Dallas Stars Goaltenders Showing New Sides This Season
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars may not have opened their season on the most consistent note, but at least the play of their goaltenders has been stellar. Otherwise, they would still be winless.
No team is perfect. It doesn’t matter what sport or league you are talking about. Unless they do not allow a goal or point the entire year and go undefeated on their way to winning the championship, they have some sort of flaw. It’s only natural.
The Dallas Stars are definitely not perfect. They may be stretching closer and closer to the achievement, but they still have flaws, pitfalls, and kryptonite that they must consistently battle.
For the longest time, one of those hindrances has been their goaltending. Ever since Marty Turco departed for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 and Kari Lehtonen moved from backup to starter, there have been problems.
For the past six seasons, the Dallas Stars have been unable to put together a strong and stable system in the crease. During most seasons, the Stars just could not find a skilled backup goalie to help take the load off of Lehtonen. But during other seasons, Lehtonen himself has not been able to produce a stellar performance in net.
Mix that in with the Stars’ inability to find a solid and young goalie to develop and you’ve got a serious achilles heel. After all, goaltending is the ultimatum in hockey. If a team is missing solid net-minding, they have little to no chance of ever achieving maximum success (a.k.a. Stanley Cup).
But on June 29, 2015, that all changed. After two seasons of trying to dig through free agents and find a competent backup but coming up empty, Stars GM Jim Nill made a bold move by acquiring and signing goaltender Antti Niemi.
The 33-year-old goalie had played seven seasons of NHL hockey, split between the Chicago Blackhawks (where he won a Stanley Cup) and the San Jose Sharks, before being traded to Dallas. Adding Niemi into the mix meant that the Stars had something they had not previously owned: a two starting goalie tandem).
They tested the new system throughout the 2014-15 season, finding all the strong points and trying to exploit them. Once the Stars were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, it was clear that there were some mixed results.
While both goalies accumulated 25 wins in the regular season and played relatively well, they were unable to support each other in the playoffs and ended up crumbling when matched up against Brian Elliott of the St. Louis Blues.
The new system turned out to be a step up when compared to years past, but was still not strong enough to push them to the level they needed to be at.
Going into the 2016 offseason, the goaltending quickly became the biggest question for the Dallas Stars. Should they hope that the pains of adapting to a new system are over and that the duo will come back stronger in 16-17? Or should Nill scratch it all together and devise a new plan?
Though names like Ben Bishop and Marc-Andre Fleury were thrown around as valid and legitimate trade targets, Nill ended up sticking with the two veterans. The decision left many scratching their heads.
But so far throughout this season, it’s clear that Nill was right for keeping the system in place. Amid all of the inconsistent play from an ailing Stars forward group and inexperienced defensive group, the two Finns have put on stellar showings.
In Kari Lehtonen’s four showings this season, he’s put up a 1-2-1 record with a .924 save percentage and 2.26 goals against average. His only losses are to Colorado (Lehtonen came in mid-game after Niemi let up five goals in the first 30 minutes) and Columbus (the Stars did not find the back of the net in a 3-0 loss). Other than that, he’s been nothing short of spectacular.
Niemi, on the other hand, is 2-0-0 with a .894 save percentage and 3.67 GAA. But these ugly numbers are due to one hiccup against the Avalanche. Niemi gave up five goals in the first 27:05 of the game and was pulled with a .750 SV%. Without this game in the mix, Niemi has beaten both Anaheim and Winnipeg, going 61-65 (.938).
Next: Stars Defense Is Holding Back Their Offense
The performances of these two goaltenders is the primary reason why the Stars are even close to .500 so far this season. For the majority of this year’s games, Dallas has been outshot, outplayed, and dominated in possession. These two goalies have been the only thing keeping the playing field (rink?) level.
Will they be able to consistently bring these performances to their starts? Or will things begin to flicker as the Dallas Stars continue to try and find their footing? There’s a lot left to be answered, and that’s why there are still 76 games left in the year.