Regular readers of my Flyers and Stars blogs know that I detest the use of the word "desperation" in association with a team playing well in a must-win game. Coaches do it. Players do it. Announcers do it. It's a misnomer.
Trust me, you don't want a team to play with desperation. As the word implies, a team that plays with desperation has given into despair. Desperate teams make low-percentage plays. They play as individuals, rather than as a team. There is no discipline, no focus. They give up odd-man rushes galore.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have turned into a desperate team. That is why their losing streak has spiraled out of control and the team has now lost eight in a row.
What the Dallas Stars did last night in St. Louis was the antithesis of desperate hockey. Rather, they played with focused urgency. There's a major difference.
A team that plays with focused urgency shows unity. They skate, skate and skate some more. They are hungrier for the puck than the opposing team, and refuse to get outworked. They take superior care of the puck. They pay the price to block shots. The goaltender is locked in. The team is resilient, even when they do give up a goal.
Make no mistake: The Dallas Stars had a lot more to play for last night than Ken Hitchcock's St. Louis Blues. With 107 points in the cash register, the Blues are competing with the Boston Bruins for the President's Trophy and are three points ahead of the Pacific Division leading Anaheim Ducks for guaranteed home ice throughout the Western Conference playoffs. While those distinctions would be nice to get, they are not critical a team's postseason success.
On the flip side, the Stars are fighting uphill for their playoff lives. They are not yet in mathematical must win territory but they are rapidly getting to the point where there is virtually no margin for error. Dallas' rough start in early January (0-6-0 to start the new calendar year) and recent 0-3-1 skid are the main reasons why the Stars would not qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today.
Over the last two games, the Stars have shown plenty of focused energy. Really, one could see things starting to gel again in Dallas' 4-2 loss in Philadelphia on March 20. A mediocre first period and so-so goaltending from Tim Thomas in that game proved too much to overcome but the Stars established a lot of positive things as the game progressed. Dallas has built on it in the ensuing games, going 4-1-0 over their final five games in March.
On Friday, the Stars battered Barry Trotz's Nashville Predators in Music City to the tune of 7-3. Perhaps the most impressive facet of the game was that the Stars had seven different players step up to score goals against the Preds -- none of whom are named Tyler Seguin or Jamie Benn. The captain and the club's top scorer had an assist apiece.
Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves for the win in Nashville. Last night in St. Louis, Lindy Ruff's squad put forth one of its best 60-minute efforts of the season to down the Blues by a 4-2 count. Riding Lehtonen again as the starting goaltender -- which tells you all you need to know about the team's confidence in Lehtonen and displeasure with the way Tim Thomas played during the last road trip while Lehtonen was out with a concussion -- the Stars got a 33-save performance.
Once again, the Stars were able to get all the offense they needed in a game where the top line was held off the board. A pair of goals by Colton Sceviour was later supplemented by tallies from Cody Eakin and Antoine Roussel. Although the Stars' did yield a pair of power play goals to the Blues' Alex Steen -- the lone blemish on an otherwise outstanding night -- they stuck with the game plan of using speed and constant puck pressure. It paid off.
The Stars are still one point behind the Phoenix Coyotes for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. Dallas holds one game in hand, however. The Stars return to action on Tuesday, when they are in DC to take on a Washington Capitals team that is dire straights in the Eastern Conference wildcard chase.