Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Flyers Gameday: 12/21/11 @ Stars

December 21, 2011, 8:57 AM ET [ Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Note -- Because I watch the Dallas Stars as extensively as I watch the Flyers, I am dividing the game-day blog into two parts. This blog focuses in large part on familiarizing readers who rarely get to see the Stars with the strengths and weaknesses of the Western Conference club. The Stars blog does the same for the Flyers. There will be some repetition of information -- season series, lineups, etc -- but the bulk of the two blogs are different.

I am listing Claude Giroux in the Flyers lineup for tonight, but that depends on how the Flyers' best forward is feeling today. He has said that if he skates in the warmup he'll play. He has reportedly been concussion symptom-free since Saturday.


PREVIEW 8:00 AM EST

In the second installment of their five-day journey across time zones, the Atlantic Division leading Flyers (20-8-4) travel to the Lone Star State tonight to take on the Pacific Divsion leading Dallas Stars (19-12-1). The game starts at 7:30 PM EST (6:30 PM CST) and will be broadcast nationally on Versus.

This is the lone meeting of the season between the clubs. Last season, they played twice, with the Flyers sweeping the season series.

The first game, played in Philly on February 5, saw an injury-ravaged Stars team (missing five starters) come to town on the heels a brawl-filled game in Boston in the midst of a long road trip. The Flyers jumped on Dallas in the first period and went on to win, 3-1.

After Andrej Meszaros forged a 1-0 lead late in the first period, a shorthanded goal early in the second period by then-Flyer Darroll Powe put the Flyers in the driver's seat. Stars captain Brendan Morrow got one back late in the period. Midway through the third period, Claude Giroux made a brilliant set up to ex-Flyer Jeff Carter for an insurance goal.

One month later, on March 19, the Flyers visited Dallas. Late first period and early second period goals by Carter and then-Flyer Mike Richards turned a scoreless deadlock into a 2-0 Philadelphia lead. But Dallas -- the NHL's best comeback team both last season and thus far this season -- battled back.

Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski, who had come to Dallas in exchange for James Neal and Matt Niskanen since the time of the first game, trimmed the deficit to 2-1 midway through the game. With 5:36 remaining in the third period, defenseman Stephane Robidas tied the game with a slapshot past Sergei Bobrovsky. The game went to a shootout.

The game was decided on a mistake by Kari Lehtonen. The big netminder came way out of his net to attempt a pokecheck of Ville Leino. He missed. Leino then calmly skated around the prone Lehtonen and deposited the puck into the open net.

The Stars, who posted a 95-point season last year but missed the playoffs by virtue of a final-day loss in Minnesota, have made some major changes since the clubs last met. The club fired Marc Crawford as the head coach and promoted 40-year-old Texas Stars (AHL) head coach Glen Gulutzan to take over the bench for the big club.

Late this year, the club (which had once been prosperous but was then dragged down financially by Tom Hicks' woes, and not the other way around) went through bankruptcy proceedings in Wilmington, Delaware and was acquired by Vancouver-based businessman Tom Gaglardi. In an effort to bring fans back to the American Airlines Center, the club has slashed its ticket prices significantly.

The Stars entered the 2011-12 season written off once again by the majority of the pundits as a result of losing Brad Richards to free agency. In reality, when Richards was lost for a significant amount of time last season due to a concussion and then was largely ineffective after his return, the Stars more or less became Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson's team. Benn in particular was tremendous down the stretch last year.

This season, the Stars followed an impressive preseason with a very fast start in October and early November, which had them atop the Western Conference after six weeks. The magic faded over the course of a five-game losing streak but the club managed to climb back on the horse. More recently, the team survived a host of injuries that at one point had five regulars out of the lineup and two others playing at far less than 100 percent.

Following a coast-to-coast five-game road trip (3-2-0), the Stars returned home this week. Their schedule is basically the opposite of the Flyers, as Dallas is at home (minus a single road game) for the remainder of the calendar year.

On Monday, the Stars built up a 3-0 lead on the Anaheim Ducks on goals by Morrow, Goligoski and Mike Ribeiro, only to give it right back. But the Stars, like the Flyers, are a resilient club. Michael Ryder restored the lead for Dallas in the third period and Eric Nystrom added insurance for a 5-3 win. Rookie goalie Richard Bachman made 25 saves for the win. The win propelled the Stars back into first place in the Pacific Division.

The 24-year-old Bachman will get the start again tonight; his sixth in a row. Lehtonen, who was having a Vezina Trophy caliber campaign early on in the season (but has never beaten the Flyers in his career), remains on the shelf for another week or so with a groin pull. The club initially turned to backup Andrew Raycroft after Lehtonen went down, but Raycroft struggled mightily with rebounds and short-side goals.

Bachman has had good success at every level in which he's played, including both collegiate and AHL hockey. The only thing that has held him back from making it to the NHL until now is that he's a generously listed 5-foot-10. He has to make up for the lack of size with his positioning and athleticism. As one might suspect, the best ways to beat him are to generate some traffic around the net and to try to shoot high from in close (he has shown a quick glove, however).

When most teams come to town, they inevitably focus on the Stars' top two lines. However, the real spark plug of the team over much of the last six weeks has been its third line of center Vern Fiddler (signed as a free agent over the summer), Nystrom (picked up on waivers from Minnesota) and Radek Dvorak (free agent signing). They check tenaciously, creating a lot of opposition turnovers.

Nystrom in particular has had an impact on the Stars that has been very much like the one Max Talbot has had with the Flyers. Both have shown unexpected goal scoring punch this season -- Nystrom has 11 goals to Talbot's nine -- and have been two-way players and leaders on their respective clubs.

Nystrom's presence has helped offset the 15-game absence of agitating forward Adam Burish (broken hand). A year ago, the Stars' record with and without the oft-injured Burish was like night and day. When Burish played, they won far more often than they lost. When he was out, Dallas' record was dismal. This year, his loss was not felt nearly as severely, largely thanks to Nystrom and Fiddler. Burish, who had 8 points in 16 games prior to breaking his hand, is finally slated to return to the Dallas lineup tonight.

Dallas' top line of Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder has started to round into form of late. Benn, who is one of the most exciting and dynamic young players in the NHL but has a tendency to press and get impatient when things don't go his way, endured a horrific offensive slump from mid-November to early December. So did Eriksson, a tremendous two-way player who played in his first NHL All-Star game last year.

Benn and Eriksson are both complete players when they are on the top of their game. Benn can beat an opponent with power or finesse. He's emerging as a tremendous playmaker. When he's truly clicking offensively, he'll score 'em gritty and then he'll score 'em pretty. Benn will also drop the gloves from time to time and is not shy about hitting. His biggest drawback is that he will sometimes force plays that aren't there, leading to transitional chances or easy clears for the other team.

Eriksson, in many ways, reminds me of Simon Gagne. He's a silky smooth skater, backchecks willingly and can fill the net. He is, however, prone to some prolonged offensive slumps and isn't always effective when playing banged up.

Ryder began the year on the second line, centered by former Canadiens teammate Mike Ribeiro. He has been a streaky scorer. Steve Ott -- whose presence is basically that of a much more experience Zac Rinaldo with a lot more offensive ability added in -- began the year on the Benn line. Of late, they've switched lines. Ott loves to hit, loves to yap and never gives up on a play. He can also finish scoring chances.

Ribeiro is a fine playmaker, who is also dangerous in shootouts. He still carries a reputation as someone who plays a bit dirty with the stick and has a reputation for trying to draw penalties on the opposition. Although he was weak defensively early in his career and will never win a Selke Trophy, he has worked hard on that part of his game and has greatly improved in the last year or two. All in all, Ribeiro's on-ice presence is a bit like Danny Briere's, except Danny is more of a finisher and Ribeiro a little better passer.

Morrow is one of the NHL's most-respected warriors. I'd call him sort of a cross between Phoenix's Shane Doan and the Flyers' Scott Hartnell. He's a prototypical captain like Doan and a power forward who scores a lot of ugly goals like Hartnell. The Stars' owe much of their vaunted comeback ability to the moxie that Morrow, Benn, Ott, Nystrom and Burish provide the hockey team.

On the blueline, the Stars have six bonafide NHL defensemen. The smallish Robidas is a bit like Kimmo Timonen, although I think Timonen is just a little better than Robidas. But both players are very consistent players who are skilled two-way blueliners.

The addition of Sheldon Souray was a big early boost for the Stars, as he brought some much needed size to a rather small defense group as well as a rocket of a slapshot from the point. Early on, Souray was surprisingly good defensively and extremely productive offensively. About a month ago, the offense stopped coming (he's taken some cortisone injections to play through a hand/wrist issue, as has Benn). Very recently, the offense started showing signs of coming around. Defensively, he leveled off to a lesser degree but has generally been pretty good.

Goligoski is the Stars' best pure offensive defenseman. He adds a dimension to the attack at both 5-on-5 on the power play because he can lead or trail the rush and has a very deceptive shot release. He burned the Flyers quite a few times when he was with the Penguins, in addition to scoring when Philly came to Dallas last year. The downside to the undersized Goligoski is that he has trouble containing big forwards around the net and along the walls. He also can be prone to turnovers on long passes.

Trevor Daley is also undersized but he's a tremendous skater and surprisingly sturdy when forwards try to outmuscle him. In addition, he is a fine secondary offensive threat if an opposing forward is caught snoozing and there's a lane to pinch up on the play.

Nicklas Grossman is strictly a defensive defenseman. The big Swede is not great with the puck on his stick but he is usually very sound positionally, hits willingly and intelligently, blocks a lot of shots and defends his goaltender to the hilt. Grossman makes few mistakes but generally needs to be paired with a good puck-mover.

Mark Fistric is the Stars' most aggressive hitting defenseman. When he plays under control, he can be extremely effective (as the former first-round pick demonstrated in 2009-10 when he was a plus-27 on a mediocre Stars club despite posting just 10 points). When he starts running around too much and getting out of position, he can be exploited. Fistric is also not a very good puckhandler.

The Stars are currently without rookie defenseman Philip Larsen (charley horse) for another game or two. I regard him as a slightly more talented version of the Flyers' Erik Gustafsson (who is close to returning after wrist surgery); I think Larsen's upside is a tad higher. Both players are very skilled passers and puck movers but Larsen is bigger physically. While both are still a bit raw defensively at the NHL level, both have the potential to develop into solid two-way players as they mature.

Something else to watch for tonight: Both the Stars and Flyers are among the most heavily penalized teams in the NHL. Philly draws more power plays of their own. Dallas' power play had been in an awful rut but has shown signs of life lately with the return of Goligoski.


PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Read - Briere - Simmonds
JVR - Talbot - Voracek
Zolnierczyk - Holmstrom - Rinaldo

Timonen - Coburn
Carle - Bourdon
Lilja - Meszaros

Bryzgalov/Bobrovsky


STARS

Eriksson - Benn - Ryder
Morrow - Ribeiro - Ott
Nystrom - Fiddler - Dvorak
Dowell - Wandell - Burish

Souray - Robidas
Fistric - Goligoski
Daley - Grossman

Bachman
[Raycroft]


**********

Please visit our sponsors, Philly Phaithful and HockeyTickets.ca.

On Philly Phaithful, use coupon code "hb10" between now and Dec 31 to receive a 10% discount on your order.

On hockeytickets.ca, use coupon code "FlyersBuzz" between now and Dec 31 to receive a 10% discount on all ticket orders over $150 -- including the Winter Classic -- and also have a chance to win two free lower-level seats to a Flyers regular season game of your choice at the Wells Fargo Center.

KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information click here.
Join the Discussion: » Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Flyers Gameday: 3/28/24 @ MTL
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update