Dallas Stars: Examining Week One Of 2017-18 Regular Season
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars are officially through their first week of regular season play. It’s safe to say that everything has gone according to plan except their overall record. Let’s take a look at week one.
It seems like just yesterday the Dallas Stars were making big-time offseason moves and building a “championship-caliber” team. But here we are, already one full week into the 2017-18 regular season.
Around this time one week ago, the Stars and their fan base were gearing up for the season opener against Vegas. Excitement was at an all-time high as the team prepared to start off their 25th anniversary season with a bang.
Sadly, that didn’t exactly happen. While the Stars played a strong game for their home crowd and heightened excitement for the year ahead, they couldn’t defeat the Knights. They lost to the league’s newest team and started the season on an ultimately unfortunate note.
But then it got worse. Dallas dropped their second game 4-2 to the St. Louis Blues on the second night of the season. The Blues jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and capitalized on the Stars’ mistakes, giving Dallas too deep a hole to climb out of.
Dallas Stars
On Tuesday night, the Dallas Stars finally capitalized and picked up their first win of the season against the Detroit Red Wings. They played with a solid style and, aside from a few minor hiccups, dominated the game.
As they entered Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night, Stars fans were for the most part ecstatic. The team may have been 1-2-0, but their play was predominantly positive and they were finally starting to look like a complete and determined unit.
Those hopes and happy thoughts didn’t last long. The Stars dropped an ugly 4-1 decision to a Nashville team that has by and large struggled to open their season up on a positive note. After dropping two straight games to start the season, the Predators barely squeaked out a 6-5 victory on Tuesday to gain their first win of the year. The team was averaging 4.66 goals against per game and looked nothing like the team that had won the Western Conference a few months prior.
But they made quick work of Dallas and only further kicked the underlying question down the road: is this Dallas Stars team truly poised for big things this year?
Let’s take a look at a few of the major takeaways from the first week of the year.
How many hot goaltenders are there in this league?
One of the common scapegoats that NHL fans use when justifying their team’s inefficiencies is the strength of the opposing goaltender.
Most of the time, their claims are inaccurate and made solely because, well, their team is bad and they don’t want to admit it. But for the Dallas Stars, there just might be a case to make.
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The Stars are currently sixth in the NHL in terms of shots taken per game at 37.5. That’s an impressive number and is a testament to the speed and intensity of their offense.
Yet even with all of these shots, Dallas averages only 2.00 goals per game. That stat is good enough for 30th in the league. Not the ideal start for an offense with Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, and Alexander Radulov along with plenty of others.
But a large sum of it can be chopped up to almost unbelievable goaltending on the other end. On opening night, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 45-46 (.978 SV%). One night later, Jake Allen turned aside 38-40 (.950 SV%). And last night, Pekka Rinne kept out 30-31 (.968 SV%).
And these aren’t just shots from the outside or blue line that can be easily stopped. The Stars are creating high-quality chances around the front of the net and in the slot. The goaltenders are simply stepping up at the right moment.
It’s frustrating as all get out to watch, but there’s really nothing Dallas can do about it. All they can do going forward is trust that, “if they keep playing like this, the shots will eventually start falling.”
Penalties galore
The Dallas Stars are currently the 11th most penalized team after one week of action. The Stars have taken a total of 20 penalties over the four-game span, which translates to five penalties per game.
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Even though the penalty kill is playing rather impressive (82.3 percent), it’s still unacceptable. The majority of the penalties being taken are for silly mistakes, such as delay of game or slashing.
These penalties are easily corrected with smarter play, but the Stars have to learn that and fast. The deciding goal in the Nashville game came on the power play for the Predators. With no power play opportunity, it’s a completely different game and opportunity.
Going forward, Dallas could avoid a lot of unnecessary PK time by simply being smarter in their own zone and playing with more focus. If they don’t, Thursday night’s game won’t be the only one decided by a PPG against.
Still a learning curve on defense
Let me start by saying that Ken Hitchcock and his coaching staff have already done a tremendous job at improving the defense. In terms of structure, positioning, and dedication to defensive play, the team is leaps and bounds ahead of where they were last season.
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As a result, Dallas is giving up the least amount of shots against per game in the NHL at 26.8. With that being said, how is a team with a high-powered offense and defense that gives up minimal chances holding a 1-3-0 record?
Well, because it’s not an immediate turnaround. For the majority of Dallas defensemen, there is still a learning curve to get around. This new style takes time to adapt to and incorporate, and Dallas is experiencing the growing pains.
These pains come in the shape of silly mistakes, uncommon errors, and overall forgetful plays. The Stars’ defense looks better, but still has some growing to do.
It’s unclear of how long these pains will last, but the Dallas blue line needs to get it together and fast. The strategy and mindset is there, but the errors need to be reduced or eliminated entirely. Until that happens, Dallas might continue struggling along in the defensive department. Having a great shots against average is only half the battle, after all.
Final take
It’s only one week, Dallas Stars fans. While you may say that last night’s game wreaked of 2016-17 play and Dallas is doomed, don’t forget that there are still 78 games left in the year. It may not look bright right now, but there is plenty of time to right the ship.
The Stars are playing an exciting brand of hockey, but it takes time to reach full potential when you experience a massive shift in the offseason. All it takes is a little adjustment time.
Next: The Bounce Back Effect: Stars Know How To Rebound
Give them another week or two. If there are still issues, then you have every right to freak out. But until then, just bury your frustrations with this potentially great team and wait for the next game to come along.