It did’t take long for the Dallas Stars to get their new system rolling in game one of their 2018-19 season. They found a way to take over on opening night and capped it off with a 3-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes. What a way to start the season.
It’s always good to win in front of your home crowd. It’s even better to do it on opening night while showing off a brand new system and lineup. And on Thursday night, the Dallas Stars found a way to do all of those things.
The Stars came out strong and didn’t let up until the final horn, clicking on all cylinders in what turned into a dominant 3-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. It was a great start to a new era of Dallas Stars hockey and should serve as motivation going forward.
Game recap
The Dallas Stars showed a lot of promise in their first period play, but couldn’t find the back of the net. They did generate some high quality chances and had two power plays to work with, but the most exciting part of the period involved Jamie Benn grabbing Christian Fischer with his gloves off after Fischer committed a kneeing penalty. Other than that, the first frame ended in a 0-0 tie.
But the second period is where the Stars busted things open. After some early chances, Devin Shore found the back of the net on a rebound shot to give Dallas their first goal of the year. And in the following 1:36, Alexander Radulov and John Klingberg found goals of their own to make it a 3-0 score. The Stars began showing more and more of Montgomery’s style as the second period came to a close and held the three-goal advantage after 40 minutes.
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The third period saw the Stars take a step back as they looked to protect their 3-0 lead. There were some good chances for the top line, but no goals were found for either side as Ben Bishop protected his shutout and Dallas claimed a commanding 3-0 win to begin their season.
Thoughts and Observations
Power play did not look great
It may not make sense to start the “Thoughts and Observations” section out on a non-positive note, but let’s just go ahead and get it out of the way.
The Dallas Stars power play didn’t get an extensive look on opening night. But when they did, they didn’t necessarily look up to snuff. And when you consider that they went up against an Arizona PK that finished with a 79.5 percent success rate last year, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Dallas spent a total of 2:44 on the man advantage tonight and mustered up two shots, but didn’t find a goal. The first unit (Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, John Klingberg) skated for a majority of that time, but no one found the back of the net.
“Our power play was a little too casual and we didn’t make great decisions on our entries,” Montgomery said following the game. “I don’t worry about our power play as much as I do our penalty kill right now just because we have to get on the same page.”
It’s not something to worry terribly over, but the Dallas power play definitely could have been sharper.
But the penalty kill came through
On the other side of the special teams units, the penalty kill looked solid. The Stars went 2/2 on the penalty kill, giving up only three shots. Each unit looked calm and composed and gave up minimal opportunities.
SenShot
“I liked our penalty kill,” Montgomery said. “Our communication, I thought we knew what we were giving up a lot better. only had to make one big time save and it was a great one-timer save. But I think knew where the shots were coming from because our penalty killers were really good in front of him.”
The penalty kill was one of Monty’s bigger focuses throughout the preseason, so it was nice to see the attention to detail pay off.
Bishop starting the season on the best possible note
There were a lot of players that made a statement in Thursday night’s victory. Alexander Radulov emphatically holstered his stick after his first goal of the year. Devin Shore did a few fist pumps while celebrating low to the ice after his first.
But one of the biggest statements was made by Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop. No. 30 was spotless for the Stars, stopping all 30 shots faced and picking up the 26th shutout of his career.
played a really good game, so he helped us there,” Klingberg said.
He looked confident on a handful of tough chances and really helped set the pace for the team as the game went along. And once the Stars set things into neutral mode, he helped close the door and finish the game.
“It’s nice to start off with a win,” Bishop said. “I felt good. I just kind of took it shot-by-shot. The guys did a good job eliminating those odd-man rushes and a good job clearing the front when there was a couple ones that squeaked by.”
It’s Bishop’s sixth shutout as a member of the Dallas Stars and 27th win with the organization. Not bad starting the year with a save percentage of 1.00 and a goals against average of 0.00.
Heiskanen looked very comfortable
On Thursday morning, Miro Heiskanen talked about how he wasn’t nervous, but rather excited for his NHL debut. Those are tall words for a 19-year-old rookie, but Heiskanen lived up to the hype.
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“I thought he was great,” said Montgomery. “The first five minutes of the game, he was dancing. Throughout the game, I thought he made really good decisions and his skating got us out of trouble a lot.”
In his first game as a Dallas Star and NHL defenseman, Heiskanen skated for 19:35 (the third-most of any Stars player) and turned in a +1 rating. And while he didn’t have a point, he generated plenty of solid chances and used his feet and puck handling skills to keep the Dallas offense and defense moving.
“I thought he was really good,” Bishop said. “He was very poised out there. Sometimes, it maybe looks like he’s too poised, but it’s an amazing attribute for a kid that young and he’s going to be a special player in this league for a long time. Hopefully, I can play with him for a while. He looked really good. He made a lot of good plays. I don’t really think there was a play where he could’ve done something different.”
All in all, it was a successful debut for the young gun, and the “Hypekanen” train will continue chugging along.
Connor Carrick stepped up, too
Four days ago, Connor Carrick was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and was preparing to be sent through waivers. But then Jim Nill swooped in with a trade and brought Carrick to Dallas on a quick turnaround.
Kraken Chronicle
Tonight, he slotted in the starting lineup on the third pairing alongside Roman Polak. And to say he did his job considering the circumstances would be an understatement.
“It was good to get a win,” Carrick said. “The rink was rocking pretty good with the fans and we wanted to give them a good effort. I just tried to pass to the guys in green tonight and it was a lot of fun. I think playing with Roman helped. I knew who he was from the Leafs. It was a good first effort and is something to build off of.”
Carrick only skated for 16:14 on the night but picked up assists on each of the Stars’ first two goals and finished the night with a +2 rating.
“I thought he was really good,” said Montgomery. “Really poised with the puck and made real crisp passes. It made Jim Nill look like a genius with a seventh-round pick for two assists in game one and a plus-two.”
He played a solid and poised game and made an impact where he was needed. All in all, it was an impressive first game for the new Star.
This is definitely a fun and aggressive style of hockey
On Thursday night, the Dallas Stars finally looked like the Dallas Stars again.
They were quick, aggressive, and energetic. They were possessive with the puck, overbearing on offense, and made smart transitions on defense. All in all, they played a well-rounded game, received help from all four lines, and put together a hearty assault that gave Arizona all they could handle. That’s all a part of Jim Montgomery’s style.
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“I think that you’re going to see a lot of that,” Klingberg said. “I think when we feel like we have momentum, we just keep coming.”
The tempo was set to a high pace early on and the Stars kept it there for the remainder of the game. The top line laid an all-out assault on the Coyotes defense while the bottom nine played a strong supporting role. If the Stars play their next 81 games with a similar pace and determination, you should see plenty more wins than losses.
“First of all, players win games,” Montgomery said. “I don’t know why coaches have records. And I’m honest with that. I think that players win championships and I’ve always believed that. I think coaches help give players opportunities to do that. the win, I was immediately starting to think of what we need to work on for us to keep getting better.”
A second period offensive assault always helps
1:36.
Causeway Crowd
That’s all it took for the Dallas Stars to go from a 0-0 tie in the second period to a 3-0 advantage. After wearing down Arizona in the first period and starting the second on a bit of a slow note, the Stars ramped it up and cashed in with goals from Shore, Radulov, and Klingberg. Their pressure peaked and they began generating chance after chance in the offensive zone.
“Uh, no,” Montgomery said when asked whether he missed any of the goals. “A couple of big ‘yeahs’ by me behind the bench on every one of them. It was good. It was a great flurry by us.”
The second period was huge and gave the Stars plenty of momentum going through the rest of the game.
The beginning of a new era
The Dallas Stars opened up a new era for their organization on Thursday evening with the beginning of Montgomery’s time as coach. The fact that they won is an added bonus.
“It’s nice to not make him wait for it,” said Bishop. “Everybody is excited to get the win. There’s a lot of firsts in here tonight and obviously Monty is one of them. Hopefully, we can get him a lot more.
“Yeah, for sure,” Klingberg said about getting a win for Montgomery in his first NHL game. “Not just Monty. Miro , Roope , and those guys, too. But for sure Monty. A really good team win, I’d say. I think everyone was a part of it today and we played real good as a team.”
Dallas took the first big step forward by picking up a commanding win over the Coyotes. They looked fast, aggressive, energized, and built plenty of promise for the season ahead with the victory. That’s one way to start off another new journey.
A tough test ahead
While tonight was a big win for many reasons and gave the Dallas Stars something to finally hang their hat on, the road is far from over. It’s only just beginning.
The Stars will have Friday to look over tonight’s contest and pick out the bright spots as well as the areas that need improvement. And on Saturday night, they will be right back in action against a tough Central division opponent in the Winnipeg Jets.
The Jets swept the Stars with a 4-0-0 record last season and look to be a title contender coming into the 2018-19 season. That being said, it’s a big measuring stick game for Dallas. Thursday night was fun and exciting, but Saturday will provide another large test.
But for now, the Dallas Stars are an undefeated 1-0-0 on the year. They opened up their new journey with an impressive win and proved that there just might be something special with this team after all.
Here’s to 81 more games like that.