News and Notes
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars will wrap up a three-game road trip in Buffalo Wednesday, looking to build on a big win in Washington on Monday.
The 4-3 shootout win over the league-leading Capitals snapped an ugly three-game losing streak coming out of the Olympic break and helped the Stars keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race.
"Coming out of the break and seeing the teams that we were playing, not many people would be surprised if we were 2-2. But 0-4 would have been horrendous," Stars coach Marc Crawford told the team's official web site. "Right now at least we got a win and we're back on our feet again. Much like a marathon, it's not won at the start of the race, it's consistency and that total performance that needs to be strong. This is gut-check time here in the last part of our season."
Monday's win was a gut check as the Stars rallied from a 2-0 deficit to end Washington's 13-game home winning streak.
"You can't put your finger on it, but it is about attitude," said Stars goalie Marty Turco, who made a career high 49 saves in a regular season game in the win. "This team, not having strung together any streak or wins all season long , our attitude - as well as we approach it or talk about it - it's hard. You've got to learn to have the right attitude. [Monday's win] could go a long way for us to have that.
"And as crazy as this month is, this could be the one turning point to get us on one heck of a roll. But they're all tough games and Buffalo is going to be just as hard."
But if the Stars can pull out a couple of points out of Buffalo, they'd pull four out of six on a very tough East Coast road trip and pull to within three points of the final playoff spot in the West, which is now held by the Calgary Flames who beat Detroit 4-2 Tuesday night.
Stars Notes
- Marty Turco will start in goal Wednesday.
- D Nicklas Grossman (back) is questionable
No local TV for Sunday's game
There will be no local television for Sunday's game between the Stars and Colorado Avalanche. The game was slated for possible selection for NBC's game of the week, but the network opted for Washington at Chicago. The Stars looked for a local carrier to broadcast the game, but could not find one. The game is being carried locally in the Denver area by Altitude, and that broadcast will available to Center Ice subscribers in the Dallas area, according to Stars officials.
The Stars radio broadcast, featuring Ralph Strangis and Daryl Reaugh, will be on The Ticket as always.
NHL GMs targeting hits to the head
A committee of eight NHL general managers, including Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk, are expected to make rule recommendations Wednesday to curb hits to the head in the NHL.
NHL GMs have been meeting in Florida the past couple days and the committee studying hits to the head is apparently ready to make suggestions, although the specifics are expected to be fine tuned on Wednesday.
"Clearly the blindside and unsuspecting player is what we are targeting here," Nieuwendyk told reporters Tuesday. "I've been in favor of this. We're not trying to re-invent the wheel. We have a great game, but in light of some of the hits - obviously the David Booth one is kind of the alarming one that everyone took notice of - I think it is going to be for the good of the game."
Booth missed 45 games with a concussion after he was nailed by Philadelphia's Mike Richards, who was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct. The league did not, however, suspend Richards. NHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell termed the hit legal under the rules.
Not all GMs agree on what constitutes a legal hit, but the GMs are searching for a compromise that will reduce head shots for the sake of player safety.
“It’s a rough sport, but we’re just trying to take the necessary steps to protect our players without taking hitting out of the game,” Nieuwendyk said.
Any recommendations made by the general managers, which would likely include supplemental discipline for repeat offenders, would have to be approved by the competition committee and then the NHL board of governors.
