They say the preseason doesn't mean much, but Stars fans are hoping otherwise after Dallas defeated the St. Louis Blues today by a score of 4-0, bringing their seven game exhibition season to a total of 6-1. It's the first time since moving to Dallas that the Stars have notched six wins in one preseason.
Andrew Raycroft got the shutout today, facing a 5-on-3 at one point and turning away all 33 shots against. We were interested to see if Richard Bachman would get in the game, perhaps signaling that the backup job was up for grabs, but Raycroft and Gulutzan ended any such talk emphatically today.
Here were today's lines:
Ott-Fiddler-Vincour
Wandell-Sceviour-Petersen
Wathier-Dowell-Sawada
Barch-Morin-Godard
Souray-Pardy
Grossman-Daley
Fistric-Larsen
St. Louis played a much more veteran laden lineup in front of number one netminder Jaroslav Halak, but the Stars, sans Ribeiro, Ryder, Eriksson, Benn, Morrow, Robidas, Goligoski and Burish proved victorious.
Trevor Daley orchestrated offense with two primary assists, Jake Dowell, Francis Wathier, Tomas Vincour and Vernon Fiddler found the back of the net.
Jeremy Rutherford, Blues beat writer for the Post-Dispatch remarked on Twitter (and since none of us could hear or see the game, we'll take him at his word) that two of the goals were of the rather soft variety and Halak should have stopped them. We'll take them any way we can get them.
The defensive pairings are worth noting as many feel that Souray-Pardy and Grossman-Daley are duos we'll see on opening night to go along with Goligoski-Robidas, with Fistric the odd man out.
Next up is a day off tomorrow, roster cuts, and four days of practice and video sessions leading up to opening night against the Chicago Blackhawks.