The underdog Dallas Stars' improbable post-trade deadline push for a playoff spot in the Western Conference took another step forward yesterday, as the club established a season-high five-game winning streak. As a result, Dallas moved into eighth place in the Western Conference standings with seven games remaining on the schedule.
The Stars' put forth an outstanding teamwide effort in downing the San Jose Sharks, 2-1. The Dallas puck support was as good as it has been all season, and backup goaltender Richard Bachman cranked out his third straight outstanding game in substitution for injured starter Kari Lehtonen.
Eric Nystrom was a forechecking and backchecking machine in last night's game. He also opened the scoring early in the first period with his seventh goal of the season. On the rush, Nystrom sped into the left circle and fired off a rising shot that beat Antti Niemi high to the long side. Trevor Daley, who triggered the rush with a nice lead pass, earned the primary helper. Vernon Fiddler got the secondary assist.
Later in the first period, Alex Chiasson continued to provide hope for both the present and future with his sixth goal and seventh point in six games since being called up from the American Hockey League's Texas Stars. Chiasson planted himself between the circles, shrugged off the defense's attempts to move him aside, and deflected home a Ray Whitney shot from high in the zone. Loui Eriksson earned the secondary assist.
The two early goals were all the offensive support that Bachman would get -- or need -- in the game. Bachman turned aside 31 of 32 shots, getting beaten only one a third-period power play goal by Brett Burns. While the Stars backchecked diligently and only took two minor penalties in a game that turned chippy in the latter stages, there were still some breakdowns. Bachman erased them.
The Stars (21-7-3) return to action tomorrow night. The club will be very hard pressed to extend the winning streak to six games when they pay a visit to the NHL leading Chicago Blackhawks (31-5-4). It will take at least as good of a team performance as the Stars exhibited last night, and maybe even a little better than that.
In order to have a realistic shot at defeating Chicago, the Stars will need to generate more shots and scoring chances than the 11 shots they mustered over the final two periods of last night's game. The puck support and overall discipline will need to be equivalently strong and Bachman will need to turn out another excellent game in goal.
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