Dallas Stars: Highs and Lows from Their Shutout Win Over the Coyotes

 The 2018-19 season has officially begun and the Dallas Stars are on pace for their first 82-0-0 season.

Obviously, that pace won’t hold, but the Dallas Stars came out and won their first game under head coach Jim Montgomery.

The game was a 3-0 shutout, starting the year much better than last year, but that doesn’t mean it was perfect. The Stars certainly have some things to work on this season still.

In school, I was taught the idea of a compliment sandwich. For anyone that isn’t familiar with the idea, you take a criticism and put it between two compliments. We’re going to apply that idea here and do our very own compliment sandwich of the Stars’ play last night.

Compliment: Connor Carrick’s Two Points

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Connor Carrick was a new addition to the Stars a few days ago after a trade with the Maple Leafs. He initially appeared to be a scratch during morning skate, before Montgomery ultimately decided to scratch Julius Honka instead, bringing back the #FreeHonka movement.

In his first game in Dallas, Carrick did a great job. He notched two points, assisting on the first two goals of the night, although they were both secondary assists. His play certainly doesn’t equal that of another certain hyped-up newcomer to the blue line (side note: Miro Heiskanen certainly did look great last night), but it was a solid performance from someone who’s just joining the team.

Criticism: Third Period Offense

The first period was scoreless, but it was still good to watch as both teams came out hard. The second was obviously strong for the Stars, with all three of their goals coming in the middle frame.

However, the third period was a bit concerning. After taking a 3-0 lead, the Dallas Stars came out and sat back to open the period. It took them 8 minutes to get their first shot in the third, and they only had 5 by the end of it. Part of those 8 minutes were spent on the penalty kill, but during their time at full strength early in the third, they just looked content to sit back and defend.

That’s an understandable strategy if your defense is the strongest part of your team, but that’s not the case for the Stars, and it’s something that has cost them quite a few games in the past. It’s a habit they need to break quickly.

Compliment: 3 goals in 96 seconds

For all the problems with the offense in the third period, there was a minute and a half of magic during the second. The goals came so quick that they were interrupting Jeff K’s calls of the previous goals.

First, there was Devin Shore’s goal, which was impressively scored while Tyler Pitlick was falling over him.

Then, 28 seconds later, while Connor Carrick was still on the same shift after the post-goal faceoff, Radulov took the puck around former Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski, kicked it to his stick, and shot it in.

The American Airlines Center was on their feet celebrating and energized after two quick goals, and the excitement level only increased just over a minute later when John Klingberg added a third goal.

That span of two minutes was like a throwback to the 2015-16 season when the Stars offense was insanely good. If the Stars could get that back this season, it’ll make for some fun high-event hockey. They just need to make sure they don’t let defense and goaltending slip on the way, which was the major problem that season.

While the Stars have things to improve on, they had a great start to the season. However, Winnipeg will be a tough test on Saturday as the Stars have their first Central Division match-up.