Stars' goaltending creates concern just days into camp
The Dallas Stars insisted all summer that they intended to focus on defense first following a 2014-15 campaign which saw them finish fourth-to-last in the NHL in goals allowed per game. Dallas also picked up goaltender Antti Niemi to serve as Kari Lehtonen's counterpart, giving the team virtually two No. 1 netminders.
So goaltending and defense should be the least of Dallas's concerns early on in camp, right? Wrong.
After Lehtonen and Niemi allowed a combined seven goals on 20 shots in scrimmages, beat writers were asking Dallas coach Lindy Ruff familiar questions about what went wrong in the Stars' own end. But it seems Ruff is not too concerned about the high goals-against total.
"It was loose [Monday] compared to the previous days," Ruff said to The Dallas Morning News. "For me, the third or fourth day of camp and the scrimmage tends to become about scoring a little bit more. I thought tremendous speed at the start of that game, speed you can't defend against...I think there were a couple of new guys on the ice who were going to perform a little bit, and a couple of guys on the other side who were going to try to outperform them."
Dallas should get a better idea of how the defense and goaltending looks as camp progresses, especially on Tuesday night when the Stars play their first exhibition against the Florida Panthers.
(h/t Dallas Morning News)
