Things haven’t been going great for Alexander Radulov lately. The Dallas Stars forward has gone 12 games without scoring a goal, his longest drought since his rookie year:
“We all know he’s at his best when he has that puck below the tops of the circles, and working,” Stars interim head coach Rick Bowness said. “No one competes as hard as Rads does. In that offensive zone when he has the puck, he hasn’t gotten any breaks offensively. But if he keeps putting pucks to the net and stays with it, then those goals are going to come.”
If this sounds like a case of deja-vu, it’s because Tyler Seguin recently went on a career long, 17-game goalless streak. He’s bounced back since then, which proves that even though Radulov is struggling now, the light is on the horizon:
“Had a good talk with Rads yesterday and he’s in the right frame of mind,” Bowness said. “Regardless if you’re scoring, it’s like that whole thing we went through with Tyler. ‘He’s not scoring, he’s not scoring.’ Yeah, but he’s doing a lot of things to help us win games, and those are the most important points. Rads is part of this team, and he’s doing good things to help us where we are in the standings.”
You can read more from Matthew DeFranks here.
Stars Stories
I for one miss the cowboy hat, but I agree it’d be a pain to travel with:
Last season the Stars used a cowboy hat to honor players after wins. The tradition ended, and we were left wondering if a new one had emerged.
Wonder no more.
Chain, keep us together: Confirming Rumours of Stars’ new game-winning artifact
| @seanshapiro |https://t.co/yerfuC6cLv— The Athletic Dallas (@TheAthleticDFW) March 4, 2020
Mike Heika talks Anton Khudobin and more in his latest mailbag:
You’ve got Twitter and he’s got answers. @MikeHeika talks offense, goaltending and looks ahead to the 2021 expansion draft in his latest mailbag.#GoStars https://t.co/IZ4EZcDgY7
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 5, 2020
Goodnight, sweet prince — Jake Oettinger was returned to the Texas Stars yesterday:
NEWS: Goaltender Jake Oettinger has been reassigned to the @TexasStars.#GoStars https://t.co/eLPuMjTXGs
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 4, 2020
…of course, he could be back up in Dallas by the time you read this:
you could surmise that this is a good sign Bishop is healthy for tomorrow. The other possibility is that Oettinger could play tonight for Texas then recalled on another emergency basis tomorrow morning. We will see.
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) March 4, 2020
Around the League
Valeri Nichushkin was a disappointment in Dallas, but he’s finally finding his groove with the Colorado Avalanche:
He averages fewer than 14 minutes per game, has been a streaky scorer all season and is set to fall short of matching his career-best 34-point season.
But strangely enough, Valeri Nichushkin’s season can be called a success.@StevenEllisTHN with more:https://t.co/e26csA5ocN
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) March 5, 2020
The Ottawa Senators have made headlines once again, this time for firing CEO Jim Little less than two months into his tenure:
BREAKING | The Ottawa Senators have fired their new CEO for “conduct inconsistent with the core values of the Ottawa Senators and the National Hockey League” https://t.co/ulnP3moCrP
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) March 4, 2020
Here’s the statement from Little, which only somewhat clarifies things:
Statement from Jim Little: pic.twitter.com/a3jQLGDdkl
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 4, 2020
They aren’t going to be breaking any regular season records, but is this version of the Tampa Bay Lightning better than last year’s?
Fun collab with @wyshynski writing about the Lightning and their weird season.
•How this version compares to last year
•Adjustments they have (and haven’t) made
•The playoff road map
•If there’s one takeaway here it’s the title.. “stay lit” folks https://t.co/7Mn21ceXfo— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) March 4, 2020
Elliotte Friedman talks plenty about the NHL’s annual General Manager meeting in his latest 31 Thoughts:
Sorry a bit delayed today coming back from meetings: https://t.co/qfSJQ9Is9V
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 4, 2020
Finally, the Minnesota Wild making a late playoff surge defies all logic and I’m not sure how to feel about it:
Despite trading away Jason Zucker and firing coach Bruce Boudreau in recent weeks, the Minnesota Wild are in playoff contention late in the season.
Can they actually earn a post-season berth?https://t.co/1t6lhKMH3k
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) March 5, 2020