The Dallas Stars took the body early and often and got traffic at the net in their 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The Stars have to be feeling a little better about themselves this morning after playing with the sort of urgency and forechecking presence that had gone missing in the last three games.
There was a lot to like about the way the Stars broke out of their scoring drought (one goal in the previous 10 periods) and ended their five-game losing streak in the process.
* Although the official scorer was a tad generous in awarding hits (officially, 47 for the Stars and 33 for the Oilers, whereas a similar game in other cities might have an official hit count of about 25 to 15 in Dallas' favor), there was no denying that the Stars played an aggressive physical game that eventually paid dividends. Mark Fistric (7 credited hits) and Jamie Benn (5 hits) led the way.
* It was good to see someone like Toby Petersen -- a mucker and grinder who rarely scores -- get the Stars on the board first. You could almost see the weight being lifted off the team's shoulders and everyone's confidence increase. Likewise, Dallas got back to having multiple lines contribute. Members of all four forward lines played a hand in each of the Dallas goals.
* The single most critical juncture of the game, in my opinion, was the Stars' response immediately after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins cut the Dallas lead to 2-1. Rather than sagging, Dallas intensified its efforts and struck right back to score (Michael Ryder) less than a minute later.
* It's no secret that the Stars have allowed way too many shots this season, both in quantity and quality. Last night, Dallas held Edmonton to 18 shots, including just 4 in the third period despite Dallas taking several penalties. Kari Lehtonen took care of the rest.
* Regarding the penalties, the Stars were able to avoid the penalty box until the latter part of regulation, by which point they had a 3-1 lead. It's still not ideal to have to kill off so many disadvantages late in the second period and the final stanza -- and Edmonton brought a solid power play percentage in the game -- but the Dallas PK rose to the occasion after some letdowns in recent games.
* I thought the pairing of Fistric with puck-moving young defenseman Philip Larsen worked a hell of a lot better than the pairing that had Fistric with Adam Pardy. The Stars are going to have to live through some growing pains with Larsen, but that's part of the process. I think he deserves an extended audition with Alex Goligoski is on the mend.
* Eleven different Stars registered at least a point last night and the defensive-minded players such as Nicklas Grossman (4 hits, 3 blocks, plus-two and his first assist of the season) had a chance to do their thing as well.
The Stars are back in action tomorrow night, taking on an LA Kings club that has already beaten them twice this season. A similar effort to last night's game will be needed against Terry Murray's club. In the meantime, the Stars kicked off the official start to the Tom Gaglardi era in style.
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