I was highly, highly tempted to call this post the "Dallas Stars Daley Links" in honor of defenseman Trevor Daley, whose goal in the ninth round of the shootout gave the Dallas Stars a 3-2 shootout victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday. Alas, I don't think the search engine crawlers would like that very much, so instead I have to explain the joke, which makes it so much less fun.
What was fun, however, was the Stars road trip through the West Coast (with a detour to the Columbus Blue Jackets). The Stars picked up six of eight possible points on the tough trip, culminating in their Tuesday win over Phoenix.
We had been starting to ask when the "depth" players would start scoring, and two depth players gave the Stars crucial goals in the third period and beyond. Sure, Adam Burish was technically playing with the second line when he scored his game-tying goal, but any offense from someone considered a lower-lines player is always a huge plus. And Daley showed a heretofore unknown prowess in the shootout, being one of only two Stars players who cold get a puck past Mike Smith.
And here's what those two had to say about their big moments, courtesy of the game recap from ESPN Dallas.
"I’ve played with those two before. I kind of understand what Ribby needs and where to go," said Burish. "Like I said before, a blind guy could play with him. Just got to the net, put your stick down and he hits your stick."
And from the shootout hero:
"I was happy that Kari got the save before, so it took a little bit of the pressure off," said Daley. "It was enjoyable. It was my first one. I was excited."
After the jump, more on the Stars 3-2 win over the Coyotes, more information than you really needed about soon-to-be owner Tom Gaglardi and not one but two videos for you to enjoy.
- Mike Heika's paywalled take on the game, which the headline calls a "blueprint victory." I don't know about you, but I wish that blueprint included a few 9-1 wins. [DallasNews.com]
- And after Mark Stepneski got done writing his game recap, which is linked above, he put together some thoughts on the game. And he makes a great point about the late goals against the Yotes turning a potential 5-4 record into 7-2-0. [ESPN Dallas]
-
Shane Doan's 300th career goal is understandably the focus of the Coyotes' newspaper coverage. [Arizona Republic]
- Written before Tuesday's game but extra-timely because of the circumstances, another look at the resurgence of Sheldon Souray, who is making general manager Joe Nieuwendyk look like a freaking genius right now. [Fox Sports]
- Video fun, part the first: I won't embed this in an effort to make this post a little smaller for your perusing pleasure, but you should check out this video of Ray Whitney of the Coyotes and his penchant for pre-game interview hijinks. Apparently he did this on the Fox Sports Arizona broadcast on Tuesday, but no video of that as of yet. [YouTube]
- Also from the Dallas Morning News, but this one free for us all to enjoy, Coyotes captain Shane Doan gives his take on can't-come-soon-enough new Stars owner Tom Gaglardi, who he knows from his experience with the Kamloomps Blazers. The second article is something I would have linked yesterday if I didn't go to bed early to get up at an ungodly hour today - it's a very in dpeth look at exactly who Gaglardi is, linking to a lot of older stories. [DallasNews.com/DallasNews.com]
- Pierre LeBrun takes on the rants in his mailbag, one of which deals with the Stars having so many obnoxious 9 p.m. or later starts. [ESPN]
- One more article from the DMN, and I promise it's the final one today. But I couldn't let this fun little bit about the players supporting the Texas Rangers go without note. [DallasNews.com]
- The best-known hockey humor site at the internet gives some early thoughts on the new coaches in the NHL, including Glen Gulutzan. [Down Goes Brown]
- Meet the enemy: Hey look at that, when Jonathan Quick doesn't play, the Los Angeles Kings aren't nearly the defensive stalwarts they are with him in net. I hate you, Terry Murray, for no other reason than you're logical enough to give up the points to the New Jersey Devils and will likely put Quick back in net for Thursday's game. And you get a meet the enemy bonus, since the Devils come to the AAC after the Kings. [Washington Post]
- Around the Pacific Division: It was a good night to be a Pacific Division team if some part of your name started with an S. The San Jose Sharks seem to have figured things out and posted a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Meanwhile, everyone else struggled, with the Yotes losing to the Stars, the Kings to the Devils and the Anaheim Ducks to the Chicago Blackhawks in the shootout. [NHL.com/Los Angeles Times]
- An image for your nightmares as we approach Halloween - Zdeno Chara in a bunny costume, or more specifically, the pink bunny costume from the movie "A Christmas Story." This needs to make an appearance on a sign the next time the Stars play the Boston Bruins. [Puck Daddy]
- Video fun, part the second: Nothing other than just audio was up from the postgame interviews by the time I wrote this post, but you can hear coach Glen Gulutzan and his wonderful powers of prognostication when he talks about how the other lines need to create offense by going to the net. What say you to that, Burish?