STARS SHREDDED FOR THIRD STRAIGHT GAME
If ever the Dallas Stars needed a reminder that teamwide commitment to defense is the backbone to success in the modern NHL, they've gotten it over the last three games.
After not allowing more than two regulation goals over a seven-game stretch in which they went 5-0-2, the Stars have yielded 18 goals over the last three games en route to losing each of the last games in regulation. Dallas has been outscored 18-8.
Last night in Long Island, the Stars managed to get out of the first period with a 2-0 lead despite wide gaps between the defensemen and forwards and some iffy puck management. Kari Lehtonen made 14 saves in the opening period, and Jamie Benn and Erik Cole notched their 15th and 11th goals of the season respectively.
Benn's goal was an unassisted goal scored directly off an Andrew MacDonald turnover. Cole's shot was wired through an Alex Chiasson screen in front of Kevin Poulin (who had come in for starter Evgeni Nabokov at 12:54).
Over the remaining 40 minutes, the Stars were not so fortunate. The Islanders strafed them for seven goals -- including three on the power play -- en route to a 7-3 blowout win. In just about the ugliest period the team has played all year, the Stars gave up four goals on 11 shots in the middle stanza.
Dallas nearly got the game to the third period tied at 3-3. Valeri Nichushkin potted a power play from in close with 4:32 left in the second period to temporarily stop the bleeding and knot the score. Unfortunately for the Stars, Brock Nelson put the Islanders ahead to stay with 28 seconds remaining in the middle frame.
The third period was a veritable shooting gallery in Lehtonen's end of the ice, as the Stars took a parade of penalties and basically let the Islanders play through in all manpower situations. By the time the carnage was done, the Islanders tacked a pair of power play goals by John Tavares -- completing a hat trick -- onto the scoreboard. The Stars got outshot, 18-6, in the third period and 43-23 for the game.
The returns of Sergei Gonchar and Trevor Daley to the Dallas lineup did not magically cure the ills of the previous couple games. The team has a lot of areas of its game to clean up as it prepares for a Thursday night game in Newark against the New Jersey Devils.
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BENN NAMED TO CANADIAN OLYMPIC TEAM
In a mild but pleasant surprise, Stars team captain Jamie Benn beat out some mighty tough competition to earn a spot on Team Canada for the upcoming Olympics in Sochi. Apart from his considerable talent and grit, I think that his versatility in being able to play different roles in the lineup and his demonstrated ability to play any forward position worked in his favor with Hockey Canada.
Tyler Seguin did not make it, and that is not a surprise. It is going to take several years of showing off-ice maturity as well as continued consistently strong production on the ice for him to erase the stigma that followed him to Dallas from Boston. With such a wealth of talent from which Hockey Canada can select, Seguin's chances from the get-go were virtually zero. Based on his play this season, however, he deserved consideration.
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