Stars-Kings thoughts

It’s hard to knock the effort the Stars rolled out Friday night against the Kings. They played well against a very good team and battled them to a draw through 65 minutes of hockey. It got settled in the shootout and they came up short. A few years ago shootouts were almost an automatic win for them, not these days. They are now 5-9 in the post-overtime skills competition. If they were 8-6 or 9-5, things would look a lot different right now, but they aren’t and things don’t.

Give them credit though, they righted the ship defensively. They were very, very good in that regard. The quality chances for the Kings were minimal. Their play in the defensive zone was excellent.  After the first five games of the break, the one goal against and 28 shots against were steps in the right direction. Marty Turco was sharp in goal as well.

Scoring, of course, was another matter. They had some good chances, but give Jonathan Bernier credit too. He played a heck of a game for the Kings. Los Angeles didn’t miss a beat with Jonathan Quick out of the lineup due to he and his wife experiencing the birth of their first child early Friday morning.

LA’s a good team. There are two teams playing out there and they are a good defensive team as well and got solid goaltending. There’s a reason they are where they are in the standings.

Overall, I thought the Stars played a good game. Unfortunately that doesn’t always equal two points in the National Hockey League.

One point is better than no points, but they need wins. Nashville won again, beating Anaheim so the Predators don’t appear to be slipping. Detroit and Calgary play each other on Monday, so one of those two teams will be picking up points here soon to keep the pressure on the Stars.

All the Stars can do is worry about themselves, build on what they did Friday, throw out another good effort Sunday against Colorado and try to get two points. They can’t control the other teams right now, just their own game. 

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