Dallas Stars Daily Links: Stars Pick Up Where They Left Off

There are several ways to play a good road game. One of them is by obliterating the opposition in the first period.

Taking that as our criteria, we'll call it a good game.

The Stars started off showing little of the rust we feared might have accumulated during the five days off, and instead came out firing. And the stats bear me out on this, with the Stars dominating the Jets on Corsi Close. All 7.8 minutes of it.

The big story though, obviously, was Kari Lehtonen's departure midway through the game. He's listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury, but, assuming it's his groin again, he must be considered doubtful for his next scheduled start on Tuesday in Colorado.

Dan Ellis' time to shine. [Sports Day DFW]

Ellis did admirably last night, facing an onslaught as he did. For the ice certainly began to tilt in Winnipeg's favor after Kari's departure. Ellis faced 23 shots, turning aside 22 of them, in only 25 minutes of playing time. Do the math. That's what's known as very many shots. The important thing though is that only one of them went in, and the Stars won the game comfortably.

In fact, the early Stars barrage and subsequent lead allowed Lindy Ruff to balance his lines quite effectively on the night. Ryan Garbutt had the lowest minutes for the forwards, playing 12:12, while Seguin had the highest, but at only 17:04. Likewise the defensemen had a fairly even spread, with Goligoski's 17:25 the low and Gonchar's 21:42 the high.

All of which will be important when the Stars take on the Wild tonight in the second leg of the first back-to-back of the season.

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Recaps of last nights action. [NHL.com] [Stars Inside Edge] [Sports Day DFW]

Game notes from last night. [Stars Inside Edge]

And no time to draw breath, here's a preview of tonight's game against the Wild. [CBS Sports]

Of course all the articles are about Tyler Seguin. Did you not see him last night? [Sports Day DFW]

And Tyler Seguin as Puck Daddy's first star of the night. [Puck Daddy]

Because everyone loves GIFs, here's Tuba's breakdown of the action... in the Caps game. These things take time people! Well worth a read though, and keep an eye out for upcoming games as well. [Graham's Week in Sports]

I am absolutely certain that these are useless so early in the season. And I am absolutely certain that I will continue to be an avid reader of them despite that. Power rankings, in need of adjustment after last night. For one, the Jets need to be removed. [NHL.com]

So the Lanche are for real? We'll see about that on Tuesday. [Weekes on the Web]

Way too many Joe Thornton jokes, but why isn't there something like this for the Central Division? [The Royal Half]

And just in case you need a reminder, hockey players are hard as nails. [SB Nation]