This week’s ups & downs after the jump. Agree or disagree on any? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
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Richard BACHMAN 1 GP, 0-1-1, 5 GA, 0.865 SV%, |
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| Comments: Starting the second night of a back-to-back set in California, the team still has not won on the second half of those situations. Not all of the goals were on Bachman, as San Jose simply outworked, outpositioned, and outfought the Stars that night. | |||
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Jamie BENN |
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| Comments: Jamie Benn looks dangerous every time he’s on the ice, as do the people he’s playing with. Best player for the Stars in the last week no doubt. | |||
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Adam BURISH |
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| Comments: The Ducks definitely have Burish’s number on the faceoff circle, but he’s been outstanding on the dot in the other three games this past week. Seems to be all over the ice lately, and is creating some chances by being right in front of the net. | |||
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Trevor DALEY |
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| Comments: Still without a goal in 2012, and with only two assists recorded so far, Daley is on a 12 game pointless streak while seeing time on the first powerplay unit. | |||
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Jake DOWELL |
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| Comments: Had played a decent game, but after some turnover issues in his second game saw his ice time get taken by Tobey Petersen on the fourth line. | |||
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Radek DVORAK |
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| Comments: Still looking for a goal since he last one over 25 games ago. While his penalty kill time is productive, and he’s not getting scorched defensively too much, his scoreless streak officially puts him in the slumping category. | |||
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Loui ERIKSSON |
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| Comments: Eriksson has been a little bit invisible these last several games on the ice, and his usual tight defensive game hasn’t been as prevalent. The goal scoring slump of his has hit seven games now, so he’s on a bit of a skid in that department too. | |||
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Vernon FIDDLER |
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| Comments: Struggling a bit on faceoffs this past week, and got a goal in the goal-fest game against the Anaheim Ducks. Solid penalty killing from Fiddler this week as well. | |||
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Mark FISTRIC |
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| Comments: With Grossman being out with the flu, I thought he played a pretty solid game paired up with Alex Goligoski and playing over 20 minutes against Anaheim. When everyone on D is healthy, however, he’s often left as odd man out along with Adam Pardy. His healthy scratch status is surprising to many fans that wonder why the big guy that shows mastery of the art of the hipcheck is being sat in favor of other defensemen that seem to be struggling at times recently. | |||
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Alex GOLIGOSKI |
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| Comments: Scoring some offense from the blueline, and some of those points coming on the powerplay, is a bright spot this week from Goligoski. Arguably the best defensemen for the team this past week. | |||
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Nicklas GROSSMAN |
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| Comments: That pass directly to San Jose Sharks‘ tape for a goal was brutal. Not a good week for the big defensive defensemen. | |||
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Philip LARSEN |
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| Comments: The assists are coming for the young Dane, even if he’s been getting scored on a bit on defensive assignments. Showing some movement on the powerplay, which is something that has been lacking at times this season for the Stars in those situations. | |||
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Kari LEHTONEN |
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| Comments: MVP of the week, hands down. Back to early season form, Lehtonen is keeping the Stars in it night after night and giving them the chances to win. If only he could get a bit of goal scoring support in front of him. | |||
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Brenden MORROW |
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| Comments: Neck and upper body injuries continue to plague the captain, and he was put on IR. Here’s hoping he gets healed up enough to return and give the team an added boost down the stretch. | |||
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Eric NYSTROM |
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| Comments: With Morrow on IR, Nystrom has been moved up to play on the second line. It will be interesting to see what he can do with added minutes and harder defensive matchups. So far, it hasn’t been bad – but he’s not lighting it up on the scoresheet with Ribeiro as his center either. A few more games together may change that. | |||
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Steve OTT |
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| Comments: Managing to walk the fine line between being a pest on the ice without getting penalized too heavily for it recently, and found the score sheet at a point-a-game pace last week. | |||
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Adam PARDY |
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| Comments: Has not played in a game since January 10, 2012 (still.) Was sent to the Texas Stars for a conditioning stint this week. In the first game on his conditioning assignment, scored an assist and was even in the Texas Stars’ 4-3 overtime loss. That was good for second best +/- on the D corps, with Jordie Benn at +1 and Brenden Dillon at even with the rest of the defense with minuses on the night. | |||
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Toby PETERSEN |
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| Comments: Played in his first game since January 21 in the losing effort last night and had less than six minutes TOI. | |||
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Mike RIBEIRO |
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| Comments: Has found the scoresheet in recent games but so has the opposition when he’s on the ice. Finished all four games at a -1 on the night. Powerplay unit has started to show a bit more movement of the puck with Ribeiro mainly at the half wall, it will be interesting to see how many more powerplay tallies Ribeiro can put up. | |||
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Stephane ROBIDAS |
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| Comments: Seeing increased time on special teams recently, both on the powerplay and the penalty kill. Rewarded with a powerplay goal. The two games he managed 2+ shots on goals were the two wins of the week for the Stars. Coincidence? | |||
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Michael RYDER |
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| Comments: Ryder has been very shot happy, recording 14 shots on goal over the past week. He scored two goals in that span. He’s had 11 games this season where he’s had four or more shots, and in those he’s scored 10 total goals. | |||
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Sheldon SOURAY |
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| Comments: Managed six shots on goal, his most in the 10 games prior to that. Scoring from the blueline is always nice and his defensive work has been solid this week. | |||
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Tomas VINCOUR |
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| Comments: Was sent back to the Texas Stars during the All-Star break, and was promptly called back up when captain Morrow went on the IR. Playing mostly fourth line minutes, coach Gulutzan tried him out on one of the powerplay units last night. They didn’t score, but that was probably the most movement seen on a Stars powerplay unit in a good long while. | |||
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Tom WANDELL |
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| Comments: Much like Vincour, seeing mostly 4th line minutes. Has been one of the most consistent faces on the fourth line after having been scratched earlier in the season. | |||