Final

Dallas Stars 1 - Detroit Red Wings 4

Well, that was a pretty ugly game eh? For the second day in a row the Stars looked like a team with no energy, no fight and no will as they lost to the Red Wings 4-1. The Stars continue to have major issues with the second night of back-to-backs and have now lost four in a row. They get two days of rest and practice before hosting the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Positives:

• Kari Lehtonen had another highlight reel (and possible save of the year) save in this game. He's easily been the best player for the Stars each night and it's a damn shame that he allowed four goals this game. The defense continues to put him in horrible situations and he was once again under siege last night.

• A couple of young guys continue to play well. Cody Eakin looks like he'll be a star for this team in the future and he did well again last night. He had a critical part in Loui Eriksson's goal, worked har din the offensive zone and had three takeaways.

• Brenden Dillon also made some good impressions last night. He had a spirited fight with Jordan Tootoo during the second period that got the team fired up for a while. He threw some vicious uppercuts into Tootoo and was one of the few guys to have some emotion and fight in him during the game. Also, while he's not a fighter, I appreciate the effort from Eric Nystrom at the beginning of the game to fight Tootoo.

By: Michael Pina

In 1990, Jaromir Jagr was an 18-year-old NHL rookie who appeared in
80 games and notched 57 points. Impressive tallies for someone so young
(the 57 points is ninth highest in NHL history for someone that age), and a
hopeful sign that Jagr’s career would, at the very least, qualify as modestly
successful.

Instead of “modestly successful”, what we’ve seen over the past two decades
has been an endless stream of goals, wins, and unforgettable performances.

Jagr is arguably the most accomplished European born player in the history
of his sport, and even though his days of leading the league in points are
over (by the way, something he’s done five times in his career),
Jagr’s still talented enough to be viewed as an effective player for any team
that’s serious about winning.

Dallas Stars (2-3-1, 5 pts) @ Detroit Red Wings (2-2-1, 5 pts)

6:30 PM CT

Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

The Red Wings

Like Dallas, the Wings have been off to a shaky start. They’ve alternated between wins and losses so far this season (on track for a win tonight if the trend continues) though their play has looked better the past few games.

The Wings lost 2-1 to the Stars a week ago as they just couldn’t solve Kari Lehtonen despite putting 39 shots on him.

Detroit is still bad on the power-play and the penalty kill and their injuries have not improved since that last game against Dallas. Among those injured and out for this game include forwards Darren Helm, Mikael Samuelsson, Jan Mursak and defensemen Ian White and Carlo Colaiacovo. Backup goaltenders Jonas Gustavsson and Joey MacDonald are also out for this game.

The biggest difference that the Stars can expect from Detroit is the look of the top lines. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were split up and both guys immediately had a bigger effect on the game. They’ll be on different lines again tonight.

The Wings will start Jimmy Howard once again this game. He’s started every game so far this season and has allowed at least two goals in each of the past four starts.

Possible line combos:

Brunner – Zetterberg – Franzen

Bertuzzi – Datsyuk – Filppula

Cleary – Abdelkader – Tootoo

Miller – Emmerton – Eaves

D-Pairings:

Kronwall – Ericsson

Quincey – Smith

Huskins – Lashoff

Dallas Stars (2-2-1, 5 pts) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (1-3-1, 3 pts)

6:00 PM CT

Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

The Blue Jackets

Dallas gets an easier game against a Central Division foe when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. Columbus has been a perennial cellar dweller during their existence and it’s expected to happen again this season. The Blue Jackets traded away the one recognizable star they had in Rick Nash during the offseason and got a mild return.

Five games into the season, Columbus ranks in the bottom third of the league in goals, goals against and power play percentage (but somehow fourth in penalty kill). They’ve lost four straight games and been outscored 16-6 in those losses. 15 of the 17 goals they’ve allowed this season have been on the even strength. Basically, this game is what a slumping Stars team needs to get back on track.

There’s no star power on Columbus but they do have a couple of players that fans should keep an eye on. Defenseman Fedor Tyutin leads the team with four points and three assists and youngster Ryan Johansen should be on of their faces of the future. Johansen has only two points so far on the season (two assists) but he leads the team in shots on goal and is the team’s leading face-off guy.

The starter in goal tonight will most likely be Sergei Bobrovsky. He’s 1-1-1 on the season with a 2.85 GAA. He’s faced Dallas twice in his career (both while with Philadelphia and both games were in Dallas) and has a 2-0-0 record with a 1.44 GAA and a .951 SV%.

Columbus has one injury of note with winger Cam Atkinson on injured reserve with a lower body injury.

Possible line combos:

Foligno – Anisimov – Umberger

Brassard – Dubinsky – Dorsett

Calvert – Johansen – Prospal

MacKenzie – Letestu – Boll

D-Pairings:

Johnson – Wisniewski

Tyutin – Nikitin

Aucoin – Moore

St. Louis Blues (3-1-0, 6 pts) @ Dallas Stars (2-1-1, 5 pts)

7:00 PM CT

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

The Blues

The Stars get another tough Central Division test tonight as the Blues come into town. St. Louis is one of the most well-rounded teams in the league and an infusion of youth has given their offense an extra kick so far this season.

There are a lot of solid players on this team but the guy to watch is easily young phenom Vladimir Tarasenko. The young Russian is among the league leaders with six points (which leads the team) and is also the team leader with four goals.

He’s shown incredible skill on the ice and is the most explosive player on the Blues. The early favorite for rookie of the year will give the Stars defense a lot of trouble.

The offense for the Blues is really good but the defense has been even better under Hitchcock. Jaroslav Halak started two games this season and posted two shut-outs (against the Red Wings and Predators) while Brian Elliott has played well in the two games he started on the road en route to a 1-1-0 record.

The Blues lead the league in power play percentage and are third in goals against. Dallas will have to find a way to stay out of the penalty box and protect Cristopher Nilstorp from getting swarmed by the Blues.

It’s unknown who the starter in goal will be tonight for the Blues, but I’m leaning towards Halak getting the nod.

Possible line combos:

Perron – Backes – Oshie

Schwartz – Berglund – Stewart

McDonald – Steen – Tarasenko

Sobotka – Nichol – Langenbrunner

D-Pairings:

Pietrangelo – Redden

Shattenkirk – Russell

Jackman – Polak

Anaheim Ducks – (2-0-0, 4 pts, 6th in the West)

The Ducks are off to a pretty good start this season. They’ve played two games so far, both on the road and won against Vancouver and Calgary. Their defense has been really shaky out of the gate but their offense has been stellar as they’ve won their two games by a 12-7 margin.

The usual suspects (Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry, Koivu) have been doing most of the heavy work for them so far but there’s been one surprise to the season. That surprise is Daniel Winnik, the team leader in goals with 4. Winnik is shooting a ridiculous 66.7% so far on the season (four goals on six shots) so there’s no way he can keep this up.

Former Star Sheldon Souray has also started out the season well with a goal and two assists to lead the defense.

The Week Ahead:

Fri. Jan. 25 – Vancouver @ Anaheim

Sat. Jan. 26 – Nashville @ Anaheim

Tues. Jan. 29 – Anaheim @ San Jose

Final - Overtime

Dallas Stars 2 – Chicago Blackhawks 3

Dallas was both unlucky and very fortunate to get at least a point in this game. Chicago dominated possession of the puck and put enormous pressure on Kari Lehtonen the entire game. The Stars couldn’t stay out of the penalty box and that, in the end, was the difference in the game as the Hawks scored three power play goals.

All of that was pretty much secondary though to the in game news that Jamie Benn had re-signed with the Stars for five years/$26.25 million. 

The Positives:

• Kari Lehtonen was once again the huge positive in this game. He faced 41 shots, many of them point blank, and was able to stop 38 of them. The first goal that he allowed was actually an own goal off of Trevor Daley. He may have allowed two true goals to the Blackhawks, but Kari should take no blame for this game.

• Cody Eakin continues to impress during his time with the second line. He forced a key turnover in the second period and fed the pass to a wide open Ray Whitney in the slot for the Stars’ second goal. He’s done wonders for the second line these past two games so it’ll be interesting to see where he plays once Jamie Benn comes back.

• This should probably go without saying, but Loui Eriksson was excellent this game. While he did score a shorthanded goal, it was his overall defense in the game that impressed the most. He continuously worked back to help win the puck and provide cover for a bewildered defense.

• It wasn’t on-ice news, but the best thing about yesterday’s game was the Jamie Benn re-signing. Unfortunately he won’t be able to play in the Stars’ next game as he has work visa issues, but he’ll be back on Monday. Dallas will finally have their true top-six on the ice.

Chicago Blackhawks (3-0-0, 6 pts) @ Dallas Stars (2-1-0, 4 pts)

7:30 PM CT

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

The Blackhawks

Chicago comes into this game as one of the top offensive teams in the league (though it’s just three games) with an average of 4.7 goals per game.

That hot start can mostly be attributed to the play of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. Hossa is currently tied for the league lead in goals and both he and Kane are tied for second in the league in points. A lot of the burden of stopping them will come down to Kari Lehtonen, but the Dallas defenders need to at least slow down the trio.

The Blackhawks goaltending is suspect as always so the more pressure the Stars can put on Corey Crawford, the better.

The Hawks are pretty healthy. Dan Carcillo (knee) and Steve Montador (concussion) are the only two players expected to be out with injuries. Youngster Brandon Saad looks to be Carcillo’s replacement on the second line.

Possible line combos:

Sharp – Toews – Kane

Saad – Bolland – Hossa

Stalberg – Shaw – Frolik

Bickell – Kruger – Mayers

D-Pairings:

Keith – Seabrook

Leddy – Hjalmarsson

Oduya – Rozsival

Dallas Stars (1-1-0, 2pts) @ Detroit Red Wings (1-1-0, 2 pts)

6:30 PM CT

Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Those Hated Red Wings

Detroit enters this season as vulnerable as they’ve ever been in the past three decades. Nicklas Lidstrom retired during the offseason and took with him a lot of the usual Red Wing aura.

The loss of Lidstrom and Brad Stuart on the defense is a killer. A healthy defense on this team is as bad (maybe even worse) as the Stars now. To make matters worse, it isn’t healthy. The Wings blue line will be without three players in tonight’s game due to injury: Jonathan Ericsson, Jakub Kindl and Carlo Colaiacovo. I’m pretty sure a mild breeze would be enough to injure Colaiacovo.

Detroit has resorted to signing guys off the scrap heap and picked up veteran Kent Huskins just to be a healthy body. Some dude named Gustav Nyquist was also just called up to bolster the forward depth. Based on their roster outlook, it seems both will be getting some playing time today.

Now as bad as their defense is, the offense on the Wings can still score. Pavel Datsyuk is around and still as Datsyukian as ever. Henrik Zetterberg is the team’s shiny new captain and a Stars killer. Rookie Damien Brunner is a highly touted prospect and played overseas with Zetterberg during the lockout so they have good chemistry together.

Detroit did play a game last night that went into a shootout against the Blue Jackets so the team could be a bit tired.

I assume Jimmy Howard will start tonight as their backup is the just-called-up Thomas McCollum.

The team will be without the defensemen mentioned above as well as forwards Mikael Samuelsson, Darren Helm, Todd Bertuzzi, Jan Mursak and backup goalies Jonas Gustavsson and Joey MacDonald.

Possible line combos:

Zetterberg – Datsyuk – Brunner

Cleary – Filppula – Franzen

Tootoo – Abdelkader - Nyquist

Miller – Emmerton – Eaves

D-Pairings:

Kronwall – White

Quincey – Smith

Huskins – Lashoff

Dallas:

Game three and still no sign of Jamie Benn yet for Dallas. Jagr and crew should have an easier time tonight scoring on Detroit that they did against the block-happy Wild.

It’s the second line on this team that really needs to get going though. The center (whether it’s Tom Wandell or Cody Eakin) needs to provide some service to Ray Whitney and Michael Ryder just so they can provide some support for the first line. I really hope that it’s Eakin that rolls out the second line though.

Kari Lehtonen will be back between the pipes tonight and will be looking for his second win of the season. He’s 3-5-0 against the Wings in his career with a 3.40 GAA and a .906 SV%.

Aaron Rome still has the iffy groin and shouldn’t be back in the lineup tonight. The defensive pairings should be the same that they’ve been for the past two games.

Probable lines:

Eriksson – Roy – Jagr

Whitney – Wandell – Ryder

Morrow – Fiddler – Nystrom

Garbutt – Eakin – Smith

D-Pairs:

Goligoski – Robidas

Benn – Daley

Larsen – Dillon

Texas Stars

The Texas Stars entered the week without a majority of their key players as they were with the Dallas Stars. The gutted roster didn’t really miss a beat though as they won two of their three games last week and showed a season high outburst of offense in their final two games.

The Stars dropped their first game of the week 4-1 but bounced back with a vengeance as they won their next two games by a combined 14-8 margin. The defense was a bit shaky as the team was without Brenden Dillon, Jordie Benn and goalie Cristopher Nilstorp, but the offense was there to pick up the team.

Nearly every forward on the team had a goal during the week (including Austin Smith’s first of his AHL career) and the standout was Alex Chiasson, who had three goals and two assists during the week.

Jack Campbell started two of the three games last week and went 1-1-0 while stopping 52 of 59 shots. Richard Bachman got the last start of the week (his first action in a long time) and stopped 30 of 34 for the win.

The Stars finish up their long six-game road trip this week and currently sit fourth in the Western Conference (second in the division).

Jan. 21 – Texas Stars @ Rockford IceHogs

Jan. 25 – Texas Stars @ San Antonio Rampage

Jan. 26 – San Antonio Rampage @ Texas Stars