Stars 4, Flames 3 (Shootout)
Better late then never right? That is how I feel with this post. Sorry been a couple of crazy days for me. But last night I got to venture again into the AAC to see the Stars come back in town to kick off 4-straight home games. And after scoring first, the Dallas Stars got behind to the Calgary Flames 3-1 just past the half-way point of the game. But Dallas fought back, stuck with how they were palying the game and sent it into OT 3-3. Then Dallas did something they have had problems with this year, which is win a game when it ends up in the shootout. Sure Alex Auld gave up 3 goals in the game, but it could have been worse early on and in the second half of this game he kept them in it with key saves and not all of the early goals can be put on him
Of course one of the things being talked about in this game is Mark Fistric‘s fight against Eric Nystrom. After a solid check by Fistric about 8 mins into the game, Nystrom makes it a point to skate out of his way after a stop in play to find Fistric. Both guys drop the gloves and as Fistric starts giving Nystrom blows as he tries to hold on, Fistric goes to takes his opponents helmet off but gets it caught in his fist and he continues to drop fist on Nystrom. The end result is Fistric hitting Nystrom once real good with Nystrom’s own helmet. Fans loved it in the building but of course it is dangerous, and the officials give Fistric an extra 5 mins and a game misconduct for intent to injure. Fistric today was not suspended by the league, probably because he has no history and admitted he tried to get rid of the helmet but soon realized he hadn’t. What hurt Dallas was the major penalty and the fact that one of their better blue-liners was now gone for the game and they had to rotate 5 guys on defense.
Calgary got 2 goals out of the major penalty spend 3 mins on the powerplay. But the Stars did not give up on their style of play. They played physical with Calgary all night. Forwards such as Morrow, Neal, Sutherby, and of course Barch and Ott were constantly looking to lay big hits on the Flames, but rarely did they get out of position doing so. And besides the 2 powerplay goals on the major, the Stars defense played great. And Daley seemed to be jumping up on the attack often without being burned the other way. And a good stat for Dallas is that Matt Niskanen was a +1 for his +/- rating for the night. I want to know what the Stars record is in games that Nisky actually finishes with a positive rating. I liked Dallas’s ability to fight adversity and do something they haven’t done a lot this year: not let getting behind by more then 1 goal change their play. They showed heart by sticking to how they wanted to play, not letting up on the physical play and creating lots of traffic and chances around the Flames net.
Now Dallas has a chance to string some wins together. Dallas takes a win, and now has three more at home where they now 12-2-2 in their last 16 home games. Forget for just a week their road troubles. Because if they can take 3 out of 4 here at home, or maybe even go 4 f0r 4, then they could be in that 7th-8th playoff spot at the end of this time at home. Yes the road troubles are huge and will have to change almost right away for them to start getting in playoff position and stay there, but if not for how they play at home then this team would not even be in a position to be talking a chance at the playoffs. It starts tomorrow with a rematch against Colorado, who made Dallas look bad at the end of their last road trip Sunday. A win Friday night vs the Avs (who are still a top half of the West team) would be good for the Stars confidence and keep things looking better. Dallas went 1-6 over 7 games before now going 4-2 in their last 6.