Over the Dallas Stars’ past three games, they’ve had had 13 goals for and 13 goals against. Two of those wins ended up in victories, but don’t expect these high-scoring games to be a new norm:
“Listen, we’re certainly not happy giving up four goals, but we’re certainly happy that we scored five,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We have to tighten it up. We’re trying to find ways to win 2-1, 3-2, and if we can score four or five goals, that’s the object obviously.”
Perhaps most disheartening about all those goals is that they came against the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, and Detroit Red Wings, who currently sit 32nd, 28th, and 22nd respectively in the NHL in terms of points percentage. The Stars’ next two opponents are in the same ballpark, but Bowness still has to find a way to keep scoring while minimizing goals against.
“We’ve got to tighten it up. There’s too many goals going in our net,” Bowness said. “We’ll keep getting our defense up and trying to score goals, that’s what we’re trying to do, but not at the risk of getting into a 5-4 game every night.”
You can read more from Mike Heika here.
Stars Stories
Bowness talks further about the Stars’ defensive identity in a quote from Saad Yousuf’s recent mailbag:
Exploring the Stars’ coaching, the future of the roster, Tyler Seguin and more: Mailbag, part 2 https://t.co/ECj8gIlljj
— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) January 24, 2022
Perhaps it’s not a certainty, but Matthew DeFranks explores what a John Klingberg trade could look like from a conceptual standpoint:
Breaking down routes the Dallas Stars could take with a John Klingberg trade@MDeFranks | #GoStars https://t.co/Wa11ypKLw6
— SportsDay Stars (@dmn_stars) January 22, 2022
Snip-snap, snip-snap:
We have reassigned Riley Damiani, Rhett Gardner and Riley Tufte from the @TexasStars to the Taxi Squad.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) January 24, 2022
Around the League
It’s a good ole fashioned “West vs. East” debate in Down Goes Brown’s latest weekend rankings:
Weekend rankings: The Flyers finally land in the bottom 5, a new team enters the top 5, and is the East just way better than the West?https://t.co/9BRDtC4FVX
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) January 24, 2022
Remember when the Denver Broncos had to play a WR at QB because of COVID protocols? The Vancouver Canucks are dealing with something similar:
After 1,000 games as an NHL coach, there’s never been a weekend like this one for Bruce Boudreau: Almost every goalie on the Canucks’ depth chart is sidelined by COVID-19 protocols, forcing minor-leaguers to try to make big-league magic. (@imacSportsnet)https://t.co/fhgEsJddt2
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 24, 2022
Greg Wyshynski offers a mid-season grade on each team, and Dallas’ is about what you’d expect based on their record:
It’s NHL midseason report card time!
Presenting the MVPs, players that need a reset and midterm grades for all 32 teams from yours truly and @kristen_shilton. There are two A+ grades; there is also a D- (!) https://t.co/WqZdZhSH5w
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 24, 2022
The second racist taunt to occur on-ice in a matter of days:
Video showing a racist gesture towards Jordan Subban was shared on Saturday night, just a day after the AHL suspended a player for a similar incident.https://t.co/LUDX37M3FI
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) January 23, 2022
P.K. Subban speaks up:
P.K. Subban had a lot on his mind after Sunday’s game, as he responded further to the racist incident involving his brother, the experience of being a Black person in hockey and much more.https://t.co/s3HQaWKHKY
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 24, 2022
Finally, while the player in question has been released, that won’t fix the problem at large:
Why are we surprised that racism keeps happening in hockey?
Suspensions are a start. So is outright releasing players.
But more has to be done, writes @ryan_s_clark.
📚 https://t.co/VpbrAFGN5W pic.twitter.com/e0tjjWBQTK
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) January 24, 2022