Four games, one lousy point. That's
not going to cut it out west.
These are trying times for the
Dallas Stars. Every team goes through them, but a stretch like this at
this time of year always threatens to be the undoing of a team that is
still forging its identity. Over their
current four-game winless streak, the Stars have played two (maybe three) solid
periods out of twelve (plus an extra session).
Now trailing the Phoenix Coyotes by four points (with one game in hand) for the
final playoff spot and now almost even in points with the resurgent Vancouver Canucks and
Winnipeg Jets, each game is exponentially more crucial than the last for
Dallas. However, to understand exactly
what we need to do moving forward, we have to look back and analyze the carnage
of the past week.
The Stars woes cannot be blamed on
the shortfalls of just one aspect of their game. At home against Calgary, execution on scoring
chances and the failure to sustain offensive pressure were to blame. In Winnipeg, Dallas’ inability to counter the
Jets’ physical play at the offensive blue line was the culprit. Against Pittsburgh, turnovers and sloppy
defensive coverage were our undoing. And
tonight in Philadelphia, no depth scoring, some bad “puck luck” and lousy goaltending led to another defeat. Each problem deserves due attention from
Lindy Ruff and his coaching staff.
- Trouble finishing- The Stars had multiple third period breakaways against Calgary with the chance to put the game away with just one goal. They couldn't do it. In Pittsburgh, they consistently fired pucks over the net while on odd-man rushes. Tonight in Philly, they were in close consistently against Steve Mason, but everyone not named Jamie Benn failed to jam it home. Generating chances is good, but it means nothing if the puck doesn't hit the back of the net.
- Getting outmatched physically- Grit (and size in general) is not something that the Stars have nor were expecting to have entering this season. Jets coach Paul Maurice undoubtedly instructed his men to exploit this Sunday night and they were quite successful. While the shot count was not heavily in Winnipeg's favor, the Jets generated many more quality scoring chances, aided by 13 takeaways, a result of their hard work in the neutral zone. That brings me to the next problem...
- Turnovers and sloppy defensive play- You really can't point fingers at any one individual or defensive pairing, but certain guys in green stood out more for all the wrong reasons. The pairing of Trevor Daley and Alex Goligoski really stood out to me, especially in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia games. Not just turning the puck over in crucial areas to world class skaters, but also poor decision making when attempting to clear the puck or execute a breakout.
- No depth scoring- This problem has been lurking in the shadows all season, but it has only recently stood out as the production behind Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin has dropped off considerably. Both players are headed for career years, but they can't do it all. The resurgent play of Alex Chiasson has been a welcome sight, but Cody Eakin, Erik Cole, Valeri Nichushkin, and Ray Whitney need to step up and provide some offense of their own if this team is to start winning again.
- Bad puck luck- This is characteristic of just about any losing streak in this sport, but the Stars have seemed increasingly snake-bit over this four-game stretch. It seems like even modest mistakes are ending up in our net and the most egregious turnovers are always finding the sticks of some of the league's best players. And on the other end, it's just not going in. Whether a breakaway, odd-man rush, or mad scramble in front; every quality scoring chance the Stars generate seems to go for naught. The only way to fix this is to keep generating chances.
- Goaltending issues- When Kari Lehtonen was injured on March 8th, Stars GM Jim Nill looked like a genius for acquiring veteran netminder Tim Thomas from Florida. Since then, it appears that Thomas might not be the perfect fit that we were hoping he'd be. The result of his aggressive playing style is that he spits out a lot of rebounds, a very unwelcome side effect for this undersized defensive corps. On top of that, Thomas looked quite shaky in net tonight against the Flyers. The first goal he let in was a point shot that he was not heavily screened on, and the third was on an odd-man rush that was pretty well defended by the two Stars in front of him. Alas, the jury remains out on whether or not the Thomas-Ellis swap will benefit the Stars significantly over the course of this stretch run.
So what does it all mean for the Dallas Stars moving forward? Ultimately, we must accept that there are some things that we can't change until the offseason, which makes the issues we can fix all the more important to address. It all starts with Dallas playing smarter and more patiently with the puck. If we can minimize the turnovers and allow ourselves to focus more on our offensive game, then this team is still very much alive in the Western Conference playoff race. If not, then, while it pains me to say it, we could be shifting into offseason mode sooner than we would all prefer.
No comments:
Post a Comment