Dallas Stars Daily Links: Stars Continue Solid Homestand with Win Over Devils

Perhaps it wasn’t the best game the Dallas Stars have played, but that doesn’t change the fact that they emerged last night with a victory over a very good New Jersey Devils team. We’ll jump straight into the Stars’ goal highlights:

First goal for the Stars was courtesy of Alexander Radulov:

Brett Ritchie was next with this beautiful tip off of a John Klingberg shot:

Third, let me just say that I love Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn’s chemistry:

Finally, a blocked shot by Radulov led to a great pass from Martin Hanzal to Mattias Janmark, who netted what would eventually be the game winner:

Here’s head coach Ken Hitchcock’s post game presser:

It was the first game back for both Marc Methot and Martin Hanzal, who were thrust right into the thick of things. Here are some postgame interviews of the pair:

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Stars Stories

Not a Stars player, but Scott Burnside did get a pregame chat in with Texas native Stefan Noesen:

Ken Hitchcock continues to shuffle most of the lines, but the third line, headlined by Radek Faksa, isn’t going anywhere. [SportsDay DFW]

Pateryn and Hamhuis have been a very solid defensive pair, and Scott Cullen can prove it. With science! [TSN]

Congratulations are in order for the Captain (no not Jamie, the other one):

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Central Census

Busy night in the NHL last night, with several Central Division games being played:

• A Nino Niederreiter Hat Trick propelled the Minnesota Wild to a 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. [Hockey Wilderness]
• The Nashville Predators and Arizona Coyotes game was, on the other hand, much closer; the Coyotes prevailed 3-2 in the overtime. [On the Forecheck]
• The St. Louis Blues snapped the Vegas Golden Knights’ 8 game winning streak with a 2-1 victory. [Knights on Ice]
• The Colorado Avalanche also scored twice, earning a 2-0 shutout over the Columbus Blue Jackets. [NHL]

Speaking of the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon’s stellar play is keeping Colorado alive in the playoff hunt.

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Around the League

Ex-Dallas Star Jamie Oleksiak has been given a chance to prove himself with his new team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Is he on track to become the latest successful reclamation project for Pittsburgh? [FanRag Sports]

Potential trade target? Forward Anthony Duclair has reportedly requested a trade from Arizona. [TSN]

John Klingberg doesn’t get enough love, but hard to argue with the rest of these:

Despite Vegas’s unexpected success, GM George McPhee is still mum on what they’ll do at the deadline. [Sportsnet]

Late arrival spoilers: the NHL isn’t going to the 2018 Olympics. But that doesn’t mean they won’t go in 2022, and the IIHF is going to try their hardest to make sure they do. [CBC]

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World Juniors Update

The USA pulled goaltender Joseph Woll partway into the third after giving up 3 goals within a roughly 2 minute span, replacing him with Jake Oettinger. They scored twice after that, but it was too late, and the Americans fell to the Swedes 4-2. [2018 World Juniors]

The other semifinal game wasn’t nearly as close: Canada demolished the Czech Republic 7-2, and will play Sweden for the gold. [2018 World Juniors]

With the tournament coming to a close, the IIHF is forced to admit that attendance isn’t nearly as good as they were hoping:

Ken Campbell investigates possible reasons into why: [The Hockey News]

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Finally...

I present this to you without comment: