Stars-Coyotes thoughts

Big win to close out a key road trip. Going in I thought they’d be OK if they got three points out of six and they ended up with five, which kept them within one point of eighth place based on points. If you go on points percentage, they are in eighth place. It depends on how you want to look at it. Still too early to get into all that, but it is going to be a heck of a race for those playoff spots. Lots of teams involved and with his little run heading into the break, the Stars have positioned themselves well.

As for the game, I thought the turning point was the Stars’ ability to kill those Phoenix power plays, including the lengthy five-on-three in the first period. Phoenix was on the rough end of some scheduling again and they would be a tougher team if they got the lead. They are under any circumstances, but when they are a little fatigued getting them from getting a lead is really key. The Stars kept them from doing that, got a goal from Brandon Segal early in the second and that made life on Phoenix tougher. The Benn goal that made it 2-0 made it that much tougher a hill to climb for Phoenix.

Marty Turco was solid again. He’s been a great run. 4-1-1 in his last six games with a 1.15 goals against average, .967 save percentage and two shutouts.

Segal had a good debut. He played a big role in two goals.

Marc Crawford moved Jamie Benn back to wing on a line with center Mike Ribeiro at center and Brenden Morrow on the other wing. That line was very good. Benn’s been great and productive lately. Ribeiro’s been outstanding since he’s returned from injury. Having a second, productive line will make the Stars that much tougher and take some of the heat off the top line.

On the Neal hit on Petr Prucha. It looked like a clean hit where Prucha’s head hit the glass. Phoenix saw it differently. Dave Tippett said it was a hit to the head. I didn’t see it that way. I do know that Phoenix was frustrated with some calls in the game the night before in Denver, especially one late in the game where Martin Hanzal got a major and a misconduct for boarding. I was watching the game and it was a questionable call. The Coyotes were fuming after that one and seeing their guy go down and no call being made Saturday night just added to the frustration.

I just hope Prucha is OK.

I was surprised to see Hanzal as the guy dropping the gloves with Neal. Hanzal isn’t exactly known as a fighter. I give him credit and credit to Neal for accepting the challenge.

Anyway, we hit the break on an up note for the Stars. They are on a roll and right in the thick of things. It’s going to be fun down the stretch. Lots of time to talk about that, the trade deadline and all that stuff down the road. The Olympics too.

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