The Final Period - Game 6

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NHL - Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

We’re down to the wire now.  Detroit lead the game 2-1 going into the second break, but the Penguins have momentum after Malkin scored on the powerplay. 

Brian Rafalski and Valtteri Filppula both scored for Detroit.

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Ribeiro Shines as Stars Losing Streak Ends

Losing 8 of the last 9 games is never a good thing, especially in the month of March.  That’s exactly the position the Dallas Stars were in going into todays battle with division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. Fresh in the minds of the Stars was the devastating and embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Kings last week.  In that game, the Stars led 2-1 right up to the last minutes, and then went on to give up 3 quick goals. Also fresh in their minds was the knowledge that with just 5 games left in the season, more losses could easily mean not making the playoffs.

After a few minutes and a goal by Dallman to put the Kings up 1-0 it looked as those this game could end up like other recent ones.  That, fortunately for the Stars was not the case, and this was the closest the Kings ever got to competing with the Stars.  At the 13th minute point, Stars defenseman Stephan Robidas tied the game, taking the 1-1 score to the first break.

During the second and third periods the Stars shone bright.  The second period saw 4 goals by the Stars, including goals by Stu Barnes, Brenden Morrow and a duo by Loui Eriksson.  The third perid blasted away with Jere Lehtinen, and then Niklas Hagman net a goal each.  Kings forward Michael Cammalleri slipped one past Turco in the closing minutes, but the damage was already done.

“This is something to build on, and we need more of the same. We’re in a lockdown mode,” goaltender Marty Turco said. “The beauty of the whole game was not the score, but how the game went down—just the relentlessness of every period and every facet of the game. It’s great to see. But that’s what we expect, really. Today was a great example of what we need to do every shift from now on.”
- Yahoo! Sports

The Stars ended the game with a very convincing 7-2 victory, with 3 points games from Mike Ribeiro (3A) and Stephan Robidas (1G 2A) and go into tomorrows game against division rivals the Anaheim Ducks brimming with confidence.

* Photo courtesy of Dallas Stars 

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Dallas Stars in a Serious Slump

Normally a team others look up for strong defensive play, a never say die attitude and gritty, hard hitting forechecking, the Dallas Stars of late have not fit the bill.  In fact over recent games the Stars, who have gone 3-7-0 in their last 10 games are in a major slump, and have chosen the worse possible time to do it.

All teams go through slumps though, and in the NHL these days a slump means very little in the big scheme of things.  The Detroit Red Wings, who lead the entire league in points went through a slump very similar to the one the Stars are in, and went on to a hot streak soon after.  The San Jose Sharks had a slump before going on their current hot streak.

For the Stars then, it’s surely only a matter of time before the team gains back its confidence and gets back on track.   Stars Captain Brenden Morrow spoke of confidence recently…

“That’s probably one way to describe it,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “I think confidence is an attitude you have. We’ve had it at times, but right now we don’t, and it’s going to take more than just one game to get it back. It’s going to take a handful of games where you get ugly, where you dig in, and where you earn your bounces. That’s the way we have to look at this, we have to look at it that we have a lot of work to do.”
- Mike Heika, Dallas Morning News

The Stars face the San Jose Sharks later this week, and hope to break their slump in California.  Word is BJ Crombeen has been called up from the minors, so maybe look to see a cold-streak winger be a healthy scratch during the upcoming games.

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West Heating Up

Going into the All Star break this year many people you could have been forgiven for assuming the Red Wings were guaranteed to take out the conference at the end of the regular season.

Who would have thought that the Red Wings, who dominated the season to that point in the competition would come out of the break looking like another, far less impressive team.

At the point of the All Star break, the Red Wings had a 17 point lead over the closest competitor. After todays loss to the Dallas Stars, their 6th loss in a row, that lead has been cut to just 8 points.

If the Red Wings are not scared yet, they should be. The Dallas Stars are on a roll and have their sights set on that top spot. 6 points behind Dallas are the defending champions, the Anaheim Ducks, who have yet to see the success they expected after the return of Scott Neidermayer and Teemu Selanne.

The west is a hot spot, and in the battle for the top 8 spots, there are in fact 12 teams still battling it out with realistic chances of making the top 8.

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