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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Get The Puck, Protect The Puck, Keep The Puck

Jim Montgomery is stressing puck control, which is music to Stars’ fans ears. Plus, playoff action, licking drama, and more!

Happy Saturday, my friends. Jim Montgomery was introduced as the Dallas Stars new head coach yesterday, and boy, I don’t think I could be more pleased with how he described his style of play:

“Our whole team identity is based on puck pressure and puck possession,” Montgomery told USA Hockey’s official website. “We practice that way and we play that way.”

What a welcome reprieve. Another encouraging sign is that he doesn’t seem to hate distrust younger or smaller in stature players. In fact, he seems to be adept at getting them to improve:

And as a coach, he has a good track record of developing players. Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau and Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons played under him in the USHL. Among his players at the University of Denver were New Jersey defenseman Will Butcher and Boston forward Danton Heinen along with Anaheim center prospect Troy Terry and Florida center prospect Henrik Borgstrom.

I know, I know, it’s only May and the proof will be in the pudding once next season gets going. That being said, Montgomery really pushed some good buttons at his presser yesterday. See more from Mark at the usual spot. [NHL]

The Stars

Here’s a shortened version of yesterday’s event:

Sean Shapiro writes about how the Stars hope yesterday was the start of a new era:

It was all smiles at Montgomery’s introductory press conference:

Monty has a message for you:

Just to reiterate, I really like the sound of this:

Razor gets down and dirty with Monty:

Don’t worry, there is a non-coaching hire article as well:

Everyone Else

Playoff update:

  • Dan Girardi scored 3:18 into overtime to silence the Boston Bruins crowd and give the Tampa Bay Lightning a commanding 3-1 series lead heading back to Tampa for Game 5. [NHL]
  • The Vegas Golden Knights seemed to have this one firmly in control when they built a four goal lead, but the San Jose Sharks made things interesting with three quick goals in the third. They couldn’t complete the comeback, however, and Vegas added an empty netter to win 5-3 and go up three games to two in the series. Side note: Does anyone else get confused and think of José Théodore whenever they mention Shea Theodore? [NHL]/

I can see both sides of this argument. On the one hand, head injuries are bad. On the other, this would result in a ton of penalties:

Brad Marchand, complete weirdo. It’s like when JR Smith kept untying people’s shoes in the NBA, except way crazier. Also, the jokes on hockey Twitter were coming fast and furious after this happened, but they were all pretty weak:

Before that happened, Greg Wyshynski dropped a very Bill Simmons-esque article yesterday:

If these playoffs aren’t entertaining enough for you (or you can’t stand certain announcers/future Central Division GM’s who seemingly call every.single.game), have I got a game for you:

Texas Stars Things

A debut in the playoffs? Oops!:

Familiar face Remi Elie put the Stars up 1-0:

Familiar face part deux — Curtis Mckenzie tipped one in for a 2-0 lead:

Familiarity does, in fact, breed contempt:

Mike McKenna saved the game for Texas with this — save and preserved the win for the Stars.  Shout out to Sean Shapiro for providing the video of these highlights last night:

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