Dallas Stars: Five Takeaways From First Quarter Of 2017-18 Season

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DALLAS, TX – NOVEMBER 18: Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop (30) waits for the puck to come around from behind the net during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers on November 18, 2017 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Dallas defeats Edmonton 6-3.(Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2. Goaltending Is A Two-Man Ordeal

It’s clear that very few teams can succeed in this league with only one confident goaltender. That’s why every team carries at least two goaltenders, one being a starter and the other being a backup.

The starter is expected to carry the load, but the backup is there to provide support when the starter falters. In other words, he’s a safety valve.

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The Dallas Stars have struggled with finding a competent two-goalie setup over the past few years. For the past few seasons, Kari Lehtonen served as the starter. The Finnish goaltender was a promising starter who had plenty of bright spots and helped the Stars out in a variety of situations.

One of those situations happened to be his lack of help. A vast number of backup goalies cycled through Dallas in a seven-year period, but none ended up being a solution. The most recent disaster came with Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi splitting time in the crease during from the 15-16 season through the 16-17 season.

After GM Jim Nill finally had enough, he tried something different: shift the aging Lehtonen to the backup role and bring in a new starter. Lehtonen still proved his determination and competency, but his days of keeping up with the other starters in the NHL were quickly shortening. That did not bode well for a weak and young defensive group on the Dallas blue line.

So the Stars brought in Ben Bishop to be the no. 1 goalie, and so far things have gone well.

You might not think so because of Bishop’s .908 save percentage and Lehtonen’s .897 save percentage. But things are going well for the duo so far.

The biggest thing that must happen in order for a duo to click is they must lean on each other. Without that, things will collapse when one goaltender falters. That’s what went wrong last year. When Lehtonen would struggle, Niemi would prove unable to help catch him and back him up. Same goes vice versa.

But with this duo, that leaning is happening. The Stars have already been forced to test out the reliability of their crease on multiple occasions this year. There have been games where Bishop struggles early and Lehtonen comes in to settle things down (like in Colorado). On the flip side, Bishop has come in to play “damage control” when Lehtonen gets behind early.

It also comes into play between games. When Bishop closes out a night with an ugly loss, Lehtonen comes in the next night and puts on a dominant showing. Same goes the other way around.

It’s hard to judge this new duo considering the lack of defensive consistency in front of them, but things are looking good so far. Big Ben and Kari are leaning on each other and supporting each other, and that only bodes well for the future.

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