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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Special Teams For The Win

The Stars shone whether a man up or a man down, and it was key to last night’s victory. Plus, Anton Khudobin meets the moment, constructing a COVID-safe regular season, and more.

Are the high-event Dallas Stars really back, for real? With another five-goal game, and a second consecutive Round 2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche, fans are daring to dream it.

Special teams wrote the Stars’ story last night – and after spotting the Avs nine power plays and another two-goal lead, they had their work cut out for them. But somehow, they found a way, as Stars senior staff writer Mike Heika writes:

The 5-2 victory was special for the fact that Dallas found a way to come back once again from an early deficit. It was special in that the Stars’ power play fueled the comeback with two huge goals from Joe Pavelski and Radek Faksa. It was special in that the Stars’ leaky penalty kill bowed up and closed out the game by squashing the last five penalties the Avalanche enjoyed.

“We’re not going to dictate the tempo of the game for 60 minutes,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We just had to settle down and we had to get back to playing our game, and we did.”

And when you discount the possibility that the Stars are simply the Avs’ Kryptonite  – and we’re not saying they’re not – you also see the impact of every player stepping up when he’s needed:

“The specialty teams took a lot of the flow out of the game, but you’ve got to survive that,” Bowness said of his team’s adjustments. “Give them credit, they came hard, Dobby gave us a chance to get our legs back, and we did. The playoffs, it’s all about second effort. To see Blake Comeau making a block late in the game, and then you see Esa there. Pure effort. Good for Esa.”

And good for the Stars, who seem to be finding a new hero each night.

There’s more at Mike’s place. [Dallas Stars]

Stars Stuff

Here is your reminder that Anton Khudobin made 38 saves last night.

Dobby and The Eagle sounds like some kind of YA novel, but I assure you it is not.

What can you really do after you score four goals in one period and win 5-2? Well, you send out Captain America and at least one other Avenger, for a start.

The only thing that could make this video better is if the Stars’ social team had used an actual bleep censor.

If you’re looking for a little of that arena atmosphere, the Hangar may have something relevant to your interests.

The Stars-Avs rivalry is boiling over, and Sportstoons is feeling savage right now.

Around The League(s)

Just a reminder that it’s not about the Stars being good but about the Avs underperforming. That’s it. It has to be.

The New York Islanders came out fighting last night and opened Round 2 with a 4-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Agonizing Reassessment is well underway for the eliminated teams, as well as those who didn’t make the dance. Here’s what the future might hold for some of them.

The playoffs bubbles are working so far. Could that format extend into the regular season? Bill Daly discusses the issues with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.

Finally

This is Dobby saying no. May it ever continue. Enjoy.

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