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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Special Teams on Fire

Posted on by Tyler Mair

The Dallas Stars are off to a strong start in 2021, winning both of their games against the Nashville Predators. That’s mostly thanks to a lethal power play, which head coach Rick Bowness couldn’t be happier about:

“They are snapping it around,” Bowness said. “Right now, they are feeling it. They are making great plays — clearly — and the puck is going in, which is certainly beneficial. Right now, you can just feel the confidence that they have. They are moving for each other.”

The penalty kill has also been solid, allowing only one goal in nine kills thus far. The Stars have put an emphasis on special teams ever since the playoff bubble last summer, and the results are paying off dividends:

“We did put time in, both in video sessions and then on the ice. Because going into this shortened season, we knew if we wanted to get off to a good start, the specialty teams needed to be where we need them to be. And fortunately, so far, both of them have done a great job for us.”

You can read more from Mike Heika here.

Stars Stories

Miss the game? Here are the highlights from last night’s win:

Saad Yousuf breaks the game down in his latest 20/20:

Around the League

It was a fairly quiet Sunday in the Central — the only other game was a 6-2 drubbing of the Detroit Red Wings, courtesy of the Chicago Blackhawks:

The biggest news of the weekend was when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets solved each other’s problem, swapping Pierre-Luc Dubois and Patrik Laine:

Of course, you can’t have a blockbuster (or any trade, really) without trying to figure out who “won”:

Seems a bit weird in contrast to last night’s loss, but the Detroit Red Wings have looked much better this season:

Finally, Corey Pronman gives his annual retrospective on prospects he misevaluated:

Talking Points