Anaheim on the edge of elimination

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A week ago who would have thought that the Anaheim Ducks would be on the edge of playoff elimination in game 5 against the Dallas Stars.  All but die-hard Dallas Fans appeared to have that much confidence in this Stars team, but they went out and they battled hard.

And today, in less than 12hrs time the Dallas Stars stand on the edge of 2 major milestones; elimination the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks from the playoffs, and more importantly making it past a first round.

Although the Stars share their victories and defeats equally, netminder Marty Turco needs this more than ever.  Turco has been the brunt of the public backlash over the last fews seasons, even last year when he posted 3 shutouts in a 7 game series against Vancouver, which the Stars eventually lost in.

“Tonight I felt really good,” said Turco, who made 28 saves. “I had an opportunity to see all the shots that came my way. There were some anxious, scrambly moments in the second period. But the guys were doing all they could to help me.”
- Yahoo! Sports

The Stars have momentum and a “knowledge” that they can win.  Now, they just have to go out there and take it.

Tags: Anaheim, backlash, brunt, confidence, Dallas, edge, Elimination, Game, hockey, marty turco, momentum, netminder, opportunity, period, playoff, Round, Series, share, Stanley Cup, Stars, Team, time, tonight, Vancouver, way, yahoo, year

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 

Tags: Anaheim, beauty, break, Brenden, Cammalleri, case, closing, confidence, Courtesy, Dallas, Dallman, defenseman, Division, duo, Eriksson, example, facet, Fresh, Game, goal, goaltender, Hagman, Jere, knowledge, Lehtinen, lockdown, Losing, loss, Loui, March, Michael, Mike Ribeiro, minute, mode, month, Morrow, Niklas, perid, period, Photo, point, position, score, season, shift, shone, something, Stars, Stephan Robidas, Stu Barnes, today, victory, week, yahoo

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.

Tags: A., back, break, Brenden, call, cap, captain, check, checking, com, confidence, Dallas, dallas stars, Detroit, detroit red wings, fact, Game, games, hockey, lead, league, look, Matt, May, Mike, NHL, Other, point, recent games, Red, right, row, San Jose, san jose sharks, Sharks, slump, Star, Stars, streak, Team, teams, th, THIS, Tim, time, track, way, Wee, week, win, winger, Wings, word

Red Wings Grab 1st Playoff Spot

Pavel Datsyuk and the red hot Detroit Red Wings clinched the first playoff spot today by defeating Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The win gives the Red Wings 100 points on the season, and gives them the win in their Division, and a guaranteed playoff spot.

The Dallas Stars looked good early on, pushing the lead out to 3-1 at one stage with goals from Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow.  Datsyuk scored with just under 4 minutes left in the 2nd period taking the Red Wings to the 2nd intermission only 1 goal down and boosted with confidence.

Datsyuk took just 34 seconds into the third period to score again bringing the score to 3-3.  Mikael Samuelsson deflated the Stars hopes just 25 seconds later when he also found the back of the net.  The Stars never recovered, and in the closing minutes Valtteri Filppula scored an empty netter to seal the victory.

“The first goal was a bad goal and the second, we didn’t check very well,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “Once you give up two quick goals to start a period, it’s hard to get the momentum back.”
- Yahoo! Sports

The challenge for the Detroit Red Wings now will be to maintain momentum through the final10 or so games of the season.

Tags: back, Brenden, Challenge, check, closing, coach, confidence, Dallas, Dave Tippett, Detroit, didn, Division, Filppula, goal, Grab, hockey, intermission, Jere, Joe Louis Arena, lead, Lehtinen, marty turco, Mikael Samuelsson, momentum, Morrow, Net, netter, pavel datsyuk, period, playoff, Red, score, season, spot, stage, Stars, today, Valtteri, victory, win, Wings, yahoo

Is There More To Forsberg Not Returning?

We finally have an end to the ongoing Peter Forsberg saga.

Today it was announced by Forsberg’s agent, Don Baizley, that Forsberg has chosen not to return to the NHL this season, due to him not having enough confidence that his ankle / foot injuries are up to NHL standards.

To quote Yahoo Sports;

His agent, Don Baizley, told teams Forsberg did not have enough confidence in the strength of his surgically repaired right foot to play this season.

“He’s been hopeful that he would get the level of confidence that he needed, but he can’t,” Baizley said by phone. “I don’t know how close or how far away he feels. He was hopeful up until this weekend that he would be able to do it.”
- Yahoo Sports

As one who never shy’s away from controversy, i have to ask the question; is this the real reason Forsberg has chosen not to return to the NHL?

Numerous news sources have reported that there was a big race on to sign Forsberg, and that at least 8 different teams were trying to get him signed.  Dallas, Detroit, Calgary, Ottawa, Colorado, Philadelphia & Nashville to name just a few.

We know that Forsberg turned down offers from Dallas and Nashville recently, the reason is rumoured to be that they did not offer enough money.  In fact, sources claim that Forsberg, who is a high-risk injury player was asking for $5 million for next year and $2 million for the remainder of this year.  In the world of the Salary cap, that kind of money for a semi-broken, often injured player is, in a word, crazy.

Is there a chance then, that due to offers from NHL teams being “less than desirable” for Forsberg, he has chosen to wait out the rest of the year and try his hand at the Free Agent market during the off season.

This hockey fan definitely thinks this is something to ponder.

Tags: agent, ankle, cap, chance, Colorado, confidence, controversy, Dallas, Detroit, fact, FAN, foot, Free, hand, hockey, injury, kind, level, market, nashville, news, NHL, Ottawa, peter forsberg, Philadelphia, player, question, reason, remainder, rest, Salary, season, something, strength, today, Weekend, word, yahoo, year

Capitals At The Top

The quietly surging Washington Capitals made a break into the top spot today by defeating the Philadelphia Flyers on the road.  The win pushes the Capitals past the Carolina Hurricanes and into the top of the mediocre Southeast Division.

A big part of the win was league leading goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin, who scored his 46th of the season 7:45 into the 3rd period.  Philadelphia came back to score 2 in latter part of the third, but were not strong enough to stop the Capitals from taking the 2 points.

Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau has strong confidence in his team.

“We believe we’re a real good team now,” Boudreau said. “Individually, I think they believe they’re a hard team to beat and that when they go on the ice they can win any game they play.”
- NHL @ Yahoo Sports

With 4 teams separated by just 2 points in the Southeast Division, the Capitals will need to continue their strong play if they want to make a drive for the Playoffs.

Tags: 3rd period, alexander, alexander ovechkin, bruce boudreau, Capitals, carolina hurricanes, confidence, Flyers, Game, game play, goal, goal scorer, head coach, hockey, hurricanes, league, NHL, NY, Philadelphia, philadelphia flyers, play yahoo, playoff, southeast division, today, Washington, washington capitals, yahoo, yahoo sports