Despite some missed opportunities and snaffoos along the way, the Dallas Stars pulled two points out of this one, and are we ever glad.
Game Recap
Evander Kane struck early for the Sabres, putting a damper in the Stars’ attempt to stay on top of the first period. As the Stars are prone to do, they seemed to let this crack their confidence, and allowed one from Matt Moulson no more than 6 minutes later. However, Patrick Sharp lightened the mood and the expectations with a smooth, well-timed goal to close out the first.
The Stars started doing their catching up in the second. Jamie Benn turned a power play opportunity into a goal within the first 45 seconds, and after a slight lull, Sharp struck again to give the Stars their first lead in the 3-2 score. The next goal was a bit of a team effort on the part of both teams, when an own-goal for the Sabres resulted in a tally for Seguin and a 4-2 lead for the Stars.
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However, the gravity of the situation was not lost on the Sabres, who closed out the second period with another goal from Evander Kane, and continued their onslaught in the third, but thanks to Kari Lehtonen, to no avail. So the score stood at 4-3.
Thoughts and Observations
Powerful play
Although the Dallas Stars’ play on the whole tonight wasn’t necessarily powerful, they improved their attempts on the power play. And though they relinquished a power play goal early in the game, their penalty kill looked better and better as the game progressed, until they seemed relatively in charge of the proceedings near the close of the game.
With the struggles that the Stars have sifted through this season, the importance of special teams is paramount. Especially so tonight, against a team they could not have afforded to take on in overtime.
The cycle begins again
Antti Niemi was the game’s starting goalkeeper, but was pulled to start the second in favor of Lehtonen. I will concede that Lehtonen finished out the game in a much stronger and productive fashion, so begins over again the tandem cycle that has been bogging the Stars down all season long.
Kari will now be the starter until he has a meltdown in net, at which time he will be pulled and replaced by Niemi. If the Stars aren’t interested in investing time and in-game experience in their goalies when it comes to dealing with trip-ups and failure, why do they insist on having not one, but two starters who they treat like back-ups?
Sharp shooter
Sorry for the Sharp pun. It was inevitable.
But this guy had a great game. With two of the goals resting on his shoulders, Sharp really did a phenomenal job tonight of rising above the discouragement of the Sabres’ quick start and getting Dallas back on track with not only the first goal, but also the third.
Looking back, it becomes more and more evident as to why Nill wanted to add more experienced and seasoned players to the roster. With time and failure comes wisdom on how to deal with that failure in a productive way that turns back into success, and that is what Sharp contributed to the team tonight.
Well, that’s all for now, folks. Enjoy the All-Star game this Sunday and keep your eye out for Seguin! We’ll see you all again after the break!
