Dallas Stars: Analyzing Week One Of The 2018-19 Regular Season
Dallas vs. Arizona
Dallas opened their new season at home last Thursday night against the Arizona Coyotes. The Stars were setting up to begin a new era of Dallas hockey under the direction of new head coach Jim Montgomery along with his brand new coaching staff. For the third season in a row, there was a different mindset, game plan, and focus going into the year for the team.
And on the first night of the year, they made that new mindset count. The Stars defeated the Coyotes by a decisive 3-0 tally and partially put to bed any doubts of the team’s chances at success in a new system. They received goals from Devin Shore (third line), Alexander Radulov (first line), and John Klingberg (first pairing). And to top it all off, the defense gave up few high-danger chances and Ben Bishop stopped everything he faced for his sixth shutout as a Star.
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But Arizona is a team stuck in the middle of a rebuild and overhaul. While they presented a challenge, it wasn’t necessarily a strong or deep one by any means. The real test came on Saturday night.
Dallas vs. Winnipeg
The Stars welcomed the Winnipeg Jets into town on Saturday night for their first divisional contest of the season. Winnipeg was 1-0-0 on the year after an impressive opening night win over the St. Louis Blues. They were also 8-0-0 in their last eight contests against the Stars, dating back to the early portion of the 2016-17 season.
Dallas needed to make a statement, break a slump, and prove themselves to be contenders in a Central division where they have finished sixth in each of the past two seasons.
They certainly got the message. The Dallas Stars came out swinging, outshooting 16-9 in the first frame and outscoring the Jets 2-0. The second period came with more domination, as Jamie Benn tacked on a goal to negate Kyle Connor‘s early tally and keep it at a 3-1 score. In the third, Benn and Tyler Seguin teamed up as each player found the back of the net for their second goal of the game to finish off the 5-1 routing.
Bishop was phenomenal yet again, the Stars power play went 3/5 while their penalty kill went 3/3, and the team looked to be on a new level early on. That came with a newfound sense of hype and momentum.
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Puck Prose
Dallas vs. Toronto
But that hype and momentum dimmed slightly on Tuesday night when the Stars welcomed the Toronto Maple Leafs to the AAC. Like Winnipeg, the Leafs are considered a Stanley Cup contender after significant offseason moves helped strengthen an already dominant core.
Their arrival in Dallas presented yet another challenge to the Stars, who were still set on fostering positive impressions in front of their home crowd.
It didn’t go according to plan. While Dallas received goals from their big four (Benn, Seguin, Radulov, and Klingberg), they gave up an ugly seven goals against to the Leafs. Two of those came on the power play in three chances, leaving the Stars looking leaky and inefficient while shorthanded. Auston Matthews and John Tavares scored two goals apiece as the Leafs continued to pile it on and stall any comeback attempts Dallas made.
The Stars did look good in terms of attempting to rally throughout the game, tying the score twice and cutting a 5-2 deficit to 5-4 in the early part of the third period. But that’s where it stalled.
As a result, Dallas dropped to 2-1-0 through the first week of their campaign. But still, it was a very telling seven-day stretch. Let’s look at some of the standout factors.
Standouts
The home crowd stepped it up
The Dallas Stars had three home games in the first week. That means they had three attempts at testing their home ice advantage after posting a 26-12-3 record at the AAC last season.
And boy, did they have it this past week. Stars fans showed up in full force with a sellout crowd on opening night. Through the first three games, they are averaging an attendance of 18,176. That’s a 98 percent fill rate at the American Airlines Center.
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Causeway Crowd
“The nerves did come in,” Montgomery said following the win against Arizona. “But as soon as the game started, I thought our crowd, the way when players got introduced and how excited they were, it gave me confidence that we were going to be in a good place.”
The home crowd stepped it up for their home team and gave the Stars an added boost. As a result, the team repaid them with two wins, 12 goals, and some raucous play on the ice.
Offense is stepping it up, but needs to be deeper
Let’s start this off by saying that Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and John Klingberg are probably the four smartest and most skilled players on the Dallas Stars right now. As a result, they have accounted for all but one of the Stars’ goals this season.
That’s a problem, right? Well, let’s not jump to conclusions.
One of the Stars’ biggest issues that led to their demise in the 2017-18 season was their lack of depth scoring. The bottom nine forwards weren’t cashing in on opportunities, which led Ken Hitchcock to trust and play them less while overworking the first line in an attempt to compensate. That plan obviously faltered and led to Dallas skidding through the month of March and missing the postseason for the second straight year.
Now, they have a new head coach in Montgomery that preaches a four-line game and looks for consistent energy and offensive attacking from all 12 forwards.
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Blackhawk Up
So far, that’s looking to be their mindset, which is good news. All four lines have generated pressure and scoring chances throughout the first three games. And while the third line is the only other one with a goal, there’s been progress and good strides made. Jason Spezza (second line) has two power play assists this season. Radek Faksa (third line) also has an assist.
On top of that, four of the team’s 12 goals have come on the power play this year, meaning that only a select few have a chance at scoring in those situations anyway.
The Dallas Stars’ depth scoring isn’t there just yet, but the pressure and energy look good. And with 79 more games to go, there is plenty of time to pick up the pace. Still, it needs to be much sooner rather than later.
Tyler Seguin for nine more years should be considered a crime
December 8, 2016.
That was the last time an NHL player tallied back-to-back four point games. Tyler Seguin broke that streak on Tuesday night against Toronto.
After a two-goal, two-assist night against the Jets on Saturday, he found a goal and three assists against Toronto. He’s the first player in franchise history to accomplish the feat and now has eight points in three games. Just in regards to fun, that puts him on pace for 218 points this season. While that probably won’t end up happening, he’s on pace for another career year with the Stars organization.
And don’t forget that they are in store for nine more seasons of this.
Bishop has to find the consistency
Ben Bishop looked like a solid no. 1 goaltender against Arizona. Two days later, he looked like an elite starter against Winnipeg.
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SenShot
But on Tuesday night, his performance took a serious hit. He let a few pucks hit the posts, had a handful of shots go through the crease, and was scrambling and flailing for much of the night. He ended up getting beat on a few clean shots and just didn’t look like himself. Part of it had to do with a weak defensive presence from the skaters in front of him, but that’s when having a great goaltender counts the most.
His save percentage was a .984 going into Tuesday night and he combined that with a goals against average of 0.50. But following the bout with Toronto, he quickly came back down to reality. He still owns an impressive .924 SV% and 2.34 GAA, but it’s up to him to shake off the rust in time for the Anaheim Ducks’ visit on Saturday night. He’ll be an important factor in the Stars’ chase for success this year, so they will need him on top of his game every night.
Montgomery bringing dedicated style
The Dallas Stars had the day off from practice today. That may not seem entirely natural for a team that lost 7-4 just two nights ago and has three days to get ready for another tough Western Conference opponent.
But it was an earned day off after a tough Wednesday practice.
The Stars hit the ice on Wednesday and held an extensive practice that ended with a bag skate (repetitive skating drills aimed at wearing out and exhausting the players, for those who don’t know the term).
Montgomery worked on what went wrong in Tuesday night’s game and ended it by working the team to the point of exhaustion.
Sometimes, that can get a point across the best. The Stars underperformed on Tuesday night and paid the price for it. As a result, Montgomery was quick to show them the results of failure.
This hardened coaching approach is one that works and should only further motivate the team.
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All in all, it was an intriguing first week for the team. It’s a very small sampling size, but there were plenty of good things observed. In addition, there were some rough edges that could use some buffing.
It’s all a part of the process.