John Klingberg had a bit of a rough (for him) game last night, as you may have noticed. Part of it may have had something to do with playing over 26 minutes, although Ryan Suter and his 32(!) minutes of ice time will tell you to stop complaining. Ales Hemsky, of course, might chime in and say, “What good is 32 minutes of ice time from a dance partner like that?” Hemsky, you crack me up, man.
In any case, we all knew that Klingberg was going to have his ups and downs this year, because that it what happens to every player. Klingberg loves to score goals, though, and even though he also knew the points streak wasn’t going to last, he does admit to an affinity for goal-scoring that took a back seat after he fell behind some of his peers in size:
It could have turned out differently for the 22-year old Klingberg. He’s putting up points like a forward, and had it not been for a decision made when he was 15, he could have found himself still playing up front.
“It was my own decision. I always wanted to score the goals when I was a kid,” he said. “I started growing pretty late, so I kind of lost a little bit of my good game when I was a kid. Then I had a coach, and my dad and grandfather said ‘maybe you should play D, I think that’s a better spot for you. You can see the ice and I think you can be pretty good at that.’ So I just tried it a couple of games. That’s maybe why I’m so offensive because I always played forward before.” [Puck Daddy]
Hard to feel too bad for Berger’s positional change considering how desperately the Stars have needed a defenseman like him this year. And hey, he’s still scoring more than a lot of our forwards anyway, so everybody wins! Except the Stars, too many times this year so far.
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Saturday is the final “real” day of vacation. Make sure you relish it before you head back home. Or before you spend Sunday kicking everyone out of your home and cleaning up after them. Also, did you remember to get your BCBS yesterday?
How did the game go last night? Well, the Stars controlled most of the play for the final two periods+, except for those five times when they didn’t really do that. [War on Ice]
Before this 5-game homestand, a lot of people (and I) were thinking that the Stars needed at least seven points out of it. They got seven points out of it, although it’s hard not to look at Carolina and those last two minutes against Minnesota and get greedy. Could’ve had all ten, but they did not. [Stars]
And Ales Hemsky says his goal “doesn’t matter” in light of the loss. Well, I mean, loser points though. But I get it. [DMN]
Tyler Seguin’s scoring pace is actually every bit as impressive as it seems. [TSN]
And while it’s not really “early” any more, it’s also not too late for Dallas to jump back into the mix. Let’s hope December brings presents that are actually just lots of points instead of dollar store candy bars. [NHL Standings]
The Stars showed up all over this ranking of almost all the black jerseys in the NHL. I really did love those first Dallas ones ever so much. [Puck Daddy]
The St. Louis Blues are looking for a rebound goalie after Brian Elliott’s recent injury woes, and guess who is now trying out for them? Marty, Marty, Marty. (The bad Marty, not the fun Marty.) [Twitter]
Last night, there were a few really spectacular highlights. First, Cam Ward pulled off a pretty slick stick stop. [NHL Video]
Then Frederik Andersen reached out to make a beautiful save on Marian Hossa. It was so incredible that Hossa tossed his stick over his shoulder after the play, said the Ducks‘ Ahlers and Hayward, ignoring that Hossa’s stick had been broken. Yes, it’s still hilarious, but these guys just drive me bonkers with their commentary so I wanted to be all grumpypants in mentioning this. What a save, though. [NHL Video]
And Tyler Ennis finally did beat a goaltender, but he had to use a move like this to do it. I do not believe it is possible to elevate a backhand like this. He must have Photoshopped this goal. [NHL Video]
Hey, speaking of how classy the Ducks are, what did Corey Perry do last night? Oh, this. [CBS Sports]
Zemgus Girgensons is getting a lot of votes thrown his way, and it’s probably because he’s scored some points while playing in Buffalo, leading most people to conclude that he would score 80 goals if he played in Pittsburgh (and thus, got to play Buffalo sixty times a year). This isn’t Vote for Rory, because Girgensons is actually pretty decent, and plus his teammates aren’t wearing custom shirts yet (that I know of). [THN]
Finally, check out this great 22-minute mini-documentary on Alexander Mogilny’s defection from the Soviet Union in 1989. I’ll always remember Mogilny as being “that really fast guy” on NHL ’94. This is really worthwhile. It auto-plays, just so you’re aware. [SportsNet]
Oh, okay: really finally, here’s Hemsky’s goal, because it is great: