In the interest of spending more time on Friday’s post (some film room on Dallas’ PK, why it’s struggling, and where it’s headed) along with this being the holidays, today will be a relatively short read. I wish you all good fortune this holiday week, and I’m super thankful for you, the reader. What began as a part time passion project has turned into somewhere between that and my livelihood. Thank you.
It’s difficult to watch games from my perspective with anything other than a detached lens. That comes from a lot of different places: how analysis should be written, watching to write, watching to track, etc. Because of that it’s rare for a game to take me straight out of my Clockwork Orange stupor and just enjoy all the main food groups of a hockey game. That’s exactly what Wednesday night served.
The whole game was fantastic (some of the officiating notwithstanding). Like a Donnie Yen fight, tonight had it all. It’s also not something I thought, to be perfectly frank, that Dallas didn’t have in them: that ability to keep pace with a naturally faster team. Granted, I’m not a believer in the what the Kraken are doing (remember: the Thanksgiving cutoff refers to 77.1 percent of the teams currently in a playoff spot — that’s a long way from 100 percent when you consider how close their competitors are) and who they are right now. But they’re not tanking, and they’re not bums, and the Stars played their game, despite having a few too many close calls.
I don’t think it was necessarily a great win, but it was a good one for where they’re at roster wise, and yet another outstanding showing from Casey DeSmith, who fought Joey Daccord beat for beat.
Period 1
The first period was one of the best first periods I think we’ve seen all season in a Dallas game. Both teams generated a ton of chances, the pace was kind of insane, and it was what we all love about hockey in a twenty minute white-knuckle thrill ride. It was kind of crazy that only two goals were scored in that period.
Period 2
Period two is what I would consider the idealized version of this Stars team: a team that not only weather opposing team’s storms, but can bring their own, while being able to counterpunch amidst the madness. That’s how the second goal (by Esa Lindell no less), was scored; on the crackback. It reminds me of how Sugar Ray Leonard would steal rounds from Marvin Hagler in their classic bout: absorbing offense on the frontfoot rather than the backfoot.
Period 3
On Friday, I’ll have a paywalled article looking at Dallas’ penalty kill, because I think it’s an interesting story. It’s really their only explicit problem right now. This, I think, is good news for two reasons 1) if you only have one flaw you’re in good shape1 and 2) I’m not seeing a lot of structural problems. If I’m missing something, we’ll find out soon enough. And you can decide for yourself on Friday. But Wednesday night was a masterclass in aggressive penalty killing, and a reminder that Dallas isn’t deviating from the previous formula.
Meandering Strays
The broadcast showed Dallas’ amount of wins in one-goal games they have, and while it was framed as a positive, it was hard not to look at the other teams sharing this stat — Kings, Blue Jackets, Bruins, Islanders, and Devils — and think the opposite. Yes, a lot of those teams are playoff teams, but their positions are tenuous at best. My problem with this stat is that research has already been done on this: you don’t want to be good at this. Yes, it’s better to win close games than to lose them, but it’s also better to gain separation from your opponents. In addition to the fact that wins in one-goal games are a lot less repeatable.
That was just a great shot from Vladislav Kolyachonok. Daccord was semi-screened, but nothing he wasn’t able to fight through in order to see. Kolyachonok hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been more of what Dallas doesn’t actively have — a puck moving defender — which IMO, makes him a net positive.
Four of Dallas’ would-be AHLers hit the scoresheet tonight. Nothing to add there. I just thought that was amusing.
Jamie Benn is pretty darn close to a point per game player. It’s gonna be fascinating to see with this team looks like when everyone is healthy, and what their lineup will reveal in terms of what’s needed. Because I don’t believe it’s all that clear.
I mean, you simply can’t scratch someone after scoring two goals, but it was interesting to see Colin Blackwell come out. I feel like Blackwell has had a solid stretch of games, including some excellent (IMO some of the best) work on the PK.
I don’t actually it’s their only flaw, but it’s their only flaw that everyone agrees is a flaw.
I'm sure having Neil Graham on the coaching staff has really helped the AHL guys adjust and contribute so well.
I thought the Stars played a very good game considering it was the 2nd night of the back to back. I think Casey DeSmith has really improved since coming to the Stars. He is quicker post to post than Ottengier and has great vision. Anybody complaining about the Stars depth should watch last nights game and quit worrying. All the boys from the AHL that I can’t say or spell their names showed out last night. I don’t know who stays and who goes but the Texas Stars are going to be a different team when they go back down.