Dallas Stars Daily Links: Deja Vu
The Stars’ playoff success closely mirrors their turnaround from almost a year ago to start the season. Plus, the Stars’ offensive eruption, Toronto and Pittsburgh pull off a major trade, and more.
It’s hard to believe that the 2019-20 NHL season began almost a whole year ago. It gets even crazier when you remember that the Dallas Stars looked horrible out of the gate, infamously going 1-7-1 over their first nine games.
Dallas managed to flip the script and play some of their best hockey for the next few months. Fittingly, that turn of events closely mirrors the Stars’ recent playoff success, which came after a long streak of losing to end the regular season and begin the playoff bubble;
“You go back, and we’ve been a streaky team all year,” [interim head coach Rick] Bowness said. “We had a terrible October, we recovered from that. We had a couple of bad stretches at the end. We recovered from that. We’ve been a streaky team all season in terms of team play and we’ve been a streaky team in terms of goal-scoring.”
“Streakiness” is typically considered a bad thing, but that’s not necessarily the case. When it comes to the playoffs, it’s not always the “best” team from that season who wins the Stanley Cup, but the team that’s playing their best at the time. And the Stars feel like they’re playing their best:
“The confidence was there in November,” Bowness said. “We went into every game expecting to win, and that’s our attitude right now. We go into every game and we expect to win. We know if we play the right way, play Dallas Stars hockey and stay with it regardless of the score, play the right way, eventually, good things are going to happen for you.”
You can read more from Matthew DeFranks here.
Stars Stories
If you like Anton Khudobin (and honestly, who doesn’t?), then you’ll love this wholesome story about he and his dad:
On the other side of the world, in Siberia, Valery Khudobin has always woken up early to watch NHL games. Now for the first time he’s rising early to watch his son, Anton, as a playoff No. 1. On the Stars playoff savior and key conversations with dad. https://t.co/4Hscr449bR
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) August 26, 2020
Are the Stars suddenly an offensive powerhouse? Apparently yes. Well, actually no. Maybe?
Podcast: When did the Stars become an offensive juggernaut? https://t.co/hc3M4VUcpV via @NHLdotcom
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) August 25, 2020
More audio clips to listen to — this time, Tyler Seguin on his weekly radio spot:
With the @DallasStars up 2-0 against the Avalanche, let's talk to @tseguinofficial https://t.co/WlEEj9qSee
— 96.7 The Ticket (@dfwticket) August 26, 2020
Around the League
No strangers to overtime, the Tampa Bay Lightning evened their series against the Boston Bruins with a 4-3 victory:
Lightning Round: Lightning win in overtime, are now 4-0 in bonus hockey https://t.co/6rgSZvxraA
— Raw Charge (@RawCharge) August 26, 2020
Coolest goal of the game? Well that came courtesy of Zach Bogosian and Plano native Blake Coleman:
Unbelievable play from Bogosian and @BColes25! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/EElZ6b0eYU
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) August 25, 2020
After giving up five in Game 1, the Vancouver Canucks returned the favor with five goals of their own in route to a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights:
Conference Semi-Final Game 2 RECAP: NUCKS BREAK THE BLEAK KNIGHTS 5-2 https://t.co/18y3rrgyyn
— Nucks Misconduct (@nucksmisconduct) August 26, 2020
Speaking of the Canucks, Down Goes Brown and James Mirtle debate the concept of “Canada’s Team”:
New post: So @mirtle wouldn’t knock it off with this “Canada’s Team” stuff so I had to smack him upside the head and tell him how it works. https://t.co/GauWhZM0iV
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) August 25, 2020
Moving on, we have our first trade of the kind-of-offseason, with the Toronto Maple Leafs sending Kasperi Kapanen to the Pittsburgh Penguins:
Details for Penguins:
— Rob Rossi (@Real_RobRossi) August 25, 2020
RW Kasperi Kapanen
D Jesper Lindgren
LW Pontus Aberg
Maples Leafs getting:
2020 Rd 1 pick (15 overall)
LW Evan Rodrigues
C Filip Hallander
D David Warsofsky#Pens | @TheAthleticPGH | @TheAthleticNHL
please forgive any type
Long-time NHL defenseman Mike Green has announced that he is hanging up his skates:
"The first thing Bruce said to me in Washington was, 'Are you ready to start scoring goals?' It's just when you have that freedom and that support, it's amazing what you can do as a player." - Mike Green, who tells @TheAthleticDC that he's retiring #Caps https://t.co/wCDFzdUzlg
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) August 26, 2020
Should he stay or should he go? Alex Pietrangelo opens up about his impending free agency:
“Obviously, I want to stay a Blue. Of course I do. It’s the only place I’ve known professional hockey.”
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 25, 2020
Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo spoke today about free agency and the decision he faces this off-season.https://t.co/7EPrDBhcWO
Finally, here’s a look at COVID-19 testing inside the NHL bubble:
Why does testing in the NHL bubbles work — and what does it mean for the future? | @RobsonDan & @ThomasDrancehttps://t.co/FgR4n0BPXk
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) August 26, 2020