The Boys are Back in Town! (For Now)
Woo-hoo! The Stars are playing like the Stars of old once again...at
least right now. Stars fans can finally come out of the storm cellar
and begin enjoying their team again! Woo-hoo!
Its pretty rough to justify $50-$60 or more per ticket to come out
and watch a team that looks like it's less interested in the game
than the majority of the ladies in the crowd! (Quick explanation:
Women attending Stars games at Reunion Arena frequently look more
interested in the crowd around them than the game itself. Yes,
there are plenty of lady hockey fans out there, but not many of
them at the Stars' barn!) But thankfully, whatever was stuck up
the Stars' collective butt has been exorcised, and the team is
beginning to play Stars hockey once again.
The team was previously hampered by distractions (Brett Hull) and by
roster changes (injuries). And because of this, the Stars had
trouble maintaining a consistent effort from night to night.
There were several subtle changes that allowed the team to turn the
corner. The first, and probably most important, was that coach Ken
Hitchcock has stopped mucking with the lines. As stated last issue,
Hitch was shuffling the players on purpose while re-evaluating the
status of his entire roster. As a secondary influence, some recent
key injuries (Lehtinen, Hull, Chambers, Severyn) also forced the
lines to switch up a bit.
But several winning combinations have been found, and Hitch is
sticking with them for the time being. The main lines are:
Lehtinen-Modano-Langenbrunner
Verbeek-Nieuwendyk-(?)
Reid-Carbonneau-Skrudland
Hrkac-Keane-Marshall
And who has been producing the most out of these lines? Surprisingly
enough, the third and fourth lines have been the best for Dallas so
far. Except for Jere Lehtinen, Modano's line has been held quiet. And
what is the most troubling for the Stars so far is that Nieuwendyk's
line has been silent also, except for a recent Verbeek goal in
Edmonton.
But lately Grant Marshall, Tony Hrkac, and Jamie Langenbrunner have
been playing with grit and have been scaring up good scoring
chances, as well as keeping momentum in Dallas' favor. This was by
design by Hitchcock. He probably figured that the only spark he
will get out of the team right away is by playing the guys that do
most of the dirty work.
Hull has been sidelined by both a kidney bruise and a groin pull,
and has been purposely scratched until he can fully recover from
the groin pull and build a good foundation of strength, rather that
returning too soon and only be good for about 40 percent of a game.
In his absence, some of the offensive flair has gone away from the
top two lines.
Jere Lehtinen has been recovering from a broken finger, and has had
several games where he failed to convert many scoring chances. He
easily missed what could have been three or four goals against the
Canucks during the Stars' disappointing 4-1 loss in Vancouver. The
fact that he had the scoring chances reflects on his work ethic,
that he missed them reflects on his mending finger. The poor guy
has been playing with a cast formed in a certain shape to allow him
to still grip the stick and shoot.
Because he has been getting more chances than just about any other
Stars forward, and because he has scored three goals in the three
games since returning to the lineup, Lehtinen is unquestionably the
Stars best player right now.
That should serve as a wakeup call to Modano and Nieuwendyk.
Nieuwendyk is semi-excused because he had lost some endurance while
recovering from his knee surgeries, but he should start coming
around again any time now. A personal opinion of this reporter is
that Joe is still afraid to fully jump back in the saddle, that he
is probably worried about getting re-injured, thus he is holding
back some to be cautious.
Modano, on the other hand, has no excuses. He has been criticized
lately by Hitchcock and others for playing only on the perimeter.
Mo has not been sticking his nose in the muck enough to be in the
areas he needs to be in to score. And, other than a very creative
game against Washington, he hasn't been putting the moves on
anyone. Modano needs to definitely find his scoring touch again. He
should be pulling the slack until Nieuwendyk re-engages in the
dogfight.
Only the D-Men have been guiltless throughout. Except for one or two
bad games, the Stars' defense has been playing extremely well. And
Sergei Zubov has broken his scoreless streak. That means the power
play should start cranking it up again pretty soon, if Zubov's
confidence holds up. Zubie is usually a pretty good barometer of the
team. If he isn't doing well, it's a pretty safe bet that things are
off-balance in the locker room. But since he's back in the saddle,
things should be getting better. That Zubov is nuts, I tell ya - just
plain nuts! But he's a great player.
But, enough about the roster changes. One of the other subtle
changes to the team is that Ed Belfour has finally decided to be
competitive again. Belfour has had two or three games this year
where he allowed two or more goals on five or less of the first
shots by the opponent. That's just not pretty.
While some of it can't be blamed on Eddie, he admitted recently that
he wasn't prepared enough to play during one of the losses. That's
just not cool. With Belfour, it seems like he either totally gets
blown out, or has a shutout, no in- between.
But lately, Eddie has seemed to be playing with passion again and
looks like he's ready to start putting together a good shutout
string. And Roman Turek, Belfour's backup, has been playing well in
Eddie's absence.
And the last subtle change, which probably accounts for more of the
consistency, is that the players themselves are sticking together
again. Previously, some of the Stars appeared to be just coasting,
expecting the wins to come because they are now a "good team."
Lately, the entire team appears to have gotten back to good, honest
hard work. They have been focusing back on the airtight defense and
high-pressure forecheck that is a Dallas Stars' bread and butter.
And good things have been happening.
After one of the teams' earlier disappointing losses, coach
Hitchcock was asked what he said between periods to get the team
going again: "... nothing. I didn't have to. I looked around the
room and the right guys were saying the proper things. And I think
that's a very good sign," said Hitchcock.
It was a very good sign. Dallas has been disappointed recently by
their main defensive pairing, their starting goaltender, and their
top two centers, at differing times during particular games. But
lately, the Stars have pretty much got their act together, and
should begin to start rattling off consistent games. Many of these
games will be wins.
Why? Because any team that could overcome all of the aforementioned
problems, and is still in contention for one of the top three spots
in the league, has to be an elite team. That is, whether they act
like one or not.
It seems like this story is a little familiar. Didn't the Red Wings
suffer through some early regular-season woes before going on to
have a dominant season and finishing it off with a Stanley Cup win
(the first one dufus, not the repeat)? If Dallas continues to stick
by each other, and stays healthy, the Stars may very well be in a
position to repeat that story themselves. Well, maybe not the
second Cup, but at least ONE for cryin' out loud!
