SB Nation - Alex Auld

Stargazing: Stars Lose to Kings in Shootout, 3-2

Brad G — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:01:23 -0000

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and Texas Stars news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.

On Saturday night the Dallas Stars surrendered points five and six on the year to the Los Angeles Kings, and as a direct result we all woke up in a world where the Kings are in first place in the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Kings. The Red Wings are still in 9th place. The world is a strange place.

It is a fascinating thing to look at the Western Conference standings. Some teams are as many as 34 games in to the season, and yet the group seems to creep forward at the same pace, with little separation from one end to the other. The Stars are stuck in the middle, seven points out of first place and seven points out of last place. I wrote those words many weeks ago but didn't think the situation would remain the same nearly halfway through the year. When the overtime loss point is handed out seemingly every other game, it's not hard to see why.

Dallas has completed three games of a five game trip, all against Pacific Division opponents. Some see this as a stretch where the Stars earned 4 out of a possible 6 points. They also gave away 5. Is this is a good thing? I think it's more of the same. The Stars are shuffling their feet with the rest of the pile, but they're not gaining, or losing any ground. For a team that can't score more than twice a night, this can be considered a good thing.

We theorized before the trip started that this would be a stretch that defined the rest of the Stars' season: They would fall behind and begin playing catchup the rest of the year, or they would come together and finally take a step forward. Through three games it appears as though it's neither. As long as they keep treading water, there is still time...

After the jump, reaction and quotes from Los Angeles and their 7th shootout loss of the year...

First, we take a second to reflect on a milestone that gets lost in the disappointment:

Modano gave the Stars a 2-1 lead when he took a feed from Jere Lehtinen -- who notched his 500th career point -- and beat Quick from the slot for his fifth goal of the season, but Kopitar tied the game in the final minute of the second when he beat Auld glove side for his 16th goal of the season.

500 points for Jere Lehtinen. We've been focused on how we're going to replace him (Loui Eriksson) and not how much we appreciate what he's done here. 500 points is a fine mark for a model NHL player and human being.

Mike Heika looks for the good...

Lots of good in the game.

I though Alex Auld was solid. Matt Niskanen might have had his most physical game. Jere Lehtinen looks like he's getting back to his old form. Mike Modano had jump. The top two lines created scoring chances.

That said, they lost again.

On the good side, they got four out fo six points on a tough road trip. On the bad side, the three Pacfic Division opponents got five points in these games.

I wish I could comment. I was told I would start seeing the game on FSN on Verizon FiOS at around 10:30, but the Mavericks went to overtime and then FSN did a 45 minute post game show, and I only saw the third period.

Alex Auld was definitely a bright spot (so I hear) and has played well in his last three outings...

"My job is to stay ready whenever. I knew about this game for about a week now. I felt good out there. Probably the only area that I felt like I had some time off was playing the puck and the little movements to the defense, but other than that I felt pretty good. These are the games that you want to be in. You want to be in games that matter against good teams, and this team is probably playing as good as anybody in the league."

That link brought to you buy Kings Insider. The only thing I like about playing the Kings is that resource. It's a really great blog, and the hockey community would be better served if more teams had guys like that following them around.

Speaking of Rich Hammond, he puts the Kings accomplishments in perspective:

After years of talk, talk about hope, about prospects, about the future, the Kings now have something tangible to point to in their rebuilding process: the top of the standings.

The Kings’ 3-2 shootout victory over Dallas, before a sellout crowd at STAPLES Center on Saturday night, coupled with San Jose’s loss to Phoenix, put the Kings atop the Western Conference standings for the first time this season.

There are still four months remaining in the season, but for a team that has scraped the bottom of the conference for the past three seasons, it’s quite an accomplishment.

The Kings have 45 points in 34 games, same as San Jose, but the Kings have 21 wins, two more than San Jose, and that is the first tiebreaker. Calgary, which has 42 points, has three games in hand over the Kings and has 19 victories.

They have 21 wins? Ugh. How long before the Stars have 21 wins?

As for the shootout itself, I DID see that, and once again I was not pleased. Again we saw a Stars goaltender give his team ample opportunity to get the job done, but the shooters failed, and in increasingly different and exciting ways:

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick poke-checked a puck off of Ribeiro's stick. The puck went almost immediately off of Ribeiro's skate and right into the net. However, because the forward momentum of the puck was stopped, the goal did not count. As a result, Michal Handzus' goal in the fourth round against Alex Auld held up as the winner in a 3-2 victory for the Kings.

"Tough luck for us, and that's too bad," said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "I thought we played pretty well. I thought we really came on in the third period ... I loved the way we played in the third period and into overtime."

At least they're keeping it interesting.

Mark Fistric had an interesting night prior to the game, and had to sit this one out:

He had some kind of parasite and actually had to go the hospital last night after the team landed in Los Angeles.

He's fine now, according to coach Marc Crawford, but he's just drained from the experience.

Jeff Woywitka will jump in.

Richard Durrett of ESPN is choosing to look at things in a positive light:

How you look at this road trip is all about perspective. The Stars got four out of a possible six points on this California swing. Of course, those were Pacific Division opponents and they got points too based on how the games went (an overtime loss to Anaheim, a shootout win against San Jose and a shootout loss to LA). The Stars sit eighth in the Western Conference, a point ahead of Detroit and two ahead of Vancouver.

I choose to look at this as a glass half full kind of thing. Some players are starting to step up, in particular Matt Niskanen who is getting more comfortable out there with every game and starting to asert himself. Both goalies are playing well. You take four of six points every time on a trips like this, no matter how the other teams do. But that's just me.

Mike Ribeiro:

"(In Anaheim,) we kind of gave that one away and tonight, losing in a shootout, we’ll take the point. but it’s hard knowing that we could have had more points than we have. L.A.’s been playing pretty well lately. We will take those points but we knew that we could have more if we played 60 minutes. We have a few days to get our legs back and get ready for the next game."

Marc Crawford:

(on Ribeiro’s shootout attempt): "It was forward progress. Once the goalie touches it, it’s deemed forward progress. Tough luck for us, and that’s too bad. It was a great game. I thought the fans certainly got their money’s worth. I thought we played really well. I thought we really came on in the third period. It was an entertaining game and the shootout was entertaining."
(on the game): "(Auld) played well in net and we had a little bit of a slip in our play in the second period. But I loved the way we played in the third and in the overtime we carried the puck really well and put pucks on the net."

Game Day Preview: Dallas Stars @ Los Angeles Kings (9:30p CS)

Brandon Worley — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:00:19 -0000

Next Game

Dallas Stars (14-8-9, 8th in the West)
@ Los Angeles Kings (20-10-3, 4th in the West)

Saturday, Dec 12, 2009, 9:30 PM CST
Staples Center

TV: FSSW+
Local Radio: KTCK 1310 The Ticket

Opponent's Blog: A Queen Among Kings | Battle of California

Complete Coverage >

Note: Tonight's game is being broadcast on FSN+. Here are the channels this network is carried on in the DFW area.

* Time Warner - Digital Channel 960 (requires digital cable box)
* DirecTV - Channel 677, Channel 677-1 HD
* Dish Network - Channel 448, Channel 9518-HD
* AT&T U-Verse - Channel 755, Channel 1755-HD

At 10:30, the broadcast will be picked up by the normal FSN carrier after the Mavericks post-game show.

The Dallas Stars continue their five-game road trip tonight with the last of a California three-game swing against the Los Angeles Kings. The Stars will once again try and carry over the momentum from a big win, after dropping the San Jose Sharks last night 3-2 in a shootout. The game was impressive (and important) for the Stars in a number of ways and should be the type of performance that hopefully pulls them away from this trend of inconsistency. Of course, we've said that same thing about a dozen times or so this season and the Stars face a difficult opponent tonight to try and put together that elusive winning streak.

Before we get onto to tonight's game, some more thoughts on the Stars' performance against the Sharks...

What impressed me the most about the game was the resolve the Stars showed not just after getting down 2-1, but actually to start the game. You could see the players' determination to bounce back from the debacle in Anaheim, and San Jose proved to be the perfect venue. Despite the one-goal deficit at the end of the first period, I felt that the Stars still had a good showing to start the game. They were aggressive on the forecheck, intent on being physical and pulled the Sharks into the exact type of game the Stars wanted them to. Yet the Sharks are the top team in the West for a reason, and showed that despite the distractions after the whistle they still have the ability to respond offensively.

What was tremendous to see was how the Stars responded coming out of the second period. They fixed the defensive mistakes they had to start the game and continued to put the pressure on the Sharks. While San Jose was able to contain the Stars to the perimeter of the offensive zone for much of the game, it was as if we were watching an old medieval siege; the Stars chipped away and chipped away at the defenses until finally breaking through in the third period.

Steve Ott gets a lot of credit for having a great game last night, and Brendan Morrow was just as effective as he constantly got under the skin of the Sharks in front of the net, yet it was the work by Mike Ribeiro that really stood out as the game progressed. He opened the scoring with a very 'un-Ribeiro' like goal when he tipped in a Daley pass, but provided much of the offensive pressure that kept the Sharks back on their heels for most of the game. What stood out to me was how the Stars ran their equivalent of the half-court offense, keeping the Sharks out of a run-and-gun game. This is the perfect approach for Ribeiro, who loves to slow the game down to his pace. He finished the game with six shots and five (!) hits, and in my mind set the tone for the rest of the team. It's something we haven't seen much of from Ribeiro this season and is something the Stars desperately need from him every game.

Goaltender news and injury notes for both teams after the jump.

The Dallas Stars:

Alex Auld is expected to get the start in net tonight for the Stars, a night after Marty Turco put on a masterful performance against the Sharks. It still feels like the best move however, especially since Auld has been solid in his past two games. One of the goals headed into the season was to get Turco the rest he needs, and the Stars are committed to that plan even if Turco is coming off a great win.

What was interesting about last night's game was the fact that Mike Modano sat on the bench in favor of Steve Ott and Tom Wandell in the third period:

Marc Crawford said Mike Modano was sat down for much of the third period and overtime (he played 1:24) not because he was playing poorly, but because Tom Wandell and Steve Ott were playing so well. Ott played 8:04 in the third period and OT, while Wandell played 6:18. Modano played 9:15 in the first two periods, but Crawford was worried about the match-up against Joe Thornton down the stretch.

It seems like he made a pretty good call on that one, as the Thornton line looked pretty frustrated in the third.

Modano, like the team as a whole, has been up and down this season. At times he shows the same skill and speed he's always had throughout his career and other times he disappears for long stretches during the game. The Stars had issues containing the Sharks' top scorers to start the game and there was a time when Mike Modano was the go-to guy to help shut them down. Yet Tom Wandell (and Steve Ott, who's turned into a faceoff specialist) has emerged as an intriguing matchup on the checking line and has shown he can give fits to opposing team's top lines.

That's not to say the Modano is being completely phased out, but it does seem that the Stars are starting to see the emergence of a young player who could perhaps take over the veteran's role when he does retire. It's also good to know the Stars have a player who can step in when Modano isn't as effective during a game.

There are murmurs that Crawford will be looking to insert some fresh legs tonight, so there's a good chance we see Brian Sutherby and/or Krys Barch tonight against the Kings.

The Los Angeles Kings:

It appears the Kings are for real. They are a team with intense resolve and concentration, who have gone 10-1-3 in one-goal games this season and who have perfected the art of finding any way to win. They aren't dominating by any stretch of the imagination, but they are extremely tough to beat.

The Kings are riding a three game winning streak and have won five of their last six. They are a hungry team that are sniffing the Sharks for first in the division, and will provide a tough for for the Stars tonight.

Los Angeles has won both game against the Stars this season, yet these two teams haven't played since October 22. You'd like to think that the Stars have grown and changed since then, but the Stars are still dealing with the same issues they had to start the season.

The lone exception would be the the Stars' penalty kill, which has improved to 14th in the NHL and 7th on the road. If there is one area of the game the Stars have to opportunity to take advantage of some of the Kings' shortcomings, it's going to come on special teams. L.A. is just 28th in the league in penalty kill percentage and are facing a Stars team that has started to become dangerous with the man advantage.

Despite the fact that the Kings have had a leg up on the Stars the past few seasons, the Stars showed last night they have the personnel and ability to skate with any team in the NHL.

Yet this game is being played at the Staples Center tonight, so all bets are off.

Key Injuries:

Dallas: None.

Los Angeles: LW Ryan Smyth (upper body), RW Brandon Segal (knee) and C Andrei Loktionov (shoulder) are out.

Stargazing: Stars Defeat Lightning 4-3 in OT

Brad G — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:57:10 -0000

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and Texas Stars news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.

The Lightning and Stars entered the game on Saturday night tied for the league lead in overtime losses. Loui Eriksson and Tom Wandell made sure the Lightning alone can boast of that on Sunday as the Stars narrowly avoided what would have been a pretty gut wrenching loss.

Dallas played their seventh game in eleven nights, going 4-2-1 in that stretch. When you look at the numbers like that, it sounds good. 4-2-1 is a .643 points percentage, and a nice looking stretch of hockey on paper. When you look a little closer you can see that they could have very easily could have finished that stretch with three straight losses. They needed a last second goal to send the Blues game to OT. They got embarrassed in Phoenix, and they needed to kill a penalty in the final two minutes of the Lightning game last night. We give them credit for pulling as many points out of those games as they did, but remain concerned with the perpetual inconsistency.

The Stars will make their last trip to Detroit on Monday to play the Red Wings. After that, four of the next five are against divisional opponents, and that's an area where Dallas needs to improve. They've already lost two to the Kings and two to the Coyotes. December is a great opportunity to improve those numbers and further bury the Ducks, who they play twice in the next two weeks.

After the jump, lots of quotes and reaction to last night's big OT win...

Wandell recounts the OT action:

"Loui came in 2-on-2 and I know he's a reallly smart player so I was just looking to get open," said Wandell after his first career overtime goal and third winner this season. "It wasn't the best shot, but it went in. It was a big win. We came back strong."

The Stars didn't want to go to the shootout, having compiled a 1-5 record in the tiebreaker this season.

"Had we not gutted it out and got that overtime goal, it would have been pretty disappointing," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said.

Smith agreed that it probably wasn't the best shot:

"I was there and I thought he was shooting high but he got it under my pad," Smith said of the game-winner. "I think he missed on it a little and didn't get all of it."

Personally, I don't care what kind of shot it was. 2 points is 2 points.

Speaking of Smith, it was good to see Smitty back at the AAC. We were all sad to see him go. The Tampa Tribune talked to Mike about his return...

Mike Smith swears he never circled Saturday's game on his calendar when the schedule came out during the summer. He knew at some point he would make his way back to Dallas to face his former team.

But that didn't mean he wasn't excited to get between the pipes and face the Stars in his first return trip to face the organization he spent honing his craft with during the first five years of his career.

"It's exciting to be back, it's great. I had a couple of good years here in Dallas, met a lot of good people and I can't say enough about the organization," Smith said.

"I have a lot of great memories with the players on this team and some great friendships that will never be lost.

"I wish I would have beat them."

The Tribune also spent some time with Brad Richards:

"This is the best start I've obviously had personally," Richards said. "It's been good to get some confidence going right from Day One. I don't think when I first got here that they really understood me nor did I clearly understand what they wanted, and that's normal. They had a really good team when I got traded here, they were used to playing and doing things a certain way. It took awhile for me to fit in."

He said heading into Saturday wasn't quite as strange facing his former team in Dallas as was his first return to Tampa back in January.

"It will always be different going into that building, and (Saturday) will be fun," Richards said, "but this doesn't have the same feeling as going into the Forum and playing in front of your old fans and playing on the ice surface you won a Stanley Cup on."

Richards is currently second in the NHL in assists behind only Joe Thornton, who is cheating because he plays with Dany Heatley.

Dallasstars.com brings you Marc Crawford's post game comments:

"The two points is crucial," coach Marc Crawford said. "When we ended up killing that penalty off with two minutes to go, getting into overtime, our guys breathed a big sigh of relief. I liked our chances going into overtime. We got our couple of opportunities in overtime and scored on the second one. It’s huge, we get the two points. They’re not always going to be masterpieces. Tonight I thought we did a lot more things correctly than not."

"It was a bad third goal there that went in on us," Crawford said. "It happens. You have to persevere and battle through it. Alex made a couple of really good saves on the penalty kill."

"I thought we did a pretty good job all night. We drew a lot of penalties," Crawford said. "I thought their goalie, Mike Smith, was pretty good in the early part of the game. While it was his mistake that gave us the 5-on-3 and allowed us to get our first goal, he was a pretty important guy for them early in the game. I thought we generated quite a few chances. We did the things we wanted to, and really we weren’t giving up very much against them."

Brad Richards:

"We had a four-minute power play, and we want to try to put our foot down and have a killer instinct, right through our team, and figure out a way to make it 4-1," Richards said. "It seemed like we just kind of let our foot off and let them back in the game."

I thought our very own Brandon Worley had the best nugget from the game last night on faceoffs:

Faceoffs. Every game we talk about them. Against the Lightning, the Stars went into the third period winning 70% of the faceoffs and were absolutely dominating in the circle. Yet at the end of the game they had won just 48%, right near their season average. In a third period where the game nearly became a complete disaster, it's not hard to see where the breakdowns started.

Ribeiro lost 13 of the 20 faceoffs he took. Steve Ott took 4 draws and won 3 of them.

Mark Stepneski's thoughts:

That was a strange game.

I thought the Stars power play was great, scoring three times to continue it’s nice recent run and then it fizzles on a 3:49 chance to put the game away, letting Tampa Bay hang around the game.

I thought Alex Auld was outstanding until he lets in two in 47 seconds, letting Tampa tie the game. The Stamkos power play shot was a beauty but the Halpern goal to tie it was just a bad goal.

I thought the Stars’ discipline and ability to stay out the box was impressive and there they are killing a power play in the final two minutes with the game tied. They dodged that bullet.

I have a hard time coming away from that one and saying that Auld was outstanding... Aside from the obviously atrocious Halpern score, I thought he was perhaps a little deep in his crease for that first goal. I haven't had a chance to check a replay on that one. He was certainly solid enough as backups go, and it will be interesting to see who starts at The Joe on Monday.

It's probably tacky to complain about the officiating when your team had two 5-on-3's. So I'll just limit my commentary to one word: Really? (Particularly the Grossman penalty)

These busy Saturday's in the league are real standings shufflers. The following Western conference teams gained at least one point last night: Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Calgary, Columbus, Detroit, St. Louis, Minnesota, Colorado, Vancouver, and Nashville. 11 teams in the West gained points last night. I don't think 95 points is going to do it this year if this keeps up.

The Stars are seven points from 1st place and seven points from 14th.

Insert debate about the "loser point" here.

Gameday Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning @ Dallas Stars (7:30pm CST)

Brad G — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:30:12 -0000

Next Game

Tampa Bay Lightning (10-6-7, 9th in East)
@ Dallas Stars (11-7-7, 7th in West)

Saturday, Nov 28, 2009, 7:30 PM CST
American Airlines Center

Local Radio: Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket

TV: FSN SW+
Radio: KTCK 1310 The Ticket

Opponent's Blog: Raw Charge

Complete Coverage >

The Stars enter tonight's game against the Lightning licking their proverbial wounds handed to them by the Phoenix Coyotes last night. Phoenix played a patient game, defending well and counter punching when the opportunities presented themselves. It was classic Dave Tippett and it worked perfectly against a disorganized Dallas Stars team that could not capitalize on early power play chances and continuously turned the puck over.

The Lightning, meanwhile, won a big game at home last night defeating the New York Rangers decisively, 5-1. The Stars and Lightning played only once last season. Dallas had a third period lead but surrendered three goals late and Tampa took it 4-2. Mike Smith was in goal for the win, but has not played at American Airlines Center since being traded for Brad Richards in 2008. It's uncertain at this point if Smith or Niitymaki will suit up tonight. The Stars meanwhile have some goaltending questions of their own, but for different reasons. Marty Turco was pulled last night after surrendering 4 goals in two periods.

Both teams played last night, but with very different results. The Lightning enter the game brimming with confidence after what they feel was their best 60 minutes of hockey so far this season. The Stars will need a strong start to build some confidence of their own.

UPDATE: Mike Smith will be getting the start tonight, his first in Dallas since being traded in 2008. Still no word on who will be in net for Dallas, as it seems that there are technical difficulties preventing any updates from the AAC.

After the jump: quotes from last night's game and an injury report...

The Stars:

Very brief quotage from last night:

Crawford:

"They capitalized on the chances they got," Stars coach Mark Crawford said. "Our impatience really showed. They got a couple of opportunities because we turned the puck over because of our impatience."

Morrow:

That ended the night for Turco, who had allowed the four goals on 19 shots before he was pulled for the first time this season.

"We all feel like we let him down a little bit but he got the yank," Morrow said.

Robidas:

Michalek capped the scoring 1:52 into the third on a blast from the left point over the extended right skate of Stars backup goalie Alex Auld.

"They were just a better team tonight," Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas said. "Everybody was on a different progran tonight and it wasn't good enough."

I guess no one was feeling particularly loquacious after that one.

Meanwhile, Dave Tippett's club was riding pretty high after taking yet another game from Dallas:

Korpikoski said it felt "unbelievable" to break out of his slump.

"You lose so much confidence when you're not scoring," he said. "It's a different game when you get the first one, and everything slows down for you, and you start to make plays with confidence again. It's a good feeling."

Matthew Lombardi and Scottie Upshall, linemates of Korpikoski, had three assists apiece.

In two losses on a Canadian road trip this week, the Coyotes scored only once.

"The whole team breaks through to score five goals," coach Dave Tippett said. "It's nice compared to where we've been the last few games. It was good. Korpy's a guy who plays the game fast, been snake-bit a little.

By the way, attendance for last night's game in Glendale.... 10,691. On Thanksgiving weekend.

Mike Heika tells the tale of Bryzgalov vs Dallas:

GLENDALE, Ariz. – If you're looking for a list of Stars killers, it would be tough to get much better than Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Coyotes' netminder was solid again in a 5-2 win Friday. He is 2-0-0 against Dallas this season and 6-1-1 in the past two seasons. He has two shutouts in that span.

And while Marty Turco is usually up to the task of taking Bryzgalov to a low-scoring duel, that wasn't the case this time. The Coyotes, who ranked 28th in the NHL in scoring and had one goal total in two previous losses, became an offensive juggernaut to the delight of the handful of fans at Jobing.com Arena.

Bryzgalov's record against the Stars aside, I thought his team did a great job in front of him last night once again. The insulated him well from any dangerous shots. The difference in quality between the Coyotes' scoring chances and the Stars' scoring chances was astronomical. Marty Turco cannot be faulted for the loss last night.

The Lightning:

Let our SB Nation friends Raw Charge get you ready from a Tampa perspective:

Coming off their most consistent and most dominant game of the season, Friday night's 5-1 victory against the New York Rangers, the Lightning have gone to Texas to face off against the Dallas Stars tonight in a cross-conference shootout.

Like the Lightning, the Stars were in action last night... But instead of being victors, they were the victims instead; being drubbed 5-2 by the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, Arizona. So the good news goign into tonights game is both teams have had travel to get to tonight's game. The bad news is one team will be playing to redeem themselves and that makes them extra dangerous.

There's no word yet just who starts between the pipes for the Lightning tonight. Do you start the hot hand in Mike Smith, who played well last night? Or do you start the hotter hand in Antero Niittymaki, who happens to lead the league in save percentage (.932 )? That will be settled in the next few hours as head coach Rick Tocchet puts together his lineup.

Another question is if defenseman Mattias Ohlund will return tonight or perhaps Monday versus the Colorado Avalanche back in Tampa? Ohlund has missed the last six games with an ankle injury, and while Tocchet has said that Ohlund is close to returning, it remains to be seen how close. The Bolts don't need to push it, as they have enough able-bodied defensemen to cover for Ohlund as he heals, but it would nice to get the team's defensive leader back onto the ice.

Expect lots of droning on about Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Richards history on either broadcast tonight.

Injuries:

From NHL.com...

Injury report -- Tampa Bay is without three defenseman: Mattias Ohlund has been battling a foot/ankle injury, Paul Ranger has been away from the team for personal reasons and Matt Smaby (finger) was assigned to Norfolk of the AHL for a conditioning assignment. … Dallas forward Brian Sutherby is on injured reserve due to a groin injury.

Gameday Preview: Dallas Stars @ Phoenix Coyotes (8:05p EST)

Brandon Worley — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:38:24 -0000

Next Game

Dallas Stars (11-6-7, 7th in West)
@ Phoenix Coyotes (13-11-1, 9th in West)

Friday, Nov 27, 2009, 8:05 PM CST
Jobing.com Arena

TV: FSSW+
Radio: KTCK 1310 The Ticket

Opponent's Blog: Five For Howling

Complete Coverage >

Hopefully everyone had a safe and fun holiday yesterday, but now it's back to business. The Dallas Stars will attempt to fight off their tryptophan coma tonight as they take on the Phoenix Coyotes tonight in Glendale, Arizona.

The Stars are coming off of a four-game homestand, their first of the season, and went 2-1-1 in those games. Dallas was finally able to get into a pseudo-rhythm on home ice after an up and down start to the season. While you'd certainly hope for a better finish than the shootout loss to the Blues, at least you can be thankful the Stars did enough to pull a point out of the game. Every single game is incredibly important this early in the season, as just eight points separate 2nd in the West and 11th. The Stars gained a point on Wednesday, but have dropped two spots to 7th.

More importantly, the Stars have a chance to gain some ground in the race for the division title. While it seemed early on that San Jose will just run away with the Pacific, a win tonight will put the Stars five points back with a game in hand; it's still extremely early to be focusing on a division win but with such a surprisingly competitive division every point becomes important.

But that's big picture. Right now the Stars just need to focus on each game, one at a time. We've seen the team start to form some consistency over the past week and despite the loss two nights ago, you still had to be encouraged by the energy the Stars showed throughout (and yes, that is an important factor).

After the jump, a look at the Coyotes since we last saw them and some updates on the Dallas Stars; it's a Super Preview!!

The Dallas Stars:

After being recalled for just one game in case Karlis Skrastins couldn't play against the Blues, defenseman Maxime Fortunus was sent back to the Texas Stars. If the Stars have any more injury issues on defense, I'm hoping that Fortunus gets another chance to make his NHL debut. He is an extremely intelligent and solid defenseman and is a key part of the reason that Texas has done so well this season. He's an AHL veteran and was great in last season's playoffs and I think that if given a shot he could make a good impression in the NHL.

Fabian Brunnstrom made his debut Wednesday with Texas in his first game since his shoulder injury, going pointless and minus-1 in the 2-1 Stars shootout victory over Milwaukee (Warren Peters and Ivan Vishnevskiy scored in the shootout for the win). With him down in Austin and Brian Sutherby still on injured reserve (although he could come off today, I believe), expect to see the same lines as Wednesday night:

Neal - Richards - Eriksson
Ott - Ribeiro - Lehtinen
Morrow - Modano - Benn
Petersen - Wandell - Barch

We'll find out later today if Nicklas Grossman can play. If not, we'll get another great dose of Jeff Woywitka.

After the loss to the Blues, Marc Crawford mentioned that the lack of execution and defensive breakdowns was attributed to fatigue after playing four games in six nights. Hopefully they got some rest over the short holiday because the travel to Phoenix tonight, go back home to take on Tampa Bay tomorrow night and then travel once more to Detroit on Monday. Expect this for the rest of the season; fatigue is going to be an issue for every team and it's an excuse I'm tired of hearing.

No word as of yet as to who the starter will be tonight, although I would go with a rested Alex Auld against the Coyotes and play Turco tomorrow night against Tampa Bay. Marc Crawford is wily, however, and there's telling what their 'plan' may be for this weekend. His last hunch worked out however when he started Auld against the Red Wings, so I'll defer to him.

Here are some news and notes on the Stars from the last few days:

Andrew's Dallas Stars Page has a look at some special teams stats:

Statistically speaking, you can look at the Dallas Stars' special teams in more than one way. In the standard statistical view the power play is middle of the pack and the penalty kill is the in the bottom of third of the league. In another way of looking at the numbers, the power play is top ten and the penalty kill is middle of the pack.

Take the power play, for example. Through Wednesday's games it ranked 17th in the league at 17.4 percent in the usual way of looking at power play performance stats. Look at it a different way - power play goals per game - and it ranked seventh in the league at 0.92 per game.

The penalty kill ranked 23rd in the league at 77.9 percent through Wednesday, but if you look at power play goals allowed per game it was at 16th in the league at 0.79 per game.

The Dallas Morning News has a good story on Brad Richards, who is 4th in the NHL in overall scoring.

There are several reasons for the surge. Richards has found chemistry with young wingers James Neal and Loui Eriksson; he has taken over as the quarterback of the power play (a role Sergei Zubov held for better than a decade); and he simply is better than he has been in recent seasons.

Richards said he was disappointed with last season's injury-plagued campaign, and the Stars' inability to make the playoffs. He went to his summer home in Tampa, Fla. and worked out relentlessly, concentrating on leg work and skating, but also on finding the hunger in his game again.

"It obviously helped physically, but I think it helped mentally, too," he said.

Andrew's also has the audio from Brendan Morrow's appearance on BaD radio from Wednesday. What I found interesting was what he had to say about his fight with Tim Gleason.

The Phoenix Coyotes:

Since beating the Stars at home on November 14, the Coyotes have gone 2-3-1 and slid further down in the standings, including two straight losses on the road against Calgary and Edmonton. Five For Howling has an excellent preview up for the game, so I'm going to defer to them for the Coyotes point of view:

Attack the Goalie
Whether we get a big helping of Thanksgiving Turco or more of the same Auld Lang Syne, we need to make sure that the Stars' netminder earns his pay. Marty Turco in particular has proven to be less than bulletproof at Jobing.com Arena - he likes to play Superman, but the Coyotes in general and Shane Doan in particular seem to know where to find Kryptonite. The key against Turco is to have enough patience with the puck until he overcommits. Against Auld, who plays a less "flamboyant" style, the Coyotes simply have to dodge the "show up your old team" ethic that nipped them against Calgary. Tall Bald Auld is less aggressive in the crease than Turco, but he's also more porous - and as long as the refs and video review guys are paying attention the Coyotes can slip a few past him.

Clog the Slot and Crease
By now, we've all realized that there aren't any spectacularly-gifted offensive talents on the Coyotes' squad. And if we hadn't on Wednesday, TSN did a great job of reminding us about it. Over. And over. And over again. So since we apparently lack the creativity and precision it takes to snipe goals in from afar on a consistent basis, it would behoove the Desert Dogs to increase the close-in pressure between the circles and in front of the net. The Coyotes signed Taylor Pyatt for his big body and ability to create chances at the crease - his slow skating speed has looked out of place among the other faster forwards in the lineup when the team has dumped-and-chased. Parking guys like Pyatt, Paul Bissonnette, and Martin Hanzal in front of the goalie might smack of hunting for garbage goals... but let's be honest, right now any goal is a good goal for the offensively-challenged Coyotes.

There is much, much more so be sure to check it out.

Key Injuries:

Dallas: D Nicklas Grossman (groin) is questionable. C Brian Sutherby (groin) and RW Fabian Brunnstrom (shoulder) are out.

Phoenix: D Kurt Sauer (upper body) is out.

Stargazing: Stars Look to Build on Win in Detroit

Brad G — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:15:12 -0000

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and Texas Stars news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.

The Stars beat the Sharks, then lose to the Coyotes. They beat the Canucks, then lose to the Wild. They beat Blackhawks, then lose to the Kings. The beat the Red Wings, and then...?

Are you sensing a pattern? Perhaps we should put aside our notions of who "the big players" are in the Western Conference and concede that parity (the most over-used word of the sports-decade) is alive and well; That any team can beat any team on any given night. Fine.

The fact remains that games in places like Chicago, San Jose, and Detroit are games the fans and players alike consider to be big, "measuring stick" type games. The Stars are excelling at those. Those are huge wins. Those are the ones you can point to and say "See, we can play with those guys." That's great. We're excited about wins at the Joe.

But what about the Kings? What about the Wild? Phoenix? And the Blue Jackets tonight? Aren't those the teams they're more likely to be jockying with for playoff positioning in March and April? (I do realize that the Jackets have a better record than Detroit now. It's early yet.)

Without taking some of these other games, like this one tonight, those big statement wins are only glimpses of what the team has the potential to be, rather than what it really is. The potential is there. It all comes back to that same word we can't seem to get away from: Consistency.

After the jump: More on the goal that wasn't, Stars player-men reaction, and Steve Ott is starting to garner attention regarding his pending free agency, and is Tom Hicks going to sell the Rangers...to himself?

Case in point, Steve Ott knows this is how good they can be...

"It's who we want to be and who we think we are, and now we just have to try to show we can be that team every night," forward Steve Ott said. "That's the challenge."

Puck Daddy brings your their take on the non-goal, which absolutely was a goal. The "intent to blow" rule is becoming a very polarizing phrase...

Again, the "intent to blow" rule is one of the most asinine in professional hockey; the notion of "playing to the whistle" is undercut by referees ending plays in their minds before actually blowing them dead. This Detroit farce is, perhaps, the most rancid example of its folly.

Beyond Detroit losing a goal, the worst thing about this situation is that it'll provide further fodder for the tin foil hat society among Wings fans, who are convinced that Gary Bettman and the NHL and the Illuminati and the Stonecutters are all conspiring in some secret cabal to undermine their franchise. Because what business would want one of its most popular, ratings-driving, star-studded franchises to, you know, succeed?

Tin foil hate society. His words. Not ours.

After I chattered on about Marty Turco's stats at the Joe in yesterdays Gameday Preview, Crawford started Auld instead. Mike Heika examines the choice:

One of the concerns with the Stars' pace of win one, lose one this season is that the team must adjust between their two goalies' opposite styles. Auld is more conservative in his puck movement. Turco is more adventurous.

So logic suggests that maybe the team could get more consistency by playing Turco more. Crawford doesn't agree.

"I would say the bigger issue is we usually play with Alex on the second night of a back-to-back," he said, "and we might be a little slow to start off in those games."

So maybe Auld getting a fresh team in front of him was the real difference. But if there is a difference, then Turco will get a chance to see it Thursday against Columbus at home when he gets the start.

The Wings tend to carry the puck in more than Columbus does, I would think. Perhaps it does make more sense to have Turco handling the puck tonight.

CBC Sports liked Alex Auld enough last night to name him their top star of the night...

CBCSports.ca senior reporter Tim Wharnsby names the top performers in the NHL from Wednesday night.

FIRST STAR: Alex Auld, G, Dallas Stars

Auld was in tough on Wednesday, on the road against one of the hottest teams in the league in the Red Wings. But the Dallas backup goalie was up to the task with a 31-save effort that included a controversial no-goal call on Detroit's Brad May. The Stars' 3-1 win was Detroit's first regulation-time loss at Joe Louis Arena this season.

I like Mr. Stepneski's take over at Andrew's:

Well, if you get good goaltending and you win the special teams battle you are going to win most nights. Alex Auld was excellent, the penalty kill was 4-4 and is now 17-17 over the last five games and the power play scored twice. I thought all those areas were a big part of the Stars 3-1 win over Detroit tonight, but I think they simply played an excellent game all the way around.

They skated well, pursued the puck well, defended well and they created more chances than the Red Wings and when you create more chances are you’ll score more. They simply outplayed the Red Wings. I didn’t think Detroit had that many great chances and Auld closed the door on all but one (actually, two but more on that later).

John Tranchina of Dallasstars.com brings you much quotage:

Alex Auld got the start in goal and was outstanding, making 31 saves to snap a four-game personal winless streak (0-2-2) to secure his third win of the season.

"I feel like I’ve played pretty well this year, although the numbers might not really show it," Auld said. "I’ve felt comfortable and confident in net and obviously getting results like this go a long way. At the end of a long trip like this, coming into a building like this, it’s probably really good for us. You know you’ve got to be extra sharp and the guys were tremendous in front of me. Our special teams were really good tonight and that’s a big key."

"It’s definitely good for your confidence," coach Marc Crawford said of beating the defending Western Conference champion Red Wings. "Our goaltender played a very good game, and you always have to have good goaltending playing in an opposition building where Detroit is a very good club. And you look on the other side of it, there was depth to our group tonight. We played four lines, all four lines were good. We were able to play all six defensemen. I thought there weren’t a lot of big mistakes by us tonight. We did a great job of recovering, we did a great job of pursuing, and then we simply were very good in the areas that we had to be in, including the power play and the penalty kill."

The Windsor Star has a nice article on Steve Ott and his impending free agent status. Of particular interest to Stars fans...

As much as they love him, in a salary-cap situation, can the Stars afford to keep Ott?

This season, they've paid forward Loui Eriksson (all figures US) $4.2 million and defenceman Stephane Robidas $3.3 million in multi-year deals.

Left-winger James Neal, already with 11 goals in 18 games, will be a restricted free agent at season's end.

"I really hope my future is with the Dallas Stars," Ott said. "I've spent a lot of years here and I definitely don't want to leave."

After a career year in which he produced 19-27-46 totals, Ott will certainly be looking for a pact similar to the four-year US $8-million that Alex Burrows garnered last summer from the Vancouver Canucks.

We don't know if Ott and his agent are talking to the Stars during the season, but we hope they are. As much as everyone claims to hate Steve Ott, there's bound to be a couple of GM's out there who will throw out some kid of stupid money to get him. I'll love him wherever he goes, but I hope there's a way to keep him here. By the way, if you're reading this, and you have $600 million, can you please buy the Texas Rangers?

Speaking of which... Say it ain't so...

If your absolute worst baseball-related fear is the prospect of Tom Hicks rising from the dead and retaining majority control of the Texas Rangers after it seemed 80-plus percent certain that he was headed out, then you might have to brace for the realization of that fear, as Hicks has hastily assembled a group of local investors -- comprising both Cowboys legend Roger Staubach and the dual-allegianced Nolan Ryan -- and is preparing to submit his own bid ... to himself. Yeah.

There's the apparent confirmation that the Rangers are operating under league-imposed budgetary guidelines (via the largely reputable Joel Sherman), the hearsay that the owners have pressured the commissioner's office to figuratively clip Hicks' wings after he opened an eight-digit line of credit with the league, and then a hodgepodge of snippets and quotes that lend nothing but confusion to the entire situation. It could be months, years, or never before we get full disclosure on the rise and (very hard) fall of Hicks Sports Group and the accompanying juicy behind-the-scenes happenings from this past summer, but that's beside the point right now.

I bet we'll have more on this to come.

Wings end winning streak, lose to Dallas 3-1

joehass — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:43:20 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

Brad May and Krystofer Barch fight in the second period. It was the fifth fight between the two in the past three seasons.

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You know it's not your night when a goal is disallowed because of a whistle that blew a full second after the puck went into the net.

Brad May's third-period shot sat in the net, but Dennis LaRue ruled that the whistle intended to blow prior to the puck. Instead of a tie game, it remained 2-1, and the Stars put one more goal on the board to end the Detroit Red Wings three-game winning streak.

Alex Auld stopped 32 of 33 shots for Dallas, who played a solid game tonight, taking advantage by going 2-for-5 with the man advantage.

The Stars jumped out to the lead with a Mike Ribero goal that was intended to be a crossing pass. Instead, Jonathan Ericsson, who was on his stomach, swung his stick back, only to deflect the puck past Jimmy Howard.

Just under four minutes into the second period, Matt Niskanen took a pass from Brad Richards and fired a knuckle shot that Howard couldn't react to, to make it 2-0.

But a couple minutes later, Henrik Zetterberg kept his torrid pace going, as Ville Leino's pass set him up and with Richards draped over him, Zetterburg buried it to cut the lead to one.

Between those two goals, May and Krystofer Barch got together for a doozy of a fight: their fifth fight in the past three years. The two of them put on a show that included switching hands mid-fight when they both became tired. In fact, May appeared to deliberately change helmets just before the fight, going from one with a visor to one without.

With 13:36 left in the third, Detroit brought the puck out from behind the net. Justin Abdelkader passed the puck to May. May put a backhand shot from about 10 feet out onto Auld, who drew a whistle with a stop. But Auld hadn't stopped it: he trapped it against the side of the net with the puck very clearly over the line. The Red Wings celebrated as if they had scored a goal.

However, Dennis LaRue ruled that he intended to blow the whistle when the Auld made the stop, marking the play dead. Despite a call from the NHL Operations Center in Toronto, LaRue stuck to his ruling, and the goal did not count.

A few minutes later, with Jonathan Ericsson in the penalty box, Loui Eriksson took a pass from James Neal in front of the net. Howard was overcommitted to the play near Eriksson, and couldn't skate over in time to make the stop.

Howard would end up making 29 saves. The Wings play next on Friday against the Florida Panthers.

Player of the Game: Henrik Zetterberg. And we'll keep making him the player of the game until informed otherwise.

Alex Auld and Dallas Stars Stun Red Wings 3-1

Brandon Worley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:13:07 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

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The Detroit Red Wings have finally lost a home game in regulation, thanks to a nearly perfect road victory by the Dallas Stars. They outshot the Red Wings, were perfect on the penalty kill and took advantage of their power play opportunities to stun Detroit and get right back on the right track after days of questions surrounding the team's approach and consistency. Alex Auld was tremendous in net, and the Stars defensemen played disciplined hockey in their own zone as they worked to slow down a powerful Red Wings offense.

Obviously a lot of the attention from this game is going to be on the goal that wasn't, but we'll get into that later. In the meantime, be impressed by a great coaching job by Marc Crawford and a complete effort by the team as a whole as they did what many didn't think possible after the ups and downs of the past few weeks: beat a red hot Red Wings team on the road.

Mike Ribeiro put the Stars on the board first, when his pass intended for Ott bounced off the stick of a Red Wings defensemen and past goaltender Jimmy Howard. The power play goal put the Stars up 1-0 and seemingly stunned the Red Wings and the home crowd, who looked a bit lost in the fist 15 minutes of the game.The Stars survived a last-period surge by the Red Wings, and then received a great chance to test their penalty kill unit in the second period. The Stars successfully killed off four power play opportunities for the Red Wings in the middle frame, continuing a trend where that unit has signficantly improved upon the struggles from early in the season.

Matt Niskanen put the Stars up 2-0 with a big shot from the point past a Loui Eriksson screen. Henrik Zetterberg then put the Wings right back into the game and within one goal, when he powered past Brad Richards and to the net before lifting a shot over Auld's shoulder. The Wings seized momentum yet Auld stood tall in net and easily had his best game of the season for the Stars.

Loui Eriksson then put the game away late in the third period when he tapped in a James Neal pass on the power play. The Red Wings outshot the Stars 12-7 in the third period, but Auld and an excellent Stars backcheck fanned any fire Detroit tried to start.

Overall, a great win for the Stars and one they should be proud of. But the big test comes tomorrow night when they try to get that elusive winning streak going.

More breakdown of the game after the jump.

Game Highlights:

As I mentioned above, this was easily Alex Auld's best game as a Dallas Star, but that's also tied into how the players in front of him performed as well. Gone were the defensive breakdowns we've seen along the boards, gone were the uncontrolled rebounds in front of the net and the multiple chances for the opposition to hack away at Auld. The Red Wings did put some heavy pressure on in the third period, but for the Stars to allow 30 shots with a minimum of rebound opportunities is tremendous.
This was certainly the Stars' best coached game of the season. Marc Crawford and his assistants put together the perfect gameplan to play to the Stars' strengths and combat the offensive firepower of the Red Wings. Using a rare 2-2-1 technique (rare for the Stars at least) in the neutral zone in the first period, the Stars never allowed the Wings to get any momentum in transition and the strong backchecking by Stars forwards kept the Wings from establishing any sustained pressure. Some quick counterpunches and a power play goal later and the Stars are well on their way to a solid road victory.
This week we called out Steve Ott, Trevor Daley and Brenden Morrow as players that needed to seriously step up, but it was Loui Eriksson and Tom Wandell that truly sparked the Stars in the win. Eriksson contributed the back breaking goal, but it was his outstanding work on defense that was the difference in the game. Wandell also provided a thorn in the side of the Red Wings, as he consistently provided a strong back check as well as strong play on the penalty kill.
I was interested to see how the Stars would respond to Crawford breaking up the lines from what they've typically been the past two seasons or so, but the Stars showed a balanced team tonight both offensively and defensively. Brenden Morrow and Mike Modano worked great together, and Mike Ribeiro looked close to his old self playing with Lehtinen and Steve Ott. Brad Richards was his usual self with two more assists, and James Neal quietly had two assists as well (although his pass to Eriksson on the power play goal was a beauty.) And Mike Modano is on fire.
Finally, we come to the goal that wasn't. I can honestly tell you that the goal should have counted, even though it was against the Stars. The Puck was clearly over the goal line and was over instantly; there was no rolling over the pads on this one. The refs said that the goal didn't count because the the whistle had blown the play dead, which doesn't make sense on two levels. First, the puck crossed the goalline INSTANTLY; Auld barely had time to react to the shot. Second, the replay clearly shows that the whistle didn't blow until about three seconds after the puck went over the line. So if the refs lose sight of the puck that's fine; but that is what the guys in Toronto are for, supposedly.

Here's the video:

DBD's Three Stars of the Game:

Alex Auld, Dallas: Stopped 30 of 31, including several incredible saves in tight against some great players in Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

Brad Richards, Dallas: Two assists in a relatively quiet game, but it's uncanny how he easily springs teammates for prime chances with a subtle pass.

Jimmy Howard, Detroit: Like Auld, Howard made some tremendous saves and kept his team close when the Stars put the pressure on.

Stargazing: Stars Look for Answers with 4 Day Break.

Brad G — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:00:25 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

about 1 month ago: Minnesota Wild left wing Andrew Brunette (15) looks for a rebound as Dallas Stars goalie Alex Auld (31) makes a save during the second period in an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 in St. Paul. The Wild won 3-2. (AP Photo/Paul Battaglia)

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Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and Texas Stars news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.

Two weeks ago, the Stars played the Maple Leafs, the Panthers and the Predators in a three game set, if you will. They went 1-1-1. This last week, they played the Flames, the Canucks, and the Wild. Again, they went 1-1-1. It's at this point where one would do well to bring up the old saying: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Dallas gave spirited efforts, for the most part, but failed to earn the points they'd like.

This was, by all accounts, an "easier" portion of the schedule. Toronto, Florida, Minnesota, Nashville...you get the picture.

Saturday, however, reminded us that there is no such thing in the NHL. Toronto beat Detroit. Nashville beat Los Angeles. San Jose beat the Pens, and the Wild beat the Stars. All of these are fairly congruous and we won't spend any time on the why of that statement. All we can glean from it is that any team can win on any given night in this league, and that's what happened on Saturday.

Brandon detailed the Stars inconsistency yesterday, here. They have four whole days and plenty of practice time to re-group. A tough test against the Sharks looms on Thursday.

We traditionally tend to look at these things from a Stars point of view around these parts, so let's start things off this morning by making sure we take measure of what the other half is thinking. From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Stars' big mistake seals a victory for Wild

Losing a big lead wasn't a crusher for the Wild, which got a gift of a winner.

This is one of those rare occasions where the local angle seems to be rather harmonious with our own.

After the jump, a round up of the Wild/Stars game of Saturday night...

The Stars weren't about to use the back-to-back as an excuse:

The Wild recorded the game's first 11 shots. Dallas, which had 87 shots in its last two games, didn't have one until more than 12 minutes had elapsed. The Wild finished with a 37-21 shot advantage.

Dallas was playing its second game in two nights, but refused to use that as an excuse.

"We had the benefit of the doubt (Friday night) with Vancouver playing back-to-back, so we knew it was going to be a tough go tonight," center Mike Modano said. "We got off to a shaky start there in the first, but we climbed ourselves back into the game and did some good things in the second to give us a chance."

With the packed weekend scheduling of the Stars (how many Saturday nights in a row do they play?) this is just something they'll have to get used to. Energy didn't seem to be a problem for much of the second and third periods. The first period, however, was not ideal.

Mr. Mike Heika had a real interesting note on the score keeping at the Xcel Energy Center:

The house officials gave Minnesota two assists on the puck that Nick Grossman knocked in (Marek Zidlicky's game-winning goal) and gave the Stars no assists on the puck that Nick Schultz knocked in (Loui Eriksson's first power play goal). Their explanation was that Schultz had control of the puck and shot it into his net (thus the rules that would determine an unassisted goal), and that Grossman never had control and accidentally redirected that puck into the net (thus, a fine play in which two players helped create a perfect scoring chance).

Hmmmmm?

That was far from the most bizarre officiating of the night.

Richard Durrett takes a look at the decision to start Alex Auld on Saturday night:

I'll admit that I was surprised to see Alex Auld in goal on Saturday in Minnesota. And if you glanced at the score and saw, 3-2, you might have figured Auld was just OK. But that's wrong. Auld was great on Saturday, making big saves and giving the Stars a chance to win.

But I was surprised to see him because Marty Turco was solid on Friday and the Stars have four days off before playing Thursday against San Jose. The Stars, though, are sticking with their plan. They want Turco rested and not overworked this season so that when it matters most down the stretch, he isn't fatigued.

I don't think anyone would argue that Auld was the reason they lost that game. Still, with four days off following the game, I would have personally preferred Marty Turco's puck handling skills back there.

Mark Stepneski offers his observations following the loss:

I don’t think there’s a lot to analyze on this one. The team that played better over the course of the entire 60 minutes won the game. The Stars gave up a season-high 37 shots on goal and matched their season-low with 21 shots on goal. They gave up a shorthanded goal for the first time this season, and it came at the beginning of a four-minute power play. A usually disciplined bunch, they got in some penalty trouble that made their life more difficult at times.

Despite the win over the Canucks on Friday and the impressive play at times in the OT loss to the Flames on Wednesday, the record recently has been a little spotty. They are 1-2-2 in the last five games.

Give the Wild credit. They played a very good game. They looked a lot better than when I watched them the other night against Vancouver.

1-2-2 in their last five games is a pretty nasty mark. A .400 point percentage is a sure fire way to miss the playoffs.

Ahead of Brett Hull's induction to the hockey hall of fame, NHL.com has a nice piece on him:

He also said that his 1999 Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Dallas Stars in overtime of Game 6 "was No. 1, the most important of my career."

Hull said winning his first Stanley Cup in Dallas and scoring the winning goal was important to him because "there was a boatload of people when I left St. Louis who said you won't win with Brett Hull on your team. To go to Dallas and be the missing piece of the puzzle to win the Cup and then go and score that goal in overtime, who hasn't sat as a kid with his buddies and dreamed or pretended that they scored that goal? To then go and do it in real life was amazing."

BTW, it was a good goal. I don't know if some folks in some northern region of some north-eastern state agree or not, but it was.

A quick review of the numbers that Brandon put forth yesterday morning:

The Dallas Stars are now 7-4-6 after 17 games. That's not bad, and much better than last season (6-8-3).

The Stars have 20 points, good for 6th in the Western Conference. Not bad, and much better than last season (14th in the West).

The Stars allowing 2.82 goals per game, 15th in the NHL. That's ok, but much better than last season at this point (3.64 goals per game).

The Stars are scoring 3.18 goals per game, 8th in the NHL. That's pretty good and better than last season (2.82).

So let's remember, as we digest a game that was seemingly given away on Saturday, that things are not all that bad. They were much worse last year, anyway. Let's not forget that this team, for once, has its health.

Displeased as Stars faithful were with the result, one must keep a little perspective. At one point, it appeared as though Mike Ribeiro and Mike Modano had both been lost for at least the game, if not more. Ribeiro looked especially, for lack of a better term, dramatic, hobbling down the tunnel last night. It was nice to see him back out there. A loss to Minnesota in November is something from which the team can recover. The loss of Mike Ribeiro, slump or no slump, is not something anyone in Dallas wants to see.

Dallas Stars Consistently Inconsistent; What's the Cure?

Brandon Worley — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:32:28 -0000

More photos » by Bill Boyce - AP

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Let's break this down, shall we?

The Dallas Stars are now 7-4-6 after 17 games. That's not bad, and much better than last season (6-8-3).

The Stars have 20 points, good for 6th in the Western Conference. Not bad, and much better than last season (14th in the West).

The Stars allowing 2.82 goals per game, 15th in the NHL. That's ok, but much better than last season at this point (3.64 goals per game).

The Stars are scoring 3.18 goals per game, 8th in the NHL. That's pretty good and better than last season (2.82).

Seeing a trend here?

The Dallas Stars have been good this season, sometimes great. They've played some complete, tough games against good teams on the road. We've seen some incredible goaltending at times and an offense that can quickly put goals in the net, not to mention an insane amount of shots on goal. The Stars have shown determination and grit while learning a new system under a new coaching staff and have shown that they have the potential to really do some great things on the ice, especially with the number of young forwards the Stars have.

Brad Richards has emerged as the best player on the ice for the Stars and is finally embracing his role as a leader in the locker. Brenden Morrow can't do it all himself and it's starting to look like the pressure is off him a bit to be Superman and he can just get back to being himself. Marty Turco is playing the best he's played in a very long time, and only seems to be gaining more confidence each night. The penalty killing unit has started to get it's feet underneath it and is no longer the liability it was early in the season.

So why is this team so frustratingly inconsistent?

The Stars have won two straight games just once this season, a trend that goes all the way back to March of last season. It's two steps forward, one step back for the Dallas Stars nearly every game as it seems to be that just as the Stars are gaining momentum and getting comfortable in their skates, they hit some adversity they can't overcome.

Last night's game was a good example of this. I didn't think the Stars played bad, and it certainly wasn't a clunker of an effort like we've seen before. But a couple of early penalties put them in a hole they could never completely climb out of, despite eventually tying the game.

"We knew it was going to be a tough go tonight. We got off to a shaky start in the first, but we climbed our way back into the game and did some good things in the second to give us a chance at it," Mike Modano said after the game.

The Stars were going strong in the second period, but Grossman unfortunately knocked the puck in on his own net while doing his best to cover the back end of the net. It wasn't as egregious as the own goal that Eriksson scored off of Nick Shultz earlier in the game, but it killed all of the momentum the Stars had built and gave it right back to the Wild.

The Stars could just never muster a big push in the third period, especially when a Modano penalty negated an early power play.

"We got some penalty problems and discipline issues where we let them get to us, and we were playing catch up for most of the third," said Modano.

So what led to the Stars playing such an up and down game a night after dominating the Canucks at home? Was it the travel and the inability to put any fresh legs on the ice?

Perhaps it was the fact that the team had to adjust to Alex Auld being in net on a quick turnaround; we've talked about the differences between Turco and Auld and how they move the puck and it's obvious the defense has trouble getting to used to the differing styles. We didn't see the big mixups along the boards that have plagued the Stars the last couple of times Auld has started, but it still took the team a while to start cleanly moving the puck in transition. By that time the Stars were down 2-0.

That being said, while we would have liked to have seen Turco back in net after playing so well the night before the Stars are intent on sticking to their plan in net and that's a good thing. We need Turco healthy and rested not just now but in March as well, when the schedule becomes brutal teams are fighting for playoff positioning.

Mike Heika has some good thoughts on the inconsistency with the Stars, and says that the fire the team showed after Morrow's bogus diving penalty is good for the Stars:

So I am locked onto that series of plays near the end of the second period where Brenden Morrow took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for shooting the puck into Minnesota's net as a reaction to what he believed was a a very bad diving call, and Marc Crawford compounded the situation by getting a bench minor for abuse of officials that put the Stars down two men not long after.

Personally, I loved both penalties. I felt calling Morrow for a dive was ridiculous. On the play, Brent Burns had his thigh behind Morrow's legs pushing the legs forward and then pulled his stick across Morrow's neck, pulling it back. It was the perfect high-low football block. He literally picked him up and threw him down. To call a dive on that (especially in the wake of the terribly wrong Nick Grossman delay of game call from Calgary on Wednesday) just shows how bad the officiating in the NHL can be. Morrow should have been mad, he should have taken the additional unsportsmanlkike conduct penalty, and his teammates should have been happy to kill all of it off.

Crawford got whistled for harping at officials on a no-call where Mike Modano was held a few seconds later, and I loved to see that emotion from the fiery coach there, as well. I would have been even happier if Crawford would have let the refs have it on the Morrow call, but I was just happy to see some of the old Crawford come out.

I think we've all been waiting for Crawford to finally let loose, and last night was the first time we saw him get truly riled up behind the bench. One thing I've thought has been missing from the Stars this season was a "don't mess with us" attitude, one that shows that is a team and not just a group of really talented hockey players. It doesn't necessarily have to entail big hits and fights, but at least show some anger when things start going against you and you start to really stick up for each other.

So, is this a loss that the team builds on and gels more as a team? Perhaps, but that's what we were hoping for after the Calgary loss. Yet what we haven't seen is the Stars really come together on a consistent basis night in and night out and be a true team from the top of the roster to the bottom. Despite the loss, we started to see signs of that last night and have been for a few games now. The Stars are still in good shape in the standings and can afford a slight misstep or two, and have done enough good things this season to say that this team has a pretty high ceiling they can reach.

It's not all bad and Stars fans have plenty to be proud of and feel good about moving forward. The Stars are still adjusting to a new system and a new coach and the signs are there that the team is on the cusp of truly grasping this new approach. All we're looking forward to is a little consistency.