The Dallas Stars’ 2018-19 season took a drastic turn in terms of mentality on Friday afternoon. On Saturday night, that new mentality showed on the ice. Could this be a sign of things to come?
The moments before the Dallas Stars‘ practice on this past Friday afternoon will likely end up defining their 2018-19 season in one way or another. What exactly that definition is has yet to be determined.
But, when team CEO Jim Lites went on an expletive-filled tirade about the lacking play of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, he knew what he was doing. It was a calculated move and though it was likely meant only to inspire and build a fire, it raised a good number of red flags.
And yet, whether you noticed it or not, he wasn’t only targeting Benn and Seguin. While they were dealt a handful of heavy verbal lashes, the message was very team-centered. The same goes with the message from head coach Jim Montgomery on Saturday morning and the message from general manager Jim Nill at practice on Sunday.
The message was very much focused on the entire organization from top to bottom. That goes for the coaching staff and management, but is more so about the players in the locker room. Simply put: the thought process is that the Dallas Stars should be much better off than they currently are.
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Now, things don’t look bad at all. Dallas is currently 20-16-3 on the season, sit in the second wild card spot, and are only two points out of third and three points out of second place in the Central division. They are very much in the race and still have 43 games to play in their regular season campaign. 43 points in 39 games is respectable, considering what all the Stars have dealt with this year from new coaching to a plague of injuries.
But, it’s still “not good enough.”
“This team shouldn’t even be thinking about missing the playoffs,” Lites told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News on Friday. “It shouldn’t even be an issue. We are too talented, too good, too strong to be performing this poorly.”
“We can’t change what’s done, but we can change tomorrow,” said Montgomery on Saturday. “That’s the message we’ve been saying internally for two months, that we’re not happy with where we are at. Now it’s everybody knows that everybody is discontent. It’s about us doing it together.”
Even Jim Nill, who did not condone Lites’ choice of language, agreed with the need for a message to the team.
“I think that message had to get out there,” Nill said on Sunday afternoon. “We’ve all got to be better. From the top, from management, to coaches, to players, all the way down. We’ve got to be better.”
And that’s the message going forward: this team needs to be better. For all of the trials that they have found a way to triumph over, there is a certain level of inconsistency that still lingers within the franchise. Take December for example, where the Stars won four in a row to start the month, lost their next four to even things out, went into Christmas break on a 1-2-0 run, and have since won their previous two to exit the break.
Puck Prose
The consistency needs to be there, and that requires a full-team effort. And on Saturday night, they got that effort when the Dallas Stars pulverized the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-1 beatdown.
Now, let’s point out a quick disclaimer: Detroit is not a good hockey team. Their 15-19-6 record and the fact that they sit nine points out of the final wild card spot can tell you that much. They entered Saturday night’s contest on a 2-6-2 skid and are currently in the midst of a rebuild within the franchise. So yes, they aren’t necessarily a juggernaut.
But that didn’t matter to the Dallas Stars. It could’ve been Detroit, it could’ve been Nashville (as they had seen two nights prior), or it could’ve been the top team in the NHL in the Tampa Bay Lightning. What mattered was that the Stars were ready to respond to the controversy.
And they responded in a big way. The Stars scored more than four goals for the first time since Nov. 23 and netted more than two even-strength tallies for the first time since Dec. 7. The offense, which has been unusually slow and inefficient this season, was flaring. On top of that, the offense put up 33 shots through the first two periods, Ben Bishop stopped 33/34 shots, and the special teams did a good enough job to secure the lead.
It was the perfect response to Lites’ comments and showed that this team can be dominant when they choose to be and put on a full-team effort.
And yet, neither Benn nor Seguin scored a goal. Besides Seguin tallying an assist and Benn drawing a penalty, the duo was rather quiet on the night. But the win was still a big response. How so?
It showed that this team has the proper mindset. They are, though a cliche, “in it to win it.” This win showed that every member of the team, from the top of the depth chart to the bottom, is committed to winning and contributing.
Blackhawk Up
Alexander Radulov‘s name wasn’t mentioned in Lites’ rant, but that didn’t stop him from scoring back-to-back goals in the second period (including the game-winner). Blake Comeau, Radek Faksa, and Tyler Pitlick were all left out of the direct crosshairs, but their line was arguably the most effective in the game as they combined for two goals and offered some strong penalty killing. Jason Spezza hadn’t tallied a goal and only had three points to his name over the previous month, but the veteran forward did his part with a goal and assist against the Wings.
Why is this important?
“We’re a team and we don’t leave the guys by themselves,” Radulov said following the game on Saturday. “That’s how we responded. They say whatever they want and they’re allowed. Basically, they aren’t happy with us, so that’s it. It’s time to change. I think we did a small step today, and there’s another big game coming up on the 31st. We just have to regroup and get better every day.”
The Dallas Stars did a lot of things on Saturday night. They won their second game in a row and third of their last four, pulled themselves within a game of a top-three spot in the Central, and set themselves up for a strong finish to the 2018 calendar year.
But, more than anything else, they proved that they very much consider themselves a team. It doesn’t matter that Benn and Seguin were the ones specifically targeted; everyone received the message. And upon receiving it, they took it upon themselves to pick up their own pace and help the team’s top stars get back on a winning path.
“I thought what impressed me last night, this has become too much about Jamie and Tyler because they are Stars and that’s gonna happen, but I love the response of the team,” Nill told Sean Shapiro of The Athletic. “The team said, ‘You know, we’re a part of this, too. Why should they be taking all this heat?’ They’re part of this, too. I thought last night they did that. We had five guys score goals; the depth scoring came up big. I like that the team said, ‘You know what? We’re in this, too.’ And that is the message: It’s everybody’s in this.”
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How long will this last? That’s anyone’s guess. After all, it’s a win against a subpar team. The Stars could very well sink back into a rut like they did two weeks ago and slip out of the playoff picture yet again in the next week.
But, for now, that doesn’t seem to be the case. For now, the Dallas Stars look like a team that got the message and sent back a solid first response. The 18 guys on the ice banded together, put their potential on display, and blasted the opposition in front of a highly-intrigued home crowd.
So, while Seguin now sits 60th in league scoring and Benn sits 78th, the Stars are still doing what is needed to make them a consistent playoff contender. Though it’s only a small sampling size, it’s something. There is a pulse.
And for the first game following a potential crisis, that’s about all you can ask for. But, let’s see what they can do against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.