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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Overtime Blues

Why does Dallas struggle so much in overtime, and how can they fix it? Plus, the Stars’ confidence in a Denis Gurianov turnaround, the Buffalo Sabres actually win a game, and more.

The Dallas Stars are 2-10 in overtime this season, which is kind of impressive in a weird, depressing way. But how could a team with so much potential be so bad at 3-on-3 and the shootout?

Well for starters, the Stars are getting plenty of opportunities compared to their opponents in overtime. The problem is that they’re not always good scoring chances, and the team’s been failing to convert on those that are:

According to Natural Stat Trick, in 47:57 of overtime hockey, the Stars are about even in both shot attempts (trail 45-43) and shots on goal (trail 27-24), but have been outscored 5-1. That suggests some unluckiness — or the quality of shots are poor.

...By these metrics, the Stars opponents have had more than 60% of the quality looks during overtime, even as much as 78% if you subscribe to Natural Stat Trick’s high-danger chance model.

So how do the Stars get better opportunities? Matthew Defranks offers several tenants to focus on, such as causing more confusion in the neutral zone:

Many teams will begin their attack from their own zone in order to gain as much speed as possible, with the puck carrier and other players crisscrossing to mix up defensive assignments in man to man. Almost every team will switch assignments to the nearest man, but even the slightest confusion can give a sliver of time and space to end the game.

It’s how Klingberg got enough space to hit the post against Nashville, and how Benn was open enough to rip a one-timer against Tampa Bay. The Predators and Hurricanes also used this to open up a touch of space against the Stars.

You can read more about the Stars’ overtime struggles and possible solutions from Matt here.

Stars Stories

Denis Gurianov has been struggling lately, but the Stars have faith he can find his footing again:

The Stars have a new prospect after signing former University of North Dakota forward Jordan Kawaguchi to an ELC:

Want to test your Stars’ knowledge? Saad Yousuf has a quiz just for you:

Around the League

They’re not in the Central Division, but the Buffalo Sabres finally won a hockey game again with a 6-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, and that’s worth highlighting:

Thatcher Demko has inked a new deal 5x$5M extension with the Vancouver Canucks:

DownGoesBrown breaks down some rather obscure NHL rules that you’ve probably never heard of:

So, uhh, this happened last night:

Finally, Stan Bowman and Bill Guerin will be leading the way for the 2022 U.S. Olympic team:

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