Ok I'll shut up about Miro, but this really should be the final lesson, once and for all -- how important he really is. Maybe not for 10 percent of the game when he's on the power play, but for the remaining 90 percent...
I thought last night was a dismal performance. Well, other than Otter's goaltending and the ability to translate opportunities into goals (pretty much the purpose of the game).
The Stars were again dominated in possession. They failed to do the simplest of things repeatedly; cannot recall how many times simple, short, relatively uncontested passes failed to connect. Cannot recall how many times players failed to exit the zone when an eminently reasonable chance was there.
And that final period...ugh. It's one thing to get outscored and outshot...but they got outshot 11-0 at one point. As soon as the Stars moved the puck into the neutral zone it seemed they were blind because they weren't carrying the puck or connecting on anything and the Oilers just totally stifled them.
We've see that a LOT the last two months where the Stars not only don't look elite they don't even look like an average NHL team; they look downright bad.
LIke you said, this team should not be getting dominated in puck possession against the Wild and Oilers, both without their two best players. It's deeply concerning and IMO there's something about this team right now where all whole is less than the sum of the parts.
Honestly tired of watching mediocre hockey from this group. The way this team is playing right now they won't last 5 games vs Colorado without Miro.
The slow starts definitely feel like a thing right now, but maybe that is just where the team is at with execution right now. Something I have been thinking about lately relates to Benn as he has not jumped out at me when watching games at all. Maybe he can just turn it on when needed, but starting feel like a fad towards the end of the season. Maybe the data says something different.
I could just TELL that when Skinner got pulled/hurt, the Oilers were gonna mount a comeback…!
Why can’t the Stars clear the zone to save their lives lately?
Ok I'll shut up about Miro, but this really should be the final lesson, once and for all -- how important he really is. Maybe not for 10 percent of the game when he's on the power play, but for the remaining 90 percent...
I thought last night was a dismal performance. Well, other than Otter's goaltending and the ability to translate opportunities into goals (pretty much the purpose of the game).
The Stars were again dominated in possession. They failed to do the simplest of things repeatedly; cannot recall how many times simple, short, relatively uncontested passes failed to connect. Cannot recall how many times players failed to exit the zone when an eminently reasonable chance was there.
And that final period...ugh. It's one thing to get outscored and outshot...but they got outshot 11-0 at one point. As soon as the Stars moved the puck into the neutral zone it seemed they were blind because they weren't carrying the puck or connecting on anything and the Oilers just totally stifled them.
We've see that a LOT the last two months where the Stars not only don't look elite they don't even look like an average NHL team; they look downright bad.
LIke you said, this team should not be getting dominated in puck possession against the Wild and Oilers, both without their two best players. It's deeply concerning and IMO there's something about this team right now where all whole is less than the sum of the parts.
Honestly tired of watching mediocre hockey from this group. The way this team is playing right now they won't last 5 games vs Colorado without Miro.
The slow starts definitely feel like a thing right now, but maybe that is just where the team is at with execution right now. Something I have been thinking about lately relates to Benn as he has not jumped out at me when watching games at all. Maybe he can just turn it on when needed, but starting feel like a fad towards the end of the season. Maybe the data says something different.