The penalty kill has come around lately. Of course, some of that has to do with Turco, who continues to play very, very well.

This was far from a work of art and if you lump it in with the past couple of games, it makes you wonder a bit. But the Stars got four of six points here in the last three games and that’s the bottom line. They get some time to regroup a little before they take on the Oilers in a game that will kick off a six-game homestand. 

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