Photo and Graphic from: Dallas Stars Twitter
The Dallas Stars played their first home game of the season tonight. Welcoming the Minnesota Wild, Dallas stayed hot, scoring 5 goals, and saving 39 shots to beat Minnesota 5-2.
The Good: Stars scoring stays hot
Firstly, the Stars are one of two undefeated teams left in the NHL. That’s pretty damn good. Secondly, Dallas once again stayed hot on the ice. Picking up from last game the Stars scored five goal, two being open-nets, to stave off the Wild at home. The first two periods were a masterclass of Stars chemistry under Glen Gulutzan. The first goal saw three Finnish Stars link up. Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz got the assist on a beautiful Esa Lindell goal. Secondly, Wyatt Johnston kept his goal streak alive. He exploited a stickless Minnesota defender and firing a shot into the top right pocket of the Wild’s goal. Looking into the second period Dallas got incredibly lucky with another goal. Matt Duchene fired a shot off of the skate of Zach Bogosian, leading to the Stars 3rd goal. Additionally, Dallas did a great job defending the 6 on 5 empty net offense from Minnesota. This led to an additonal two open net goals for Dallas. One scored by Radek Faksa, the other by Roope Hintz. Dallas extends their impressive 5-goals-per-game streak to 3.
The Bad: Penalties and shot discrepancy
Once again Dallas seemed to absorb tons of offensive pressure from their foes. This bend don’t break mentality is incredibly evident, leading to 41 faced shots to Dallas’ 25 shots. This year Dallas seems to have better shot selection. The Stars need to figure out a way to decrease Oettinger’s workload throughout the season. Additionally, Dallas has conceded 52 penalty minutes over the past three games, that’s almost an entire game in penalties. I mentioned last post that it was ” imperative for the Stars to stay out of the penalty box next game against the Minnesota Wild”. Luckily, I was incorrect. We still won without staying out of the box. However, as the season continues, Dallas must find a way to keep the team out of the box.
The Ugly: Otter needs help, Power play woes
Facing the number one power-play in the league is never easy. However, Dallas showed once again that their penalty kill needs to improve. Minnesota grabbed all the momentum in the third period after two quick powerplay goals from Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov. Dallas struggled by taking 25 minutes in penalties. Their penalty kill was operating at only 77%. Dallas made things far too difficult on itself. Dallas currently ranks 22nd in the league for penalty kill percentage. Dallas relies very heavily on Jake Oettinger to deliver them wins. Minnesota had 8 shots on goal in the first 3 minutes of the game. Additionally, Minnesota went on a streak of 9 straight shots on goal before Miro Heiskanen broke it with a shot of his own. Dallas must decrease the number of shots Oettinger faces. Otherwise, they will inevitably lose games they should win.
Updates: Duchene goes down with head injury
Matt Duchene exited the game early in the third period after a high hit to his head. The hit itself didn’t draw a penalty, but lead to a fight and 12 total penalty minutes being handed out. Duchene was pulled and then evaluated for a concussion, never returning to the game. Robert Tiffin from Starsthoughts.com said that “Gulutzan said Duchene will need to be evaluated further. No update right now. Also said he didn’t like the hit. Thought it was high.” Hopefully for Dallas Duchene is not out long. However, only time will tell for the Stars forward.
Dallas will be back at home this Thursday at 7:00 PM to face the Vancouver Canucks.
Feature photo credit goes to the Dallas Stars social media post below:
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