Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News reports today from Winnipeg that the Dallas Stars backup goaltender Richard Bachman will start against the Jets Wednesday night. (7:30pm Fox Sports Southwest).
The 24 year old rookie is 8-3-1 this year with a .917 save percentage and a 2.54 GAA. His real calling card, however, is his reputation on the road and Glen Gulutzan has opted to put that to the test again in a tough back to back situation so Kari Lehtonen can get the rest he needs leading up to a huge, huge game against Chicago on Friday.
Bachman has wins on the road in Los Angeles, at Madison Square Garden (a 1-0 shutout of the Rangers), in Long Island, in Vancouver, and in Chicago. The quickly famous Jets crowd and atmosphere will be perhaps his sternest test yet with the club having played last night.
Two other quick notes this afternoon on the waning Dallas Stars offense and the play of Adam Pardy…
There’s been a little concern expressed that the Stars are in a bit of a goal drought, despite the continuation of the streak. With the exception of the empty netter Saturday, they’ve managed just one goal in each of their two games, both from Morrow and Jamie Benn. The Ribeiro line has gone quiet.
Don’t fret too much, however, because by our count they out-chanced those teams by a healthy margin. Dallas out-chanced the Ducks 17-11 and the Wild 14-7 last night. 31-18 total over a bit of a drought. If they keep doing that the offense will return.
Second note: Adam Pardy time had people worried when Sheldon Souray went down with a lower body injury, and the Stars have played some pretty mediocre competition since, yes, but he’s impressed so far.
He played 15:14 last night and was on the ice for eight Dallas Stars scoring chances at even strength and only one against. Together with Trevor Daley the two have had a limited, but strong run of things at even strength so far, as I’m sure Josh will detail in scoring chances coming up.
His exposure seems to be largely a function of how many special teams a game has to offer, as he plays none. He played just 12:57 against Anaheim Saturday, but did so in the exact same number of shifts (19) as he had in Minnesota. As much faith as Mark Fistric and Adam Pardy have had placed in them, however, the two have seen their partners Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley on the ice together to close out both of these tight games in the final seconds.