Stars-Coyotes thoughts

You aren’t going to win a lot of games scoring two goals a night.. They’ve scored two in each of the last six games and they are 2-3-1 during that stretch. And one of those wins came in a shootout.

The 12 goals over the last six games break down this way - seven at even strength and five on the power play.

The power play didn’t help Saturday night against Phoenix. Matt Niskanen scored a power play goal that made it a 3-2 game, but the Stars missed on a couple of PP chances in the first period when they had the Coyotes on their heels a bit and they had a couple of chances late to tie the game. Timing is a big part of when you score those power play goals and not just number scored versus the opportunities.

The timing of the goals they gave up didn’t help either. They gave up one in the first 12 seconds of the second period and then they’ve gave up one with 24.3 seconds left in the second. That second one really hurt because it gave Phoenix a 2-1 lead, the Coyotes got some momentum off it, came out with some early pressure in the third and extended the lead to 3-1.

The Stars had their chances, but couldn’t get over the two goal hump and therefore they couldn’t string together two consecutive wins together… again. They’ve only done that once this season.

Throw in the 6-5 shootout loss to Florida back on October 30 and the Stars 2-3-2 in their last seven games. Of those seven games, six have been decided by one goal (only the 4-2 loss to Nashville wasn’t) and four have been settled in either overtime or the shootout. So they are in games and usually it’s a breakdown in one area or another that is doing them in these games where they come up short. But I think scoring a two goals a game isn’t helping things. The chances are there but the finish hasn’t.

On a positive note, I thought Mike Modano had another strong game. That’s two straight solid outings for Modano, who had one goal and one assist for a second straight game.

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