Can you imagine the scene in the Dallas Stars‘ locker room after last night’s first period? What in the world did Lindy Ruff say to help spark the turnaround that followed?
Jamie Benn and Ruff himself give us a few clues:
“There were a lot of things said, most of it not so good,” Jamie Benn said. “We talked as a group. We believe in each other.”
…
“We knew their desperation would be good,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “We weren’t able to match it in the first period. It’s a good lesson for us. We didn’t compete, didn’t win enough battles, and they turned the tide pretty quick on us.”
Bruce Boudreau also had reason to be unhappy with his team and was pretty blunt about it:
“Today was the first day we found a way to lose,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We had the lead. The other games, we’ve been behind but we found a way to lose. I don’t know if that happened to us last year.”
…
“Well, you can call it what you want. It’s demoralizing,” he said. “We have a 3-0 lead and you should not lose a game like that. We can sugarcoat it and say it’s ran out of gas or whatever, but these guys are professional athletes. There should be no such thing as running out of gas.”
Read the whole thing here. [Dallas Stars]
*****
Yes, there were “heated words” in the Stars’ locker room during the first intermission last night. They worked, says Mike Heika. Here’s his recap. [SportsDayDFW]
Heika also had a nice talk with Shawn Horcoff, who returned to Dallas for the first time as a Duck last night (and scored Anaheim’s second goal). [SportsDayDFW]
Do you want to rewatch Patrick Sharp‘s first goal as a Star? Of course you do. You’re welcome.
How about Cody Eakin and the Benn brothers starring in the sweet short-handed snipe that brought the Stars within one?
And here’s First Star of the Night Antoine Roussel in the post-game interviews, sporting The Hat of Achieving:
The @NHL has your non-fancy stat for the day:
After a 3-assist night, reigning Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Benn’s 15 points make him the new League-leader. pic.twitter.com/c9wgwvvEtX
— NHL (@NHL) October 28, 2015
And the Stars shared some analysis of the team’s great start to the season:
ICYMI: @joshbogorad and @mikeheika break down the #Stars‘ early success. https://t.co/K45CAVFATS
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 27, 2015
Did you realize that there was hockey going on elsewhere last night? For instance, the Vancouver Canucks met the Montreal Canadiens and went, “Nice winning streak you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it.” [CBC]
Elsewhere, Tuukka Rask found his mojo against the exhausted Arizona Coyotes, and the Boston Bruins won their first home game of the season. [CSNNE]
There are so many lower-body injuries in the NHL right now. Let me sum up:
- Jaromir Jagr left last night’s Panthers–Avalanche game with his injury. [Puck Daddy]
- Dan Hamhuis didn’t get to help the Canucks stop the Canadiens due to his. [CBS Sports]
- Connor Murphy couldn’t join the Coyotes against the Bruins because of lower-body injury. (Talk to your doctor about lower-body injury.) [Rotowire]
- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got his injury during last night’s Flyers–Sabres contest. [Philadelphia Flyers]
- The Ducks are without captain Ryan Getzlaf for up to 12 days after an emergency appendectomy (it’s a lower-body injury in the broadest technical sense). [NHL]
IT’S HALLOWEEN YOU GUYS Part Continued: The Canadiens sent Brendan Gallagher and Nathan Beaulieu to a haunted house, and this is what happened.
.@BGALLY17 & @natebeaulieu spooked in a haunted house is very Blair Witch Project. WATCH: https://t.co/bdm5EBkQFs pic.twitter.com/Di0xSQ8J1v
— BarDown (@BarDown) October 28, 2015
Meanwhile, a Rooster fan shares this news. #HockeyFightsCancer for real, y’all!
Roussel signed my moms jersey and she’s been cancer free ever since. Coincidence? #HockeyFightsCancer @DallasStars pic.twitter.com/2cZqXDXfFg
— Jacob W (@W99Jacob) October 23, 2015
Finally: Everyone could use a little P.K. Subban in their week. Vice Sports has obliged with a P.K. featurette that is, predictably, both hilarious and heartwarming. Enjoy.