An impressive win
That was an impressive win for the Stars as they head into the holiday break. It’s hard to find a glitch anywhere in that game. They started strong and played a pretty solid 60 minute game. It was great to see James Neal get a hat trick in his return to the Toronto area. Trevor Daley, a Toronto native, had a very strong game as well. It was just a strong game all the way around.
I don’t doubt that the Maple Leafs’ schedule played a role in their dismal showing. It was their fourth game in sixth nights and fifth in eight and they had played in Atlanta the night before. From their end, this game was a disaster waiting to happen. That’s something the Stars needed to take advantage of and they did by getting a jump on the Leafs early in the game, getting the lead and building on it.
As I said in a previous post the Stars had their share of scheduling issues to start the season that led to some fatigue issues, and over the course of the season those things balance out. This was one of those nights where it was tilted in their favor.
It was a big win and a big two points. The Stars are chipping away in the Western Conference standings. They moved up a spot to 13th and picked up one point on eighth place, which is now held by Minnesota. They’ve got some tough teams coming up after the break - Anaheim, San Jose and New Jersey. Those will be good tests and we’ll see where they are. Until then, enjoy the holidays.
Richards on Leafs Lunch
Stars center Brad Richards was on Leafs Lunch (AM640 in Toronto) with Darren Dreger earlier today. Nothing earth-shattering, but he talked about the season to date, James Neal and more:
Sutherby to make debut?
According to Mike Heika, Brian Sutherby could make his Dallas Stars debut tonight because Joel Lundqvist still has a sore shoulder.
Obviously, it raises the question about bringing Lundqvist back to soon, but he’ll get the holiday break to rest the shoulder. More intriguing, as Mike points out, will be to get a look at Sutherby. I thought he was OK when I saw him play as a Duck. He’s a physical, lower line guy who can hit and bring some energy and grit to the mix. We’ll see how it goes.
Another two big points on the line for both teams. It would be a good boost for the Stars to go into the short break on a high note.
Eriksson NHL’s first star of the week
Loui Eriksson is the NHL’s first star of the week. Here’s the release from the NHL:
Dallas Stars left wing Loui Eriksson, Philadelphia Flyers center Jeff Carter and New Jersey Devils left wing Patrik Elias have been named the NHL’s ‘Three Stars’ for the week ending Dec. 21.
FIRST STAR—LOUI ERIKSSON, LW, DALLAS STARS
Eriksson scored a League-leading six goals in three games last week, helping the Stars earn five of six available points. He recorded both Dallas goals in a 2-1 overtime victory over the Phoenix Coyotes Dec. 16, notched his first career hat trick in a 6-5 shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Dec. 18 and finished the week with one goal in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators Dec. 20. Playing in his third NHL season, the Gothenburg, Sweden native leads Stars goal-scorers with 18, surpassing his career high of 14 from 2007-08, and ranks second in points with 18-8--26, five short of his career-best 14-17--31 set last season. After starting the season 7-11-4, the Stars are 6-3-1 in their past 10 games, moving within four points of the eighth and final playoff
Prospects Update: Jamie Benn scores again in exhibition play
Stars prospect Jamie Benn picked up another goal as Canada beat Finland 7-3 in an exhibition game leading up to this World Junior Championships in Ottawa. TSN has highlights of the game, but none of the Benn goal. If you go in about 1:20 in you can see Benn get into a scrap behind Finland’s goal.
Prospects Update: World Juniors, Division I
A couple of notes from the World Juniors, Division I Group B tournament in Denmark, which wrapped up Sunday.
Stars defenseman prospect Philip Larsen had no goals, four assists, a minus-one rating and 18 shots on goal in five games for Denmark. His four assists were tied for sixth in the tournament.
Stars forward prospect Scott Winkler had two goals, two assists, a minus-two rating and 11 shots on goal in five games for Norway. His two goals were tied for 10th in the tournament.
Austria finished first in the tournament, followed by Denmark and Norway.
Fight with Neal could end Brassard’s season
Remember the fight last week between James Neal and Blue Jackets rookie Derick Brassard? Well, it looks like Brassard could be finished for the season because of a dislocated shoulder he suffered at the beginning of the fight. He’s facing surgery for the injury.
Here’s the story from the Columbus Dispatch.
(Update: “He’s going to have surgery in early January and he’s done for the year,” Jackets general manager Scott Howson told ESPN.com Monday.)
And here’s video of the fight:
Ottawa’s take
Since last night’s game fell into the somewhat wild category, here’s the take from the other team’s media. This is the opening of the Ottawa Citizen story on last night’s 5-4 OT win by the Senators:
How bad was the goaltending in the Ottawa Senators’ 5-4 overtime victory over the Dallas Stars at Scotiabank Place last night?
Calling it a little shaky would be like saying it was a little cold outside the arena.
Consider this: Ottawa starter Martin Gerber played one of his worst games of the season, allowing a series of pillow-soft goals that should have been routine stops.
The goaltender’s biggest contribution of the night was on offence (he picked up an assist in the second period).
And he got the win.
At the other end, the Senators’ anemic offence suddenly became electric, if only because Dallas starter Marty Turco lived up to his 42nd-ranked goals-against average heading into the game (3.28). He personally helped the Senators bust out of a plethora of scoring slumps.
Defenceman Jason Smith’s overtime winner was his first goal in 30 games as an Ottawa Senator. Antoine Vermette snapped a 19-game drought, while Jason Spezza scored his first goal in five games.
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Senators game thoughts
The difference between Saturday’s game against Ottawa and Thursday’s game against Columbus? On Thursday they won and on Saturday they lost. The way I look at it the play was about the same. Thursday night they found a way to win the game and on Saturday they found a way to the lose the game. The level of play was about the same. They were involved in two sloppy games between comparable teams where goals were going in at both ends and it came down to a few things at the end of the game. A video review and then a shootout on Thursday and an OT goal by a guy who hadn’t scored in more than 100 games on Saturday.
Sure, there were some differences. Three of the goals they gave up Saturday night came on the penalty kill, so that gets a lot of attention. Something always does when they lose. But they did get a point Saturday, so even though they gave up ten goals over two games they found a way to get three points. They are 6-3-1 in their last ten games. They are just four points out of eighth place. That’s the positive.
The negative is they are still a very inconsistent team. They still haven’t been able to string together a good stretch of solid hockey games. But they are finding ways to hang in games, where some part of their game bails them out. Lately it’s been their ability to score some goals thanks primarily to Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards. They are picking up points and keeping pace in the race, but if they continue to play this way they could lose three of five or four of six and take a step back in the standings. They still need to get some consistency in their game. Until they do, it will be more of the ups and downs like we’ve seen so far this season.
Lehtinen activated from IR
The Stars have activated Jere Lehtinen from injured reserve, so he can go in tonight’s game against Ottawa. Here’s the release from the Stars:
The Dallas Stars announced today that the NHL club has activated right wing Jere Lehtinen from the Injured Reserve list. He is eligible to play in tonight’s game at Ottawa.
Lehtinen, 35, has missed the last 14 games due to an upper body injury. He has appeared in three games this season, scoring one goal on five shots. Lehtinen also missed the first 14 games of the season due to injury.
Now in his 13th NHL season, all with Dallas, Lehtinen has appeared in 772 games, scoring 232 goals and 242 assists for 474 points. He has won three Selke Trophies as the NHL’s best defensive forward (1998, 1999, 2003), and has been nominated for the award six times.
Prospects update: Benn scores in Canada-Sweden exhibition
Stars prospect Jamie Benn scored a goal in Canada’s 4-2 exhibition win over Sweden as the two teams prepare for the World Juniors.
The highlights are here. About 1:20 into the highlights is Benn’s goal. Swedish prospect Victor Hedman, who could go first overall in this summer’s draft, coughs up the puck in the neutral zone and Benn scoops up the puck scores on a breakaway.
Trade talk
ESPN’s Scott Burnside was another national writer who was in Dallas recently and he worked up a story on the Stars’ prospects of making a move in wake of all the injuries, including this latest issue involving Sergei Zubov.
In the short term, Zubov’s absence, coupled with the long-term absence of Morrow and the departure of troubled forward Sean Avery, suggests the Stars will be looking to go shopping between now and the March 4 trade deadline.
Not so, said co-GM Les Jackson.
The Stars’ plan of action—at least at this point in time—is to look for answers from within.
There are a couple of reasons for that.
First, the team’s disastrous Avery experiment is still fresh in the minds of ownership and management.
Craig Button, a national broadcast analyst and former GM in Calgary, recalled a conversation with owner Tom Hicks that took place when Button worked for the Stars. Hicks told his hockey people that a million dollars well spent was a good investment but a dollar misspent was a waste.
Avery’s misspent four-year, $15.5 million contract is a strong cautionary story for the Stars when it comes to getting through the rest of the season, and beyond.
And if there is a certain gun-shy factor after the Avery signing, there also is the big picture to consider.
“We’re learning a lot of lessons this year,” Jackson said. “We have to manage our money; we have to manage our personnel.”
The Stars have worked hard to develop quality depth in their system. If Jackson and co-GM Brett Hull start beating the bushes to bring in another defenseman or forward, what message will it send to the rest of the organization?
Jackson acknowledged it’s hard to resist the temptation to go shopping. There is room, at least in theory, with Morrow’s and Zubov’s salaries off the books, at least in terms of cap space. Depending on what happens with Avery, there could be even more room.
“It’s hard to say no to other teams because you want to be competitive,” Jackson said.
You want to reward fans with a good product. You want to reward ownership for its support.
“But all it is is a short-term fix. You’re better off to fix it internally,” Jackson said.
The full article is here.
Brett Hull, glorified intern with a cool title
That’s how Hull describes himself in an interview with Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, who was in town recently working up a story on the Stars and their struggles this season and the Sean Avery debacle for a new publication called Sportsnet.caPlus. Here’s an excerpt although it is a little dated since the Stars have moved from 15th to 14 place since the article went to press:
“I’m a glorified intern. With a cool title.” — Brett Hull
The Stars are in last place in the Western Conference — have been since Dec. 7 — the Avery situation is still on full boil and Hull is not having much fun in his first full year as a cogeneral manager. If the pertinent Dallas Stars question is: Is it possible for one man to drag a team down as far as the Stanley Cup semifinalists- to-last-place Stars have plummeted this season? Then the answer is going to have to be a question as well.
“Are you talking about Sean Avery? Or Brett Hull?”
Hull, who scored the triple-overtime goal that secured Dallas’ only Stanley Cup back in 1999, was brought on by Hicks last season as a co-GM alongside veteran front-office man Les Jackson. The title suggests equal billing, but in light of the Avery fiasco, Hull is ready to come clean.
“Look, I am a glorified intern,” he repeats. “Les is the GM and he’s teaching me stuff all the time. We work together, we make decisions together, but Les is in charge.”
The Avery situation has blown up precisely as the Stars’ best three players — captain Brendan Morrow, defenceman Sergei Zubov and winger Jere Lehtinen — have been cemented on the injured list. The Stars have found a black hole this fall, and with each twist of the Avery saga their franchiseworst moments play out high on the ESPN Sports Center lineup, airtime that NHL teams usually can’t get even with a mask and a gun.
You can read the full article here. Note: It is a .pdf file.
Hicks, Avery make THN’s Power & Influence list
The Hockey News is out with its annual list of 100 People of Power & Influence in hockey and both Stars owner Tom Hicks and forward Sean Avery are on it.
Hicks came in at No. 20 after not being ranked last year. He’s on the list because he’s NHL board vice-chairman and is slated to become the chairman of the league’s important. audit and finance committee.
Avery came in at No. 27 after not making the list last year. He’s on it this year for what THN says are all the reasons: “He casts himself, the league and the game in negative light because of his poorly thought-out actions and comments.”
The top 10 on the list are:
1. Sidney Crosby
2. Alex Ovechkin
3. Gary Bettman
4. Paul Kelly
5. Bill Daly
6. Jim Balsillie
7. Colin Campbell
8. Wayne Gretzky
9. Alexander Medvedev
10. Jeremy Jacobs
The Columbus reaction
After a game like last night it is always fun to check out what the other team’s newspaper writes up on the game, and here’s how the Columbus Dispatch described last night’s events:
The Blue Jackets have learned to expect the worst whenever a questionable call is sent to the NHL review room in Toronto.
But the call on Manny Malhotra’s goal 13 seconds into overtime last night didn’t appear questionable in the least. That it was reviewed by Toronto was surprising. That it was disallowed after a lengthy review—the goal was deemed to have been scored with a “distinct kicking motion”—was considered inconceivable, even to the Dallas Stars.
The Stars won 6-5 in a shootout in front of 16,128 in the American Airlines Arena, a wild ending to a wild game that was dotted with goals, fights, cheap shots, premature celebrations and horrible goaltending.
Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock was stunned and angry after the game.
“We won the hockey game,” Hitchcock said. “We won the hockey game. It was a good goal. I don’t care what anybody says, we won the hockey game.
“We outplayed them They can put up whatever score they want down there, they can put up whatever score they want in the National Hockey League. We won the hockey game.
“That player did not kick it. All he tried to do was get out of the way of the goaltender.”
The rest of the story is here.
Now I still think that under league rules it is no goal. There was a clarification that was sent out last season about goals off the skate and under the guidelines set down last night’s goal was a no-no, Malhotra put the puck into the net with a kicking motion. His intent doesn’t matter. What matters is that there was a kicking motion that put the puck into the net. Without that kicking motion the puck never gets past Turco. But the fact is that so-called pendulum motion is what put the puck into the net and that’s why it was disallowed.
I blogged about the clarification of the kicking rule during last year’s playoffs when the Brenden Morrow goal was disallowed in the San Jose series.
Here’s some crummy YouTube video of last night’s controversial goal.
