We won’t individually document every one of Valeri Nichushkin’s goals in his rookie campaign with the Dallas Stars, but gosh darn-it, we’re still a little taken with the franchise’s first legit 18 year-old talent in decades that we’ll carry on with it for at least a little while.
In Vancouver Sunday night Nichushkin got the Stars on the board first by performing the simplest of tasks, yet one that eludes so many: Going to the net with one’s stick on the ice.
If he can open himself up while Benn and Seguin perform their matchup then this will be a long and fruitful relationship. Here are the moving pictures…
The young man now has six points in his last seven games and is a +9 in that stretch- Good numbers for 18 year-olds and 28 year-olds alike.
His goal was text-book tonight and his upside is more and more evident as things progress, but it’s still a process and we saw that play out in the latter stages of the game. He was throwing the puck into dangerous areas, or sometimes just flat out throwing it to the other team, and Lindy Ruff couldn’t have it down the stretch.
Good on Ruff to put Garbutt in his place as the game waned and good on Val and Ruff both to communicate about it on the bench, as the broadcast caught. Taking the good and minimizing opportunities for the not-so-good is a balancing act, and it looks like both parties are willing.
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