Five for Fighting

Grossman, Wandell out with illness

Both came up sick before the game.

 

That will mean Fistric and Sutherby will be in.

 

If I'm guessing at lines, it will be:

 

Neal-Richards-Eriksson

Morrow-Riibeiro-Ben

Ott-Burish-Segal

Sutherby-Petersen-Barch

 

Jason Labarbera in net for the Coyotes.

 

 

 

 

Prediction game (Phoenix) _ Stars get back on horse

The Coyotes are hungry and they ripped the Stars 5-2 in Phoenix on Dec. 11, but this seems like a game the Stars can win.

 

Kari Lehtonen has been playing well, and the Stars seemed excited to get back to work. This game could set the tone for an important week, so I expect the Stars to have a good start.

 

Let's go with

 

Dallas 4, Phoenix 2

 

First goal: James Neal at 5:22 of the first

 

Kari Lehtonen saves: 28

 

Ilya Bryzgalov (I'm guessing that he's playing) saves: 23

 

Stars PP: 1-for-5

 

Phoenix PP: 1-for-4

 

Three Stars

 

1. James Neal

2. Brad Richards

3. Kari Lehtonen

 

What say you

 

Lehtonen to start; Skrastins back in

Hey guys, sorry about the delay. My laptop has crashed, so I'm scrambling.

 

Karis Skrastins will return to the lineup after missing one game with a quad injury.

 

That means either Mark Fistric or Matt NIskanen will come out.

 

Kari Lehtonen will be in goal.

 

The lines looked something like this at the morning skate:

 

Neal-Richards-Eriksson

Morrow-Ribeiro-Benn

Ott-Wandell-Burish

Barch-Petersen-Segal

 

 

Observations from a 5-2 win

When things are going your way, everything seems so easy.

The Stars are in that zone right now.

Just about anything they want to try, they're succeeding at.

Karlis Skrastins made an unlikely pinch Tuesday against Montreal and was rewarded with just the 31st goal of his career. Jamie Benn was set free on a breakaway and scored his second short-handed goal of the year. The Stars received their first power play of the game late in the second period, and yet found a way to score 46 seconds into it.

Whatever was a problem earlier with this team, it just isn't a problem anymore. Slow starts? Nope. Porous penalty kill? Nope. Hamstring power play? Nope. Nervous defensemen? Nope.

It's shocking, really.

We had a legitimate concern early in the season that teams would attack the Stars with a vicious forecheck because it simply appeared Dallas was outmatched on the blueline. But on Monday, Montreal tried to outskate the Stars and put pressure on the Stars, and it looked for all of the world from the press box that Dallas simply passed around the Canadiens' speed. The defensemen and forwards were in synch, teammates supported teammates, and the puck seemed to move smoothly out of the backend for the majority of the game _ and with utter ease for what seemed like the first 15 minutes.

Yes, Montreal broke through a few seams on the attack and Kari Lehtonen had to come up with big saves, but Dallas for the most part played with an incredible amount of poise.

And remember, this was a Montreal team that was just cussed out by its coaches and wanted badly to make a statement. And this was a Stars team that was in the middle of a very difficult part of the schedule and clearly could have wanted to take a ``breather,'' in the first game home after some extended road time.

But the Stars didn't. They understood the situation, they prepared, and they reacted properly _ and they get rewarded for all of that.

As happens at this time of year in North Texas, folks come home for the holidays and look for something to do. The Stars always try to load the schedule with home games to take advantage. They have five of six at American Airlines Center that started on Tuesday.

So before the second biggest home crowd of the season (17,805), the Stars had a chance to make an impression and sell this new ``brand'' of hockey. They could have struck out, but instead they hit it out of the park and sent a lot of people home happy. That can only help get people excited, and it can only help the circle that pushes the Stars' season forward.

``People don't realize how much that means to us,'' said forward Steve Ott, who had two assists and a ton of energy on Tuesday. ``As players, you're going to react to the energy in the building, and when they come out and they make the building loud, it definitely affects us. It was a great crowd, and we hope to have more like it. It just makes everything more fun.''

In a year where the Stars are having their smallest crowds ever at AAC, that is a very big deal. They have a chance to make some converts in the next couple of weeks. Tuesday was a very good start.

Fun facts from Stars PR

They turned out some great stats after Tuesday's 5-2 win:

The Bottom Line

The Dallas Stars took over first place overall in the Western Conference (passing the Detroit Red Wings) with a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens (who are in first place of the Northeast Division). The Stars have gone 12-2-2 in their last 16 games and improved to 21-10-3 for 45 points on the season.

Team Notes

Red Hot at Home: The Stars are 10-0-2 over the last 12 home games. Dallas is 12-3-2 this season at American Airlines Center - the second best home record in the Western Conference.
Dallas has now collected points in each of its last 12 home games. The last time Dallas recorded a point in 12-straight home games was during the 2003-04 season, when the team collected points in 17-straight home games (from 2-0 W vs. STL on 1/23/04 to 3-1 W vs. STL on 3/20/04) and went 13-0-4 during that stretch.

Streaking Stars: The Stars have collected points in 13 of their last 15 games (11-2-2). Here is a closer look at the Stars current stretch of games:

Goals For-Against: 43-34 (nine one-goal wins; eight times opponent was held to two-goals-or-less)

Third Period Goals For-Against: 14-8

Power Play: 11-for-60 (18.3%)

Penalty Kill: 45-of-50 (90.0%)

Save Percentage: .929 (stopped 429-of-462 shots)

Leading scorers: Richards 14 pts (6g, 8a); Eriksson 14 pts (6g, 8a); Neal 10 pts (5g, 5a); Ribeiro 10 pts (3g, 7a)

Home Record: 5-0-1, Road Record: 6-2-1

Overtime/Shootout Record: 4-2 (SOL at CBJ on 12/6/10 and OTL vs. SJ on 12/16/10)

Vs. the East: Dallas has a 10-2-0 record against Eastern Conference teams this season. In those 12 games, the Stars have outscored their Eastern counterparts by a score of 39-20, and have killed off 20 of the last 21 opposition power plays (95.2%). The Stars are 5-0-0 in home games vs. the East this season. Dallas had a 7-9-2 record against Eastern Conference teams last season.

Power Play: The Stars have scored a power play goal in six-straight games, going 7-for-26 (26.9%) in that stretch. The last time the Stars had six consecutive games with a power play goal was March 15-30, 2007 when they scored a ppg in eight-straight.

Player Notes

Kari Lehtonen stopped 27-of-29 shots in the win, improving to 15-7-3 on the season. He is 6-0-2 in his last eight games with a 1.96 goals-against-average and a .938 save percentage.

Loui Eriksson scored his 100th career goal tonight. He earned his ninth multi-point game of the season (1g, 1a) and has a four-game point streak (3g 5a). The Stars are 7-1-1 this season when he earns a multi-point game (39-4-7 all-time).

Brad Richards' goal gives him a four-game point streak (4g, 1a) and has recorded points in 16 of his last 20 games (10g, 11a). Richards is tied for the second-most points in the Western Conference (with Pavel Datsyuk. 24 of his 39 points came at American Airlines Center.

Stephane Robidas tied a career-high with three assists. He has assists in four of his last five games (0g, 7a). Robidas has recorded five assists in his last two home games (0g, 5a).

Steve Ott recorded two assists tonight and now has assists in each of the last two home games (0g, 3a). It marks his second multi-point game of the season (also vs. MIN on 12/4/10).

Adam Burish scored his fourth goal of the season and has two goals in his last four home games.

Jamie Benn now has a two-game point streak (1g, 2a) and recorded his second career shorthanded goal (other came vs. STL on 11/26/10).

Karlis Skrastins scored his second goal of the season and has matched his season total from the 2009-10 campaign.

James Neal now has points in eight of his last 12 games (5g, 5a).

Kari Lehtonen in net; Niskanen, Segal back in

That was the word from the morning skate.

Kari Lehtonen will start in goal. He is coming off a fantastic 2-1 win in Columbus on Saturday and is 14-7-3 with a 2.58 GAA and .917.

Matt Niskanen and Brandon Segal are back in after healthy scratches in Detroit on Sunday. Mark Fistric and Krys Barch come out.

Lines should look something like this:

Neal-Richards-Eriksson
Morrow-Ribeiro-Benn
Ott-Burish-Segal
Sutherby-Wandell-Petersen

Grossman-Robidas
Woywitka-Daley
Skrastins-Niskanen

Lehtonen

Observations from a 4-3 OT win

I'm not sure what else this team can do right now.

Whatever they seem to need they find a way to come up with.

They were a few tired Pavel Datsyuk legs from being down 3-0 in the first period, and yet they somehow came back and beat the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena in overtime. They came up with the big goal to tie on a fantastic shift from Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, Jamie Benn, Stephane Robidas and Nicklas Grossman with just 3:14 left in regulation.

And then, after not being able to score on an overtime power play, they come back and still win it. Loui Eriksson got off on a 3-on-1, saw that both Jamie Benn and Trevor Daley were taken away, so he just snapped in the game-winner. It deflated a very excited arena that wanted badly to give Chris Osgood his 400th regular season win...and it gave the Stars a huge, huge win.

Coming off a back-to-back situation in which they had less than 24 hours between game starts and had travel inbetween, and capping a stretch where they just played 6-of-8 games on the road, Dallas has put together its hottest streak in quite some time. They are 10-2-2 in the last 14 games. They have now defeated the Red Wings twice this season and are 8-2-0 in their last 10 meetings with their most hated rivals.

And they sit one point behind Detroit in the Western Conference standings.

That is amazing. There is no other word for it. If you watched it play by play, it's understandable how all of this happened. They got some timely goals, some timely saves and clearly have improved their goaltending and overall defending. But to get to that point from the inconsistent bunch this was all of last year and to start this year...well, that's amazing.

And the funny thing is you really have a hard time trying to explain how all of this is happening. Brad Richards is obviously taking his game to a place where it probably has never been in his career. His career best in goals is 26. He has 15 through 33 games. He ranks sixth in scoring 38 points. Plus, linemates Loui Eriksson and James Neal also continue along at career-best paces.

But on Sunday when the team really needed a goal, it went to the Morrow-Ribeiro-Benn line. Morrow came through and now has 12 goals.

On defense, Stephane Robidas played 26 minutes in a 2-1 win over Columbus Saturday. Meanwhile, Trevor Daley was huge on Sunday with a big assist and 28:30 in ice time. Daley and Jeff Woywitka are playing so well that they often find themselves out against the other team's best players. And Daley has been a big part of the penalty kill's improvement.

In net, if it isn't Kari Lehtonen, it's Andrew Raycroft. He pushed his record to 6-3-0 on the season with the win Sunday and he also drew some interesting insight into what he sees in this team.

``The odds are a little against us on a night like this, but it's such a good feeling to be on a good team that just doesn't give up,'' Raycroft said. ``Tonight was a perfect example of that. We could have mailed it in at 2-0. We could have mailed it in when they got that late goal in the second. But we didn't. It seems like we are never out of games, and that's a great feeling.''

``I've been around some good teams that have done this before,'' he added. ``When you can get points on days like this, that's something important, it's something special.''

And maybe that's what this team is...special. We'll have to wait and see.

``More than anything, it's our ability to stay with the game,'' Stars coach Marc Crawford said. ``When you've got everybody working toward one goal, and everybody wanting to play hard for one another, that's huge. And right now, our guys really want to have something good happen. We're playing with confidence.''

Observations from a 2-1 win

We probably heap too much praise on the Stars when they win, but they really do show a lot of character in games like this.

No, they did not start out well, but they regrouped, they made key plays, and they found a way to win a very important game.

Obviously, Kari Lehtonen coming up with 35 saves, including surviving an opening flurry, was the biggest part of the win. But the Stars had to come through with some offense, as well. So Brad Richards came up with two huge plays and scored twice. He now leads the Stars with 14 goals.

In addition, the penalty kill had to come through _ the same penalty kill that had been a big mess earlier in the year. And they went 5-for-5 and have killed 41-of-46 (89.1 percent) in the Stars' recent 9-2-2 run.

And the Stars did all that while standing up for one another in a very physical game.

So, yes, it wasn't perfect, but it was the fact that the Star rose above their own imperfections to play their best when the game was on the line at the end that shows you something a little special about this team.

"I thought, as a team, we played better in the second, and I thought our best period was the third," coach Marc Crawford said. "We had many guys that rose to the occasion. Brad Richards' two huge goals, and Brenden Morrow again showed great leadership all night. Our penalty kill was excellent, and the defense was terrific."

Of course, Lehtonen's play has been at the center of what the team has been able to do. Here is Crawford on the effect Lehtonen's play has had at times.

``Our guys are showing real confidence in him, and that's changing how they play,'' Crawford said. ``When you don't have confidence, you back off. When you do have confidence, you play a little bit more assertively. It's funny, they're 120 feet away from him, yet we can still see the assertiveness because our goaltender builds confidence in the entire group.''

Here's Steve Ott on Lehtonen:

``We kind of turned over the guard at the end of the season last year (with the goalies), and the guys drew a lot of confidence in that. Now, after this year, you know he's a difference-maker. There's no fluke why he was the second pick overall. We kind of stole him, really.''

But again, that wasn't the only reason the Stars won. The power play scored a timely goal. The penalty kill came up with big plays. Richards was a real leader. In a game where the Stars were getting killed in the circle, Richards won 7-of-10 in the third period.

The Stars had just one recorded giveaway in the entire game, while they were credited with eight takeaways. They Actually outshot the Blue Jackets in the third period, 10-9, when the game was on the line. They were outshot 27-13 before that.

To be fair to the Blue Jackets, they believe they were hurt by an official's call of interference that cost them a Derek Dorsett goal in the second period. They do not believe Ethan Moreau interfered with Lehtonen.

``It was obviously a goal after seeing the replay,'' Dorsett said. ``Once you see the replay, it is an obvious goal. That is a key point in the game. It's a 1-1 game and turns it into a 2-1 game. It's an obvious goal, it should have been a good goal. I think Chopper [Ethan Moreau] and [Rick] Nash talked to the referee and they said Chopper touched or bumped into the goalie and you can see clearly on the replay that he didn't.''

To be fair to the Stars, they believe that Tom Sestito should be suspended for a blindside hit on Nicklas Grossman and also believe there were other uncalled penalties on the Blue Jackets.

Bottom line, the Stars found a way around the officiating (and the officiating has played a role in a lot of games recently) and Columbus did not. That says something about this team.

It was a big deal to win this game, because it gives the Stars more confidence and it gives them more breathing room for whenever a slump might come up. And it's just another step in the development of this team and its culture.

Maybe the praise is actually perfectly placed after all.

Fun facts from Stars PR

These are pretty good, and they fit well with the Stars playing in Detroit on Sunday.

PICKIN' UP THE POINTS: The Stars have collected points in 11 of their last 13 games (9-2-2).

A closer look at the stretch:

Goals For-Against: 34-29 (eight one-goal wins; eight times opponent was held to two-goals-or-less)

Third Period Goals For-Against: 12-7

Power Play: 9-for-52 (17.3%)

Penalty Kill: 41-of-46 (89.1%)

Save Percentage: .928 (stopped 373-of-402 shots)

Leading scorers: Richards 12 pts (4g, 8a); Eriksson 9 pts (4g, 5a); Neal 9 pts (5g, 4a); Riberio 9 pts (3g, 6a)

Home Record: 4-0-1, Road Record: 5-2-1

And this:

Entering Nov. 24:

Detroit was 13-3-2, 28 pts. Dallas was 10-8-1, 21 pts.

Since:

Detroit has gone 7-5-1, 15 pts. (now 20-8-3, 43 pts for season) Dallas has gone 9-2-2, 20 pts. (now 19-10-3, 41 pts for season).

Lehtonen in net tonight

Or so it appears from the morning skate.

Kari Lehtonen should get the start. It makes some amount of sense in that this is a more regular schedule (there is no morning skate in Detroit on Sunday and the local start time is 5 p.m.) and it includes one less plane trip than tomorrow. Plus, this will allow Lehtonen to be fresh for Tuesday's game against Montreal.

Look for Andrew Raycroft in that big tilt.

Also, Krys Barch and Matt Niskanen are in tonight against the Blue Jackets and Brian Sutherby and Mark Fistric are out.

Steve Ott and Brad Richards took the option not to skate. Expect that more as the schedule and travel continue to weigh on the team.

PR Guru Graham Clark came up with this gem on Richards:

In the first game of back-to-back games this season (five games), Brad Richards has four goals, three assists, 20 shots on goal and is plus-6. So he's got to be the first star tonight, right?