Last night, after that absolutely awful 6-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, defenseman Stephane Robidas called goaltender Marty Turco "superman." Indeed, that's been an accurate description of the Stars netminder. Even in that 1-0 loss to Phoenix, he was stellar.
But here's the problem kids: "superman" hasn't had much help from his friends at the Hall of Justice (oh come on, I'm not the only one who remembers the Super Friends cartoon, am I?) After scoring 14 goals in two games against Nashville and the New York Rangers, the Stars have just managed four in their last three contests. And I'm not sure how much I should count the two last night (late garbage goals, mainly).
The bigger glare has been defensively. I thought the Stars were getting better in this category, and even though Marty's stopped a lot of those shots, they've been pretty darned good shots way too often. He's had to be too acrobatic too often.
Turco will be back in there again on Monday night in Columbus, where the Stars put a 7-3 hurting on the Blue Jackets at the end of January. I'm sure they're having a "wakeup call" practice today.
So, folks, what do you think: Do the Stars come out on fire on Monday?
-- Tracey Myers
If they aren't on fire Monday, they really do have a problem. As tight as the standings are, gaining a playoff spot will require a lot of fires.
Posted by: Dwain | February 15, 2009 at 12:14 PM
They had better. They can't afford not to now. What was up with Otter only playing 10 minutes? He is usually such a spark plug when the team needs energy. After the hit on Sharp was his presence on the ice too much of a spark plug for the Hawks? Just curious.
Glad to see you back on the blog and in front of the camera last night.
Posted by: Laughs 2 Loud | February 15, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Dallas hasnt been playing very well defensively lately but Turco has been bailing them out more often. I do think the schedule has hurt the team lately. It also appears that they have fallen back to a more passive style than they were playing during the winning streak. The dmen were more active and the stars controlled the puck. Its also easier not to make defensive mistakes when you have the puck on your stick.
Posted by: Tim | February 15, 2009 at 02:12 PM
One word - Bouwmeester.
Get him.
Posted by: cowtown | February 15, 2009 at 07:09 PM