Do I detect a trend? Are we (the Dallas Stars) turning it around? Are we better without Sean Avery? It may be too early to tell but since Avery was suspended the Stars have won three out of their last four games.
In case you weren't paying attention before the ludachrous comment made by Avery, the Dallas Stars were off to one of their worse starts in Dallas Stars hockey history. Even before the latest episode many Stars fans were tired of Avery's behavior and blaming him for the team's poor start.
No they weren't blaming just Avery. Some blamed goalie Marty Turco. Some blamed coach Dave Tippett. But many were blaming Avery.
Some Stars fans are saying Avery was more of a problem than he was worth. Coach Tippettt appears to have baled on him. Turco appears to have baled on him. Other teammates have baled on him but remain nameless. The argument is there is more chemistry in the clubhouse without him and thus more wins without him.
DALLAS - With lots of negative attention swirling around them the last few days, credit the Dallas Stars for blocking out the distractions and doing their talking on the ice.
In their first game since learning winger Sean Avery would be suspended for four more games for inappropriate comments made Tuesday, the Stars received a vintage performance from goaltender Marty Turco and a shootout game-winning goal from Mike Modano to seize a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche Friday.
The injury-depleted Stars (10-12-4) have now won three of their last four as they seek to rebound from a sub-par start to the season that had them last overall in the Western Conference entering the contest.
Carrying a 1-0 lead into the final period, the Dallas Stars extended it on Stu Barnes 29th career playoff goal. After collecting a nice lead pass from Mike Modano at the Anaheim Ducks blue line, Barnes raced in on a breakaway against Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, firing a quick wrist shot from the slot through Giguere’s pads.
“Just a good play by Mike Modano, I kind of snuck behind everybody and he found me,” Barnes said. “Great play by him.”
The Stars put the stake through the Ducks’ heart with 2:43 to go when Barnes stole the puck in the neutral zone and sped back into the Anaheim zone with it. Carrying into the right face-off circle, Barnes fed a charging Ott at the lip of the crease, and Steve Ott re-directed it past Giguere for his second goal of the playoffs and a 3-0 lead.
Dallas got the all-important opening goal with 3:21 left in the opening period, after an egregious turnover by the Ducks in their own zone. After Loui Eriksson intercepted Sean O’Donnell’s clearing attempt in the high slot, Eriksson batted the puck to a wide open Joel Lundqvist in front and Lundqvist fired a quick wrist shot over Giguere’s shoulder for the 1-0 lead.
The Ducks then snapped Marty Turco’s shutout bid with just 7.6 seconds on the clock, after Mathieu Schneider ripped a wrist shot from the high slot that beat a screened Turco just inside the far post.
“Marty was excellent and we scored a few goals for him and we need to battle like this again tomorrow night,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “Marty is going to have to be really good for us to be successful and you saw him really good tonight.”
“I think the fans said it all with the chants of ‘Marty, Marty, Marty.’ He’s definitely been our first star the whole season,” Ott said of Turco. “His play in the playoffs has been spectacular.”
For most of us, whenever we travel by plane, we fly on commercial airlines, sit in cramped coach seats (possibly with a small, whiny child kicking the seat behind us), are subject to the whims of airport delays, and are usually lucky to get anything to eat beyond a tiny bag of pretzels or peanuts. That is not how the Dallas Stars travel, especially not after owner Tom Hicks just upgraded their private plane from a 727 to a new Boeing 757 twin-engine jetliner. The Stars took the inaugural flight on the new plane when they lifted off Tuesday afternoon from Love Field for a trip to Los Angeles ahead of their date Thursday night against the Kings (9:30 pm, my27, News/Talk 820 WBAP).
It can accommodate up to 71 total passengers, includes 24 fully-reclining, 360-degree swiveling sleeper seats for the players, and has 47 other first-class seats located in three other sections throughout the plane. The new 757, which will be utilized by both the Stars and the Texas Rangers baseball team, also features an upgraded video entertainment system and an iPod docking station that allows passengers to play movies from a lap-top, iPod or DVD player in each section. There are also two electrical outlets and phone jacks at each seat, a bar in the back, as well as a comfortable four-seat couch.
For a team that will fly approximately 112 total hours in the air over the course of the regular season and which will have 16 flights where the club returns to Dallas immediately after a night game, traveling in such luxurious conditions can only help.
“I think that, certainly with the travel that we do, that any advantage that we give our players is going to benefit us in the long term,” said Stars General Manager Doug Armstrong. “We probably travel more than anyone in the NHL right now, and to have a plane like this and to have the seating where the players can recline, it’s going to really enhance our travel and make things a lot better for us. And I think there will be a competitive advantage, not only to our team, but also in acquiring free agents.”
“It’s great,” added center Mike Modano. “It’s just getting rest and being able to get from point A to point B as easy as possible, it doesn’t come easier than this. Comfort, ability to spread out, you’re not packed in on each other, it helps. Our travel’s not the best here, so however we can get the upper hand here, it helps.”
While the advantage of more comfortable accommodations might not be felt immediately, the players believe it will help and might possibly translate into better performance on the ice at some point.
“It’s tough to put down in x’s and o’s and say yes or no, but it won’t hurt,” goaltender Marty Turco said. “It certainly won’t hurt our chances of feeling better when we get there. It’s a luxury that we have had before, traveling as well as we do, but this just kind of sets precedent for pro sports teams to give us every advantage possible, when you have an owner like Mr. Hicks, who does what he can, it just makes you feel good and lets you worry about less things and concentrate more on what we do.”
“Especially with us, we have so much travel because of our division, it adds practice time, it adds time that other teams have without the same travel, so any time we can keep the players fresh, it’s wonderful,” coach Dave Tippett noted. “It’s a beautiful plane. It makes everything a lot easier to travel. We’re very fortunate to have an owner that believes that he wants to do everything possible for the players to give them the best opportunity to be successful, so it’s a wonderful little perk for us.”
While the Stars did fly pretty nicely before, the upgrade from a 727 to a 757 gives them better fuel efficiency and lower noise levels (inside the plane and out), and allows for longer individual flights (from a maximum 2500 miles to 4000 miles). Also, the 727 could only hold up to 54 passengers, while their limit is now 71, something that made possible the extra wrinkle on Tuesday where the players’ wives joined them on the trip to LA.
This past Friday, October 19, marked the 50th anniversary of Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard becoming the first player to score 500 career goals in the NHL. His legacy is remembered by the entire league 50 years later. Mike Modano, a 500 goal scorer himself, is famous for wearing the No. 9 in Dallas and there have been many to don the famous jersey number, but Richard was the first to give it a special bond with the fans.
“(The number 9) was biggest one you could have when we were growing up,” said Dallas Star Mike Ribeiro, who grew up in Montreal. “The number 9 was the one to wear. Rocket was ‘the Rocket’ – you see movies now made about him and I heard a lot about him growing up. One of the first books I read when I was a kid was a Maurice Richard book. He a legend up in Montreal and people will always remember him.”
The stories of the famous Richard are still being told from generation to generation in Quebec.
“I heard so many stories from my father and my grandfather and sometime they were so hard to believe,” said Star Philippe Boucher. “He was at the forefront of society in Quebec. He was an icon for the entire city of Montreal. Maybe Guy Lafleur comes close but Richard is ‘the Man.’ He was the face of Montreal and he means so much to the people, even today.”
Richard finished with 544 career goals. He will always be knows as the “King of Scorers,” especially in Montreal. “There have been a lot of great players that have played for the Montreal Canadiens but he’s still ‘the guy’ for that organization,” said Star defenseman Stephane Robidas.
“The Rocket was the original 500-goal scorer and he set the milestone,” said Stars Head Coach Dave Tippett. “He was a legend and will always be one of the special players to ever play our game.”
The Dallas Stars took two penalties in the final 45 seconds of regulation on Saturday night October 13th and surrendered the tying goal to the Chicago Blackhawks with just 1.5 seconds remaining. Then, with the ‘Hawks still on the power play, Jason Williams scored 43 seconds into overtime to win it. It was the second consecutive game the Stars lost a third-period lead and then lost in overtime.
Chicago pulled Patrick Lalime for an extra attacker with 1:09 remaining and while pressing for the tying goal, Jeff Halpern lost his stick in the Dallas zone and took a holding penalty with 44.4 seconds left. That gave the Blackhawks a 6-on-4 power play, and when Mike Modano was whistled for hooking with 26.5 to go, Chicago essentially had a three-man advantage for the rest of regulation.
With just 10 seconds left, Tobias Stephan robbed Robert Lang’s point-blank wrist shot from the left circle while down on the ice, but the Stars could never clear the zone. Rookie Jonathan Toews then ripped a slap shot from the blue line that was sailing wide, but it ricocheted off Lang’s arm and deflected in.
Going into overtime, Chicago was still on the power play (now a 4-on-3), and immediately set up in the Dallas zone on the attack again. After working the puck around a bit, Williams blasted a one-timer from the top of the face-off circles through a maze of bodies in front that found its way through Stephan’s pads and in for the gut-wrenching winner.
Most Interesting Blog, June 16, 2008 and six other occasions. Lisa awarded him Best "breaking news" blogger March 31, 2008. Blog of The Day, Christmas Day, 2007. edhardiman wrote, "Falco's tribute to Rocket Richard reminds us all the stars of today stand on the shoulders of giants..." October 23, 2007. Three Golden Swirrly p00p Awards (Hockey, NASCAR and Use of Graphics), FlyingPig, July 18, 2007. 2007 Memorial Day Weekend Trifecta sponsored by williamwilman . Featured on WFORacingFans April, 2007. "Stylin'" award, Dusty, February 07. "One of ten new bloggers to watch" Dudski, January 2007.
DALLAS - With lots of negative attention swirling around them the last few days, credit the Dallas 
“Just a good play by Mike Modano, I kind of snuck behind everybody and he found me,” Barnes said. “Great play by him.”
“Marty was excellent and we scored a few goals for him and we need to battle like this again tomorrow night,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “Marty is going to have to be really good for us to be successful and you saw him really good tonight.”
