Dallas Stars: Final Thoughts On A Promising 5-2 Win Over St. Louis
By Josh Clark
After falling into a three-game slump and slipping into wild card territory, the Dallas Stars came out swinging on Thursday night. They knocked off the NHL’s hottest team, defeating the St. Louis Blues 5-2. The victory gives them 30 on the season and has them back on the winning path.
The Dallas Stars put their three-game losing streak on the line on Thursday night against a St. Louis Blues team that had won 11 games in a row. And, though it may not sound realistic, the team that hadn’t lost in almost a month walked away empty-handed. But, such is the game of hockey.
The Stars put on an offensive clinic in the second period, scoring four goals against the NHL’s hottest team and building an impressive lead. And after an impressive showing in net from Anton Khudobin and an empty-net goal from Tyler Seguin, Dallas secured the 5-2 victory, successfully ending both streaks.
That’s one way to snap a losing skid.
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Game recap
The first period, like many first periods for the Dallas Stars this season, didn’t provide much in terms of high-danger action. The Dallas offense started on a slow note but picked up the pace as the period went along. On top of that, their energy levels were good and the defense limited chances. But besides each team going 0-1 on the power play, not much else happened. The first period ended with a 12-8 shot advantage for the Blues.
For all of the action that the first period lacked, the second period made up for it entirely. Jamie Benn opened up the scoring early in the period to make it a 1-0 game. A few minutes later, Radek Faksa potted a goal of his own with 11:07 to go. 65 seconds later, Alexander Radulov joined him. After building a commanding 3-0 mark, Brett Ritchie dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko in a heated scrap. Shortly after, Vladimir Tarasenko got the Blues on the board. 2:59 later, Benn pulled the lead back to three goals with another tally. And with just 24 seconds to go, Ryan O’Reilly wrapped up an offense-heavy period with another goal to set the score at 4-2 through 40 minutes.
The third period involved plenty of back-and-forth action as well, with St. Louis bringing their last-ditch effort to the ice. The Blues put up 15 shots in the final frame and pulled goaltender Jordan Binnington with over three minutes left, but the Stars held the line and used a Tyler Seguin empty-net goal to seal the deal on a victorious 5-2 note.
Thoughts and Observations
Second period offers the turning point Dallas needed
The first period of Thursday night’s game was a typical first period for the Dallas Stars: lacking in scoring, opportunities, and energy.
But in the second period, the Stars did what they usually do: they changed the game entirely.
“We found a way to come out, get to them in the second, and found a way to win a hockey game and get a big two points for our team,” said captain Jamie Benn.
Dallas exploded on an offensive tangent in the middle frame, scoring four goals on eight shots and putting the Blues in a hole that they couldn’t find their way out of. The Stars were faster, more aggressive, and controlling the emotions and momentum throughout the period. Jamie Benn was all over the ice, Ritchie dropped the gloves with Parayko, Miro Heiskanen was making incredible passes, and the Stars were getting the job done.
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Bleedin' Blue
“I thought the first period, the Blues are playing at an intensity level that we hadn’t seen,” said Stars head coach Jim Montgomery. “It was almost like a playoff intensity and you can see why they’ve been so successful. After the first period, I thought we raised our level and found the fight to fight with them. Our second period was excellent and from there, we battled. They forced us into mistakes because they are a good hockey team, but I really like the way we competed for each other.”
The second period ended up being all that the Dallas Stars needed to close the game out. It was an impressive showing by a team that needed a good period to break out of a slump.
The Captain is back with a vengeance
Coming into Thursday’s game, Jamie Benn was in a goal-scoring funk. The Dallas Stars captain hadn’t found the back of the net in nine games, with his last goal coming on Jan. 30 against the Sabres.
That’s not typical for Benn, who has averaged around 35 goals in each of the past four seasons. Going into Thursday, he sat at 19 goals and 39 points.
But in the second period, the old “beast mode” Benn that Stars fans know so well made an appearance. The captain scored two goals in a span of 12:10 to give the Stars their first and fourth tallies of the contest.
It was only Benn’s second multi-goal game of the 2018-19 season, but provided an energy boost for the entire team. On top of that, he let his physical side shine, delivering three hits and camping out in front of the net on various occasions in 20:11 of ice time.
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Puck Prose
“I feel like when he’s physical like he was tonight, that’s when he’s most involved,” said Stars forward Blake Comeau, who skated alongside Benn and Radek Faksa. “He had some big hits, he played with emotion, and he was a big body that’s hard to move in front of the net. Like I said, he’s one of the best players in the NHL and you really know he’s on his game when he’s playing physical. All of the team feeds off of that. He’s our emotional leader and he definitely led by example tonight.”
“It’s always good to score goals and get your confidence back,” Radulov added. “It just helps your whole team.”
Benn ended up having a major impact on the game itself and used his size and scoring abilities to earn an important two points for his club.
“Every time you score, you feel better about yourself,” Montgomery added. “Jamie scores that first goal and then, all of a sudden, he took over the entire game every time he was on the ice.”
Lindell “showed balls” yet again
A quick note about Esa Lindell.
Upon entering Thursday night’s contest, Lindell already had nine goals (career-high) and 26 points (one short of career-high) in 59 games this season. And even when going up against the hottest team in the league, the 24-year-old defenseman continued building on his career year with another jaw-dropping showing.
Lindell led all Dallas Stars skaters in ice time with 25:08, which also included a team-high 5:11in shorthanded play. He took 28 shifts, landed one hit, notched two assists, and finished the night with a +3 rating.
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All in all, it was another stellar night for the Finnish defenseman.
Dobby has no master
Anton Khudobin was tossed into the fire on Feb. 7 as the Dallas Stars began their five-game road trip. With Ben Bishop being put on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, Khudobin was pushed into the starting role.
And throughout that road trip, he did alright. With the team in front of him hitting an inconsistent skid, Khudobin posted a record of 1-3-1 with a .901 save percentage and one shutout.
On Tuesday night, he kicked off the homestand by stopping 42 of 46 against a fast-paced Nashville Predators team. It was an admirable performance that included some show-stopping saves, but the Stars still couldn’t find their way to two points.
All of that changed on Thursday night against the Blues, and it was all due to the impressive show put on by no. 35. Khudobin was in the zone, stopping 43 of 45 shots faced and only giving up two goals (one of which came on the power play). He made some incredible stops, including some against the St. Louis shorthanded unit.
“Dobby stood on his head when we needed him,” Comeau said following the game.
Khudobin was named the second star of the game for his efforts and picked up his 11th win of the regular season. His numbers are still among the best in the NHL and will only go up after Thursday night’s performance.
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Defense? Offense? Goaltending? They had it all
The Dallas Stars put forward a well-rounded effort against the Blues, and it paid off with a much-needed two points.
The Stars were precise on offense, scoring five goals on 25 shots. They had contributions from throughout the lineup, with Benn, Faksa, Radulov, and Seguin leading the charge. It’s one of the few times this season that Dallas has scored more than four goals in a game and is one of their highest team shooting percentages (20 percent) in a game this year.
On defense, the Stars let up 45 shots against, but limited the number of high-danger opportunities. They did a good job at keeping the Blues to the outside for much of the game and not giving them many shooting chances from the slot.
To top it all off, Khudobin had another phenomenal showing in the crease and helped keep the Dallas Stars in it early and out in front as the game progressed.
“There was an intensity to us that we hadn’t seen that kind of dissipated from our game,” Monty said. “Those guys have been fighting hard. Ever since that break, every game we’re competing hard. Tonight, we made plays and Dobby was excellent in the net. That’s what we’re going to need going forward if we want to keep surging in the standings.”
Power play had no power
If there was one negative to the Dallas Stars’ game against the Blues, it was their ugly performance on the power play.
Dallas went 0/4 on the man advantage, but that’s only scratching the tip of the iceberg in terms of their inefficiency. The Stars only posted a total of four power play shots on goal while the Blues had six shorthanded shots. When the opposing shorthanded unit has more shots than your power play unit, that’s usually a signal that something is wrong.
“St. Louis was excellent, but there was nothing that I liked about our power play,” Montgomery said after the game.
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Had it not been for some timely saves by Khudobin, the Stars may very well have given up their first shorthanded goal of the season to St. Louis. And if that happened at any point during the game and helped change the momentum, we might be talking about a different result right now.
The power play needs a cleansing after Thursday night. That cleansing will likely come at practice on Friday.
Fighting for each other wins hockey games
There’s a certain emotional element to the Dallas Stars that hasn’t been there all season. In fact, you could make an argument that it first appeared on Jan. 19 against the Winnipeg Jets (a game in which the Stars both broke a losing streak and kickstarted a five-game winning streak).
It’s not something that can necessarily be defined or put on display, but it’s clear that the Dallas Stars look more like a team now than they have at any point in the 2018-19 season.
Maybe that’s due to the new coaching staff getting acquainted or the new players finding their groove. But, regardless of what it is, this new vibe has the Stars clicking on a new level.
"“It was good stuff and I like the way we’re fighting for each other. You guys don’t see what we see in the locker room, but these guys are becoming a band of brothers. You can sense it. The fight they have for each other. Usually it’s Jamie [Benn] and Roman [Polak], but tonight it was [Brett] Ritchie. It’s more and more people getting in the fight for each other.” –Jim Montgomery postgame on Feb. 21"
Indeed, they are fighting for each other. There’s a full-team battle on the ice with each passing game, and every player is standing up for their teammates and doing their job.
That’s not something that coaches can really teach. Instead, it just has to come along naturally and envelop the entire locker room.
And when it does, good things tend to happen.
The challenges keep on coming
The win over St. Louis is big and provides plenty of momentum to build on, but there’s no time to rest on it. On Saturday afternoon, the Dallas Stars will welcome a streaking Carolina Hurricanes team that has won seven of its past nine games. One of those wins was a 3-0 shutout against the Stars last Saturday.
Following that, Dallas will head back on the road for a four-game trip that will pin them against the Blackhawks (who is on a hot streak and back in the playoff race), Golden Knights (who sit in third in the Pacific division), Kings (who are still struggling), and Blues once again to wrap it all up. That’s a tough slate for any team to bear, so the Stars have to stay focused.
“There’s lots of hard games in front of us and we have to get ready for them,” said Radulov. “We just have to clean up the mess in our zone and go from there.”
But for now, a good step forward
Thursday night provided another reminder of just where this Dallas Stars team can go when they are clicking. When the goaltending plays well, the defense limits opportunities, and the offense capitalizes at an efficient rate, this team can be hard to manage.
With the victory, the Dallas Stars are now 30-25-5 with 65 points on the year. They still sit in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference, but gained two valuable points on the Blues in the race for third place in the Central. In addition, they are also four points away from the postseason cutoff. It’s not much of a cushion, but it’s something.
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“It was a huge win,” said Stars forward Blake Comeau. “We were desperate for points and they’re one of the best teams in the NHL and have been playing really well. It’s a huge win and we have to make sure we carry the momentum into the next game.”