I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about the direction the Dallas Stars appeared to be heading prior to last night's game in Los Angeles. The team's 2-1 win over the Kings went a long way toward calming some of those fears.
Dallas played horrendous defensive hockey in both the final game of the homestand and the first game of the current five-game road trip. With the power play and Jamie Benn line struggling mightily -- and the club getting mediocre goaltending from Andrew Raycroft -- there was a real danger of the team falling into a prolonged losing streak.
The big story from last night was the stellar goaltending of Richard Bachman in his first NHL start. The 24-year-old netminder may lack size, but he looked very technically sound and athletic against the Kings. His rebound control in this game was superior to what the Stars had been getting from Raycroft and Bachman's lateral movement was also very good. He challenged the shooters effectively all night.
For a host of reasons, it was huge for the Stars to be able to play from ahead for a change. First of all, Terry Murray's Kings have been having a hard time scoring goals (especially of late). Secondly, the Stars needed to score the first goal for their own psyche.
I thought that the Stars got an emotional spark from Steve Ott mixing it up with (and eventually fighting) Willie Mitchell when the game was still scoreless midway through the first period. Dallas needed that snarl, and I don't think it was coincidental that Dallas found a way to get on the scoreboard just a few shifts later.
No skill player in the NHL more desperately needed a goal last night -- both for his team and for himself -- than Jamie Benn. His power play goal in the first period was an ugly one (he crashed the net and the pass to him deflected in off his skate as he arrived) but it was still a huge weight off of his shoulders.
Giving up a game-tying shorthanded goal, as the Stars did in the middle stages of the second period, can be devastating to a club. But the resiliency of Glen Gulutzan's team has never been in question. Within three minutes of Brad Richardson's shorthanded goal, defenseman Trevor Daley restored the lead for Dallas on something of a lucky bounce at the end of a strong shift by the Stars' fourth line.
In the third period, Bachman was called on to make several non-routine stops to protect the one-goal advantage. Meanwhile, the team in front of him did a good job at sealing up the slots and making sure the rookie goalie had a clear look at the puck.
Despite Benn's power play goal, the Stars need to keep working on the power play. It was good to see the team finally generate a healthy number of power play chances (7 last night), albeit with considerable help from the Kings taking undisciplined offensive zone penalties and careless high sticking infractions.
There was a wear-down effect on Los Angeles for having to kill so many penalties during the game. Spend 14 minutes killing penalties and it's bound to have an effect in the third period when a team is trying to dig deep for a comeback.
On most of the power plays, Dallas had a hard time getting set up in the offensive zone. Some of the latter advantages went a bit better in terms of pressure, even though the only puck that went in was the self-made good luck bounce off Benn's skate on the Stars' third power play of the game.
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