The Hockeyarcher: Dallas Stars Game 32: The Good and the Bad

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Dallas Stars lose 7-4 to the Minnesota Wild

Shots: Dallas 26, Minnesota 42

PP: Dallas 1/3, Minnesota 0/2

The Good:

Loui Eriksson- Throughout the whole game he seemed to always be in position and making plays at both ends of the ice. He was tonight’s set up man for the Stars. He ended with two assists and an even plus/minus rating. He had a chance to tie the game in the 3^rd period, but his one-timed shot sailed above the crossbar.

Dallas goal #2- Whitney's shot hits Backstrom. Eriksson is in position for the rebound and he taps it to his right to a wide open Jagr for the goal.

Jagr isn't going to miss with that much time and room and a defender in net instead of a goalie.

Dallas goal #4- Daley skates puck blue line to blue line and drops it for Eriksson. Eriksson sends the puck back to Daley and he one-times it in.

A better shot of where Daley was when he released the one-timer past Backstrom.

This was the chance that Eriksson had in the third period, but the puck sailedjust above the crossbar.

Forecheck- If there’s something the Stars did right, it was their forecheck. They were forcing turnovers in the first two periods like we’re used to seeing the Stars commit them at the other end of the rink. The Stars worked hard and tried, but they just fell asleep or messed up at the right time or right place and it cost them dearly. They did well on dump-ins and stealing the puck behind the net or near the corners.

Stars forecheck was strong (mostly in the first two periods), and forced several turnovers.

Roy's forecheck resulted in a steal and he sent a pass out front to Goligoski for the first goal of the game.

Dallas goal #1- Roy dumped the puck in and chased after it. He stole the puck from Suter behind the net and sent a centering feed to Goligoski who one-timed it into the net. It was Goligoski's first goal of the season.

The Bad:

Kari Lehtonen- Not sure what was going on with Lehtonen tonight, but he was out of position often. He was several feet out of the net on Parise’s second goal, and he was drifting around on the Cullen goal. You can’l really blame Lehtonen for the 5^th and 6^th goal, because he made saves, but needed help with the rebounds or simply clearing the bodies from around the crease. And his teammates turning the puck over in their own zone leading to odd-man rushes didn’t help very much either.

Minnesota goal #1- Eakin can't clear the puck along the right wing boards. A shot from the boards hit the crowd in front, Parise is in position for the rebound. He takes a shot and the rebound pops up. He hits it out of mid-air, it hits the crossbar and then he hits it into the back of the net.

This was the initial attempt on the puck mid-air.

Minnesota goal #3- A faceoff win leads to a shot from the point. It hits Fiddler's leg and goes wide, but Lehtonen misses when he stretches out his leg to kick it away. Koivu gets the puck behind the net and centers the puck.... (picture below explains the rest)

...Lehtonen was out of position and the puck hit off his pad and went toward the front of the net. Parise was at the top of the crease and he knocked the puck in.

Goligoski tackled Parise, but he still got the shot off and it trickled off Daley's stick across the goal line.

Minnesota goal #4- A shot from the point hits Bouchard in front of the net. The puck lands to the side, but Whitney fails to clear or control it. Cullen wrists the puck past Lehtonen, who was out of position because he was still recovering from diving to stop the initial shot.

A better shot of Lehtonen's positioning on the Cullen goal.

Tough, ugly goals- Take a look at each of the Wild’s goals. Do you see any of them that can be called beautiful or pretty? I don’t think any of the goals would get those descriptions. They were ugly, hard-working and opportunity-seizing goals. A bunch were scored in the ugly areas, right around the crease, and involving crashing and smashing the net and the puck.

Eakin's turnover near center ice that led to... (see below)

Minnesota goal #5- Eakin loses the puck near center ice and the Wild get a 2-on-1 rush. Clutterbuck shoots and Brodziak is there to pop in the rebound.

Goligoski's pass bounced off Benn's skate and it turned ugly... (see below)

Dallas goal #6- A Goligoski pass bounces off Benn's skate near the Stars' blue line. The Wild rush in and fire two shots on Lehtonen, but he isn't able to stop the third as Heatley pounds it in.

Clutterbuck was alone to shoot twice on Lehtonen in tight and then Heatley was also left alone to put in his shot.

Holding a lead- Yet again, the Stars can’t seem to hold off opponents. They led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 and ended up losing 7-4? Just by looking at the numbers, someone who didn’t see the game would say they just couldn’t hold the other team off and knock em out when they had the chance(s) to.

Vincour was unable to control the puck off the boards and he tried to backtrack but... (see below)

Minnesota goal #2- Koivu misfires a cross-ice pass, but Vincour can't control the puck near the blue line. Parise taps the puck ahead to Koivu, who takes it and wrists it through Lehtonen.

Minnesota goal #7- Larsen is unable to control the puck along the boards and Bouchard takes it to center ice and scores the empty net goal.

Turnovers- Always a killer and seems like for a little while at least, the Star had gotten better at this. But it came back in a big way tonight. 5 of Minnesota’s goal came on turnovers by the Stars in their half of the ice. 5! Out of 7! That’s just embarrassing. Two of the turnovers led to crucial third period goals. And there were many more that lead to a bunch of other chances that Minnesota didn’t score on, fortunately. The Stars' turnovers are all shown in the Minnesota goal pictures above, so below i will show the goal that resulted in Dallas forcing a turnover.

Dallas goal #4- Vincour forces a turnover near center ice and pokes the puck ahead to Smith. He skated into the zone and sent a pass to Eakin. Eakin was tied up and fanned on the shot attempt. The puck slid through to a wide open Larsen, who wristed it past Backstrom.

A better picture of the Larsen goal.

Lines seen tonight:

Nystrom-Benn-Jagr

Whitney-Roy-Eriksson

Smith-Eakin-Cole

Roussel-Fiddler-Vincour

Dillon-Robidas

Goligoski-Daley

Rome-Larsen

PP-Eriksson-Benn-Jagr-Whitney-Robidas

PP-Eakin-Roy-Cole-Goligoski-Daley

PK-Eakin-Cole-Dillon- Robidas

PK-Roy-Eriksson-Daley-Goligoski

PK-Fiddler-Nystrom-Daley-Goligoski

Notable Notes:

Faceoffs- Benn won 13 of 20, Roy won 4 of 11, Eakin won 5 of 13, Fiddler won 7 of 12.

A great bank pass from Jagr sprung Whitney on a breakaway. This was a great chance for Whitney, but Backstrom dove and poked the puck away before Whitney could take a shot.

After the poke check, Whitney passed to Jagr, but he overskated it. If he was able to corral it, he would've had a very favorable scoring chance.

Another great chance for Whitney stopped by Backstrom. Eriksson and Whitney were on a 2-on-1, but the pass from Eriksson was cut off. Eriksson got the puck back behind the net and made a centering pass to Whitney but Backstrom made the save.

A goal-line save by Lehtonen. Saw lots of these throughout the game. Minnesota was taking the puck strong to the net.

The weirdest missed goal I've seen in a while. the puck squeezed between Lehtonen's legs and sat there to be tapped in. Roy and Dillon combined to block the chance and it bounced just outside of the opposite post.

Minnesota suffocated the Stars in the neutral zone for a lot of the game.

This play infuriated me. Rome waited and watched the puck before attempting a long-reach poke. Of course, it was a turnover that led to an open chance and almost ended up in the back of the net.

Robidas threw some big hits, and this one was my favorite.

A good chance by Roy, but it looked like it would have been disallowed due to a slight kicking motion.

Dallas has some good team defense in the first period.

Yet another example of good team defense. And look who is in it again: Roy and Eriksson.

Another turnover in the Dallas zone leads to a shot that rang off the crossbar.

COuldn't help but hear and think about the Morrow trade the whole night. I miss the Captain already. Best luck to him the rest of this season and beyond.