For just the seventh time this year, the Stars lost in regulation, falling 6-3 to the Blue Jackets. The final score wasn’t the only bad news of the night, as Ales Hemsky left the game with a lower-body injury and will be out a while, according to Lindy Ruff.
Mike Heika walks us through where the Stars went wrong, and both Ruff and Jamie Benn discussed the Stars’ struggles when facing struggling teams.
“Obviously, we haven’t defended well against weaker teams,” said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. “That’s on my shoulders. That’s something I have to correct.”
Captain Jamie Benn added: “For some reason we think we can come in against these weaker teams and outscore them, but it’s not how it works in this league. You’ve got to play good team defense…that one’s on me, I’ll take the blame for that, not getting these guys ready.”
The effort was, Heika says, a stark contrast to the team that beat the Blues Sunday.
It was a total crash from 4-0-1 run sandwiched around Christmas. That stretch was completed Sunday when Lehtonen pitched a shutout in a 3-0 win over St. Louis, but the big goalie continues to battle inconsistency.
He is 12-3-0 on the season, but he also has been pulled four times in total.
For more on the game, head to the link. [SportsDayDFW]
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Just in case you’re not done digesting last night’s lost, Razor shares his thoughts on the game.
Those watching the loss last night caught a brief preview of this, but be sure to tune in to FSSW on Jan. 4.
.@FOXSportsSW to air ‘Playing For Pevs’ on Monday, January 4 at 7PM CT. READ:https://t.co/HKDjXPdxAC pic.twitter.com/PfLzkWwej3
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 29, 2015
GM Jim Nill joined the Ticket crew to chat about bringing Antti Niemi to town and what he thinks of “one of the best players in the world,” AKA Jamie Benn. [SportsDayDFW]
Elliotte Friedman has 30 new thoughts for us, one of which includes a note about Tyler Seguin. Among the 10 players with the highest power play point totals over the last two seasons, Seguin ranks 10th when looking at the percentage of overall points scored with the man advantage (43 of 124 points). [Sportsnet]
Things didn’t settle down in the Central after the final whistle in Columbus…
- It was a high-scoring affair in the desert, as the Blackhawks beat the Coyotes 7-5. [Chicago Sun-Times]
- The Predators rallied to send their game against the Blues to OT, but St. Louis eventually prevailed 4-3. [St. Louis Post Dispatch]
- The Jets handed the Red Wings a 4-1 loss thanks to two goals from Jacob Trouba. [Detroit Free Press]
Of all the new things that happened in 2015, here are the seven most influential—including the Stars’ decision to use a two-goalie system. [ESPN]
Keeping in theme with looking back at the past year, check out the top 10 trades of 2015. Y’all get once guess on which newly minted Star makes the list. [The Hockey News]
NESN reports that Brad Marchand will be hearing from the DoPS following this hit.
You know that whole “rookie wall” idea? Well, forget what you’ve heard, because it doesn’t exist. [SI]
A panel made up of six former players, coaches, and GMs shared what they would do if they were each in charge of the draft for an Original Six team. Unsurprisingly, a few familiar faces pop up early in their mock draft. [USA Today]
Although the Stars have had recent success on their back-to-backs, TSN’s Travis Yost takes a look at whether tired teams take more penalties. (Spoiler alert: They do.) [TSN]
Just in case anyone was thinking about taking a slap shot to the face, here’s Gabriel Landeskog to remind you to duck.
Gabe Landeskog’s face today after 6-3 win at SJS #Avs pic.twitter.com/fZ9gfwZwBS
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) December 29, 2015
If you missed any of the World Juniors on Tuesday, first see what Derek had to say, then head over to the link for more important takeaways. [NHL]
The Flyers placed former first-round pick Sam Gagner on waivers yesterday. [Philly.com]
And finally, the Winter Classic is just around the corner, and you can see how it’s all coming together.