After all the offseason talk of moving Jamie Benn back to Center, the Dallas Stars began their season with the captain back at Left Wing.
Cue one awful start to the season, and the experiment is back on, with Denis Gurianov and Michael Raffl as his wingers. And so far, results have been promising:
“They’re big and they’re protecting the puck and they’re generating offense,” Bowness said.
“They’re all physical,” he added. “We tried to get everybody more involved physically tonight. We didn’t like our physical play in Minnesota and the guys responded to that tonight and I thought everyone was involved physically.”
Both Gurianov and Raffl have seen an uptick in their game with this new line, which is especially important for the former. But make no mistake — Benn is the straw that stirs the drink:
“We just try to keep it simple,” [Raffl] said. “That goes back to [Benn], he wants to play like that. He’s a really good player. I’ve played with good players before and he lets me play my style and he just jumps on pucks and is hard on the forecheck and is very responsible in our end.”
You can read more from Mike Heika here.
Stars Stories
Jake Oettinger is making his case to stay in the NHL, creating quite the goalie logjam:
Jake Oettinger has once again shown the Stars that he belongs in the NHL. So, what now?
A deep dive, from the background to the future and more!
🚨Subscribe though this link for $1/month!! Access to all Stars coverage and more! We’ll make it worth it 😃https://t.co/YBkKmIw83v
— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) November 23, 2021
Could his next opportunity come tonight against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers?
“Bowness doesn’t reveal his goaltending choice until the day of the game, but there’s a really good chance that Oettinger earned a start against the high-flying Oilers and Connor McDavid on Tuesday.”
Read » https://t.co/isMzBqlbIe pic.twitter.com/bgJKyUmy4l
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) November 23, 2021
Around the League
Last night was a good one for the Central Division:
- The St. Louis Blues pounded the Vegas Golden Knights to the ice 5-2. [Knights on Ice]
- Meanwhile the Nashville Predators squeezed out the victory over the Anaheim Ducks, winning 3-2. [On the Forecheck]
- Rumor has it goalies still have nightmares about the Colorado Avalanche’s 7-5 win over the Ottawa Senators. [Mile High Hockey]
- The Winnipeg Jets couldn’t keep the streak up, unfortunately, falling 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Pensburgh]/
There’s apparently a lot of clones in Wonderland — Dom Luszczyszyn take his model down the rabbit hole:
Would the Coyotes make the playoffs with Connor McDavid on their roster?
Would a team of only Dougie Hamiltons win the Stanley Cup?@domluszczyszyn answers these and more random questions about hypothetical things that will never happen ⤵️https://t.co/EdqfA2c9On
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) November 22, 2021
The New Jersey Devils have a new third JERSEY:
For the first time in the franchise’s history, New Jersey will have a different crest on the front. And a Devils icon played a big role.@THNRyanKennedy has the story behind the Devils’ New Jersey.https://t.co/hA8lmt5Ysl pic.twitter.com/BXlfJAc1H9
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) November 23, 2021
The New York Islanders have finally begun play in their new stadium, which is clearly not short on drinks:
The @NYIslanders new arena has 17 different bars, from a resurrected @Offside_Tavern to a party deck to an actual speakeasy (!).
So I watched their first game @UBSArena from all 17 bars, and present you with this photo essay: https://t.co/xKx3ooGkFE
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) November 22, 2021
With many statistics missing from women’s hockey, Mike Murphy has taken it upon himself to fill in the gaps:
.@DigDeepBSB: Counting the Women’s Hockey Game
Due to neglect and even acts of God, there was plenty missing when it came to historical stats for the women’s game. One man is doing his darndest to fill in the gaps, writes @JaredPDClinton: https://t.co/sOeOOizoNu
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) November 22, 2021