Sign in Subscribe
Front Page

Dallas Stars Daily Links: Battle of the Backups

The winner of Colorado vs Dallas might very well come down to the play of the teams’ backup goaltenders. Plus, other keys to the Stars’ success, some controversy in Vegas, and more.

After injuring himself in Game 1, Phillip Grubaeur is presumably out for the foreseeable future. Jared Bednar and the Colorado Avalanche will instead have to rely on backup goaltender Pavel Francouz, who filled in admirably for Grubauer when he was injured prior to the pause:

“It was like having another starter when ‘Gruby’ went out... He’s an easy guy to like, our guys play hard for him, he’s always been a hard worker and holds himself to a high standard. He’s a real good evaluator of his game and he’ll do anything he can to help us win.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Dallas Stars have been in the same exact boat with Ben Bishop’s injury. Anton Khudobin is more of a “1-B” goaltender as opposed to a true backup, but he’s certainly been playing like a “1-A”:

“He’s been long enough in the league, and I’d say he was most of the time he was a backup, but now he has his chance and he’s there for us,” said teammate Alexander Radulov. “We’re helping him; he’s helping us. He’s a good goalie and we believe in him, so that’s good that we have him.”

You can read more from Mike Heika here.

Stars Stories

More from Heika — the Stars should be in good shape so long as their defensemen continue to step up to the plate:

Another roadmap to success? Roope Hintz building off of his Game 1 performance:

You think you were taken aback by the NHL’s decision to start Game 1 on Saturday? The Stars were even more surprised:

Around the League

The Tampa Bay Lightning scored two late goals to make it close, but ultimately fell 3-2 to the Boston Bruins:

The Vegas Golden Knights, meanwhile, kept their shutout, embarrassing the Vancouver Canucks with a 5-0 opener:

Our old pal Antoine Roussel was at it again last night for the Canucks, getting ten minutes for... umm... this:

If you missed the whole “Marc-Andre Fleury’s agent’s tweet” controversy from the weekend, here’s the rub:

For his part, Robin Lehner is just trying to move on:

What can teams learn from the remaining eight teams? Down Goes Brown has got you covered:

Finally, after another first round exit, the Washington Capitals have fired head coach Todd Reirden after just two seasons. Here are some potential replacement options

Read next