February by the numbers

Monday, February 15, 2010-10:14:pm
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page                            

February was a short month as far as games played for the NHL, but it was a productive one for the Dallas Stars. They picked up nine of a possible 12 points, tying for the league lead in points percentage for the month and pulling into a dead heat for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Stars (4-1-1) were tied with Chicago and Los Angeles for tops in the league with a .750 points percentage in February and picked up two points on Calgary and three points on Detroit in the playoff race.

Among the teams chasing the Stars in the standings, only Anaheim gained ground, but the Ducks did that by playing one extra game.

Among the notable statistics from the month:

• The Stars had a league-best 1.33 goals against average during the month.
   

• The Stars had the best team save percentage in the league at 96.3 percent.
   

• The Stars averaged 3.0 goals per game, giving them the highest average goals for to goals against differential during the month (+1.67).
   

• The Stars accomplished that goals for/against differential while having the league's worst average shots for to shots against differential for the month (-11.3). They averaged 24.7 shots per game while giving up 36.0 against.
   

• The Stars outscored their opponents 12-5 during five-on-five play in February.
   

• The Stars were ranked 4th during the month in penalty killing at 90.9 percent (20-22).

February vs. previous months

Here's a breakdown of February's team statistics compared to stats from January, December, November and October.

Individual player stats

Here's a look at individual player stats for the month. Among some items of note:

• Among goaltenders who played three games or more in the month, Marty Turco led the league in goals against average (1.15) and save percentage (.967) during the month.
   

• Turco was tied for second among goaltenders with four wins during February and was tied for first in shutouts with two.
   

• Jamie Benn led the team in goal scoring with five. He was tied for seventh in the league.
   

• Mike Ribeiro was tied for fourth in team scoring with five points despite playing in only three of the six games in February.
   

• Karlis Skrastins and Trevor Daley led the team with plus-six ratings. Those were tied for tenth league-wide.