Kari Lehtonen Needs To Use Young Defense As Motivation
The Dallas Stars entered Tuesday evening with the pressure solely on them. Oddly enough, they ended Tuesday with a bullet dodged and a little ground gained.
With an impressive 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Stars sat back and watched as the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets faltered and lost. The Stars remain in sixth place in the wild card race, but now only rest one point back of fifth and eight points back of the last wild card spot.
They owe their ability to gain ground to Kari Lehtonen, who mystified and ultimately stymied the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night in Philly. Lehtonen gave a goal away on the first shot he faced, but stood tall from there on and finished the night 25 for 26 with a few key saves in the final few minutes. With a save percentage of .962, he was awarded first star honors in the game. This was Kari Lehtonen’s first time to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in his career as a Dallas Star after losing his first thirteen contests against the club.
“It’s been so long. It was nice. I was able to focus tonight. We did a really good job in the third period. 1 or 2 shots and that’s about it. The guys played really well. We earned the win.” -Kari Lehtonen
Kari Lehtonen managed to put away this victory when many thought he could not. The first reason was Lehtonen’s struggles in the past few games he started. But the main reason was, in addition to his struggles, the defensive corps he had in front of him in tonight’s game.
With Trevor Daley on injured reserve and Jason Demers out with an illness, the Dallas Stars started four rookie defensemen (five if you feel the need to count Jordie Benn). The Stars lines looked like this Tuesday night:
Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg (R)
Jordie Benn – Patrik Nemeth (R)
Jyrki Jokipakka (R) – Jamie Oleksiak (R)
Not only that, but around the 9:40 mark in the third period, John Klingberg clearly took a cheap shot from Zac Rinaldo, but nothing was called. Klingberg went to the locker room and remained there for the rest of the game with an upper body injury. This comes three days after enduring a lower-body injury that he overcame to play Tuesday night. In other words, it seems the Stars cannot catch a break with losing key pieces in the current playoff run. So the Stars finished the night with five defensemen and made it look rather easy. They stood tall while Kari Lehtonen took the shape of a brick wall for the final push.
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Editor In Leaf
Kari Lehtonen needs to use the Stars current disadvantage to his advantage. I know it sounds strange, but it is about the only hope the Stars have regarding their last lines of defense.
The rookies did not do near as bad as many expected them to do, but they will need to produce consistently over the next few games. It is obvious that they will slip up a few times, and that is where Kari Lehtonen needs to step in. Lehtonen performed well with the odds stacked against him tonight, and if he can keep that mental state up with his situation, he will find it to be easier and easier to finish off opponents.
He needs to accept the predicament as a new challenge and turn this evident downward spiral into a soaring and magical run. It is not going to be easy for Lehtonen, who has welcomed a bit of a bipolar standard over the last few months. One night he will stop 35 of 36, the next he will give up 3 in his first 8 attempts and have to be substituted out.
If Kari Lehtonen can acknowledge the lack of experience in front of him and add it into his determination, the Stars may see a bit of a turn in the last 15 games, perhaps even enough of a turn to push them into the wild card.
Like you already know, the Stars chances of making the playoffs are very slim. Not only will they need a crazy record like 12-3-0 in the final 15, but they will also need one or two teams to semi-meltdown and one or two teams to full-on meltdown. It all starts with the Stars ringing in victories though, and Kari Lehtonen is a big factor in if that happens or not. The next opportunity is in Carolina. If playoffs are going to stay in the picture, they need to grab another win and take it one game at a time.
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