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Facing the league leading New York Rangers the Stars I expect to see every night finally arrived. The mistakes that were consistently present throughout the first 5 games were limited. The effort, previously missing, reappeared and the Stars won many of the puck battles. Perhaps more telling was the lack of turnovers that caused most of the problems.

This game did not look good after the opening minute. Loui Eriksson took a tripping penalty 25 seconds into the game and New York quickly scored on the ensuing power play. My first thought was here we go again. Although New York carried much of the play in the first period, the team seemed to respond much better than in the previous games. Morrow tied the game on a second period power play goal with rookie phenom Fabian Brunnstrom getting the primary assist. The ageless wonder that is Mike Modano netted his 87th game winning goal in the third period.

It appears as if the team is starting to gel and maybe this road trip is just what the doctor ordered. The next few days will tell. Which Stars personality will show up at game time, the confused and listless Stars of the previous 5 games or the cohesive unit fighting each shift for every inch of ice?

Two games into the season and memories of last year come flooding back. Over the offseason it must have slipped my mind. I can clearly recall watching games last season and knowing in the first 10 minutes if the Stars were going to win.

I have seen every single Stars game for the last four years - no kidding - thank God for Tivo. After watching somewhere around 350 games, I can quickly spot the bad games. During the player interviews this season several players have said “We just need to work harder.” Although this seems cliche, they are telling the truth. Quite simply the Stars win games when they outwork the opposition. They win the one on one battles, they forecheck with more tenacity and they pay the price physically.

Through the first two games I have already seen the trend continue. During the first 19 minutes of period 2 against the Blue Jackets (Game One) the Stars outshot Columbus 15 to 0. The Stars completely imposed their will on the Blue Jackets. In the other 6 periods (counting overtime) of hockey this season the same effort level simply was not there. Without the effort the Stars don’t get the result they want.

Although it is a certainly a little discouraging to see the Stars drop the first two games, all is not lost. In the first game, 2 or 3 of the goals against were fluky situations where a puck went in off a skate or something similar.

It also appears that the team chemistry is not quite right yet. The passes were off by a step, sure handed players were not catching pucks cleanly and other small details seem to point to typical early season woes.

On the plus side our young defensemen look comfortable and at times dominating. Trevor Daly seems to have turned the corner during last years’ playoffs. He has scored two goals in two games and looks more confident than ever before. James Neal has also been very impressive.

In the end it must be considered that both the season and our team are very young. I still believe this team is capable of winning the Cup this year. Now if only they would start playing like it.