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.
