Stars Lament Game One Loss in Detroit
May 12, 2008
Stars Lament Game One Loss in Detroit
Filed under: Dallas, Detroit, General NHL, Wings, Stars, Stanley Cup
Everyone who watched Game One of the Western Conference Finals Thursday night is keenly aware that the Detroit Red Wings basically skated circles around the Dallas Stars.
This isn’t a great surprise, but the Stars look at it as a lesson. For the first time in these playoffs, the Stars have failed to win a series opener. In dropping this one, they left little doubt that Detroit was the better team.
One thing was clear last night. Dallas can get back in this thing. They just have to start moving their feet.
“You can’t stand around and watch the puck,” said captain Brenden Morrow.
He’s right. The Stars were caught puck-watching last night, and they paid dearly for it. They took lazy penalties, they made bad decisions with the puck, and they didn’t generate any speed through the neutral zone.
Blame it on the San Jose series if you want, but you could also argue that Dallas looked tired.
Center Brad Richards said the Stars may have suffered from fatigue after an emotional, four-overtime win in Game 6 on Sunday night to close out the San Jose Sharks. “The speed of the game, in all areas, we were a little bit behind,” Richards said.
I still feel that a long series could work in Dallas’ favor, but it has to become a long series first. The Stars looked meek in their own zone last night, and they don’t have much on the sidelines they can call on. Rookie Matt Niskanen may be a better puck-mover, but he’s not moving Johan Franzen or Tomas Holmstrom from the front of the net. Neither is anyone else. Coach Dave Tippett has to find a way to deny them the puck in the tough areas, because keeping them out of those areas is a near-impossibility.
There will probably be some rumbling about the play of Dallas goaltender Marty Turco, who allowed four goals on 31 shots. He’s now 0-8-2 all-time at Joe Louis Arena, and that ain’t good. However, Tippett dismissed any potential demons surrounding this arena.
Comments
Got something to say?
