Dallas Stars Ups & Downs: Week 21

Two wins and an overtime loss makes for a decent week when you consider all three games were on the road for the Dallas Stars.  As such, Stars fans are again back to feeling good about the team, it's play overall on the ice and it's prospects for the playoffs.

Not too much to be negative about even though as we've documented in recaps, there is still work to be done.  How do you argue with five points out of a possible six over the last three games though?

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Kari Lehtonen		Has made seven straight starts now and looked good in all of them. Stars need him to keep up his level of play to make a playoff run.
Andrew Raycroft		No ice-time yet again...  Gotta imagine he'll be getting a start soon huh?
Defensemen
Trevor Daley		Finally picked up a much needed goal against the Kings.  His first since his two goal effort against the Thrashers back on January 15.  Is on a three game point streak.
Mark Fistric		Not sure what the coaches have said to him exactly, but he is spending a lot less energy chasing puck carriers and more of it standing them up with solid hits.
Alex Goligoski		We knew the trade would be a good deal for Dallas, I don't think even the most ardent supporter of the deal though expected Goose to have this much of a positive impact this quickly though.
Stephane Robidas		Would have been an "up" thanks to the two assists this past week, but we're still wondering what he was trying to do on that first Kings goal against the Stars.
Karlis Skrastins		Didn't have much of an impact in the Ducks and Sharks contests, but did have a nice effort against the Kings with three blocked shots.
Jeff Woywitka		With the rest of the defensive unit playing as well as they are, it's made Jeff - who is clearly in a slump - look to be real bad and end up being the odd man out once (if) Grossman ever makes it back.
Forwards
Krys Barch		Really good last week, not as good this week and was a healthy scratch against the Kings.
Jamie Benn		We'll give him two "ups" this week because safe to say he did some amazing work this past week and at times put the team on his back.
Adam Burish		Keeps putting in hard work and now starting to be rewarded both with points (had a goal and assist this past week) as well as some playing time with the Stars top-six forwards.
Loui Eriksson		Loui scored critical goals against both the Ducks and Sharks and was at his two-way forward best against the Kings.
Jamie Langenbrunner		Has been looking better on the power play and fit in nicely as a grit / depth player for Dallas.
Brenden Morrow		Was a plus three against the Kings and of course had the overtime winner.
Steve Ott		Yeah, it was a weak spearing call the refs made to give a game for a one handed poke with the stick, still the rep that Ott carries with him makes him prone to refs more willing to toss him out of a game for any excuse they can find.
Toby Petersen		Plays hard, puts out a great effort every night.  As ideal a "depth" player as one gets?
Mike Ribeiro		Had his four game point streak broke up in Anaheim, came back with a clutch goal in Los Angeles.  We're just thankful he didn't try to pass that puck as well.
Brian Sutherby		A collective -3 in the last two games.  Was a healthy scratch for the Ducks game.
Tomas Vincour		The official Stars website has a great feature posted on young Tomas and his work so far.  Now if only he can get that much overdue goal or assist...
Tom Wandell		Trying to remember last time he played with seemingly so much confidence.  I don't think he ever has.
Jason Williams		Was always a tough opponent to play when against the Stars, now bringing same tenacity on the ice for the Stars.