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The Dallas Stars once again overcame a 2-0 deficit in a 4-3 win against the Utah Mammoth at American Airlines Center on Friday. They are 9-1-1 in the past 11 games.
Thanksgiving stories from the boys
Morning skate on Friday was a special type of fun. Not only was everyone in a good mood because the Stars went 3-0-1 on a tough road trip out West, but it was also the morning after Thanksgiving and a day off all around.
For the Stars, it wasn’t a full day off, however. The team opted to stay in Seattle after beating the Kraken on Wednesday night, rather than get home early, early Thursday morning. The plane landed around 3 pm local time, and most of the boys headed straight home. When they arrived, most walked right into a house full of people and a table packed with turkey and other Thanksgiving goods.
Jake Oettinger said he essentially walked in, put his bag down, and sat at the table to eat with his wife and her family. It was also his son’s very first Thanksgiving, and Oettinger was thankful to have been able to spend it with his nearly four-week-old. He said he has enjoyed every minute of being a Dad, and has had plenty of help while he was at the rink or on the road.
Colin Blackwell had a similar experience to Oettinger, walking into a house full of his wife’s family and a lot of food. But, he brought some friends along with him, too.
Mavrik Bourque, Thomas Harley, Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel, Wyatt Johnston, and Kyle Capobianco joined the Blackwells for Thanksgiving. And as you can see, other than Harley, who was not on the road trip, the boys are still in their travel joggers, right off the plane.
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Bourque told me he ate SO MUCH FOOD. I use caps because that is exactly how he said it, grabbing his stomach and squtting down to show me how little he could move after dinner. When he got home, he had to take a walk because he was too full to sleep.
Ah, the Canadians are learning to live like Americans, eh?
One good thing that came from Dallas staying in Seattle was a reunion of two buddies and former teammates.
Oettinger took the time to head over to Mason Marchment’s new place. Marchment was in town recently to play the Stars, but this time, Oettinger was able to spend some time with him, see his wife, whom Jake and his wife became close with, and meet Mason’s son for the very first time.
It’s safe to say this story melted the hearts of Stars fans all around.
1999 is back in black
Working with Craig Ludwig is a pretty cool thing. For a lot of reasons.
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But one that stood out this week is that he was not only part of, but instrumental to the only Stanley Cup championship in Dallas franchise history. Luds is remembered by many and loved by most for his on-ice work and now his off-ice analysis.
Why is that in my head right now? Well, because tonight is the debut of the Stars new ’99 alternate sweaters. And they are niiiiice.
It was cool seeing Glen Gulutzan and the coaching staff in new gear, the new name plates above players’ stalls that read “Nothing Else Matters,” the slogan from the 1999 Cup team. It was also very cool to see Oettinger’s new gear, which is paying tribute to maybe the best goalie to ever wear a Dallas sweater, Ed Belfour.
Here is Belfour’s setup:
And here is Oettinger’s… You can see the lines and semicircles on the leg pads:
And if you look closer, you can see a wonderfully shiny green mask. On the side of that mask… a screaming otter.
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Yes, to pay tribute to Eddie the Eagle’s famous and iconic screaming eagle mask.
This is not only awesome to see, and brings up tons of memories for fans. But it is really cool because Belfour was the reason I played goalie growing up.
I used to either draw eagles onto my mask, or when I was really little, I would wear a Belfour replica street hockey mask. Which, by the way, was nowhere near legal or protective enough for ice hockey.
We also had Belfour on our show at DLLS, so check that out if you missed it!
Belfour told me he was abducted by aliens. So, there’s that.
And guess what? Gulutzan said the team actually fed off the energy from the new jerseys and holiday crowd…
“We were looking for any type of energy today,” Gulutzan said. “When I saw the new jerseys, and the crowd’s excitement, and everything was going on, the holiday season, I thought, ‘okay, that helped tremendously. In all seriousness, it does help tremendously. Actually, a couple of us coaches were on the bench like, ‘We like these, we love these jerseys, they’re awesome and people are excited’, we’re like, ‘We can use this energy right now.”
Rapid fire game notes
- Roope Hintz has become elite at tipping pucks lately. He has scored three or four deflection goals in the past week, especially on the power play. And he did it again tonight.
- Kyle Capobianco had a really good game. He used his skating, which is very good, to defend and get up in the play. Capobianco has great turns and pivots, which allow him to make plays in tight spaces and cover ground quickly. He did that on multiple occasions, and then got in on the forecheck and created Jamie Benn’s goal that tied the game 2-2. Gulutzan said the coaching staff has been pushing Capobianco to use his skating more and play his game.
- Most teams likely meet about how they should avoid taking penalties at all costs against Dallas. And why wouldn’t they? The Stars have the league’s second-best power play (trailing Pittsburgh by 0.1 percent heading into tonight’s game). Well, I think Utah missed that meeting, as the Mammoth gave Dallas a full double minor after high-sticking Benn and then proceeded to take two separate penalties on the same play and face a scary 5-on-3 for two minutes. Dallas scored on the first part of each of those power plays, goals that got them on the board after going down 2-0 and gave them the lead 4-3 they would not relinquish late in the second. Five Dallas power plays through 40 minutes is probably not what Utah wanted to see.
- Miro Heiskanen hit the 500-game milestone tonight. His 305 points at that mark rank just eight below Sergei Zubov.
- Oettinger looked a lot better as the game went on. That has been his MO lately. I know he wants to start games better, but his ability to lock it down after a goal or two has been really impressive.
- Oettinger, on the same night he wore tribute pads to Ed Belfour, tied The Eagle with 160 career wins in a Stars sweater. And did it in fewer games. As Gulutzan said, when you are comparing to a goalie who beat Grant Fuhr, Curtis Joseph, Patrick Roy, and Dominik Hasek, that’s pretty good company.
Quotable
Mikko Rantanen on the team finding its groove lately
“Early in the year, that was what we were not doing at all, playing a full 60. Now we feel like we snap out of bad moments quicker… Now, it’s maybe five minutes we kind of get hemmed in, and then we figure it out and then we turn the scale again. So, it’s been better for sure.”
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