Game 34: Stars vs. Ducks

The Stars are coming off a whooping... and this time, it was the Stars doing the whooping instead of receiving one. The Stars are still in the land of awful, but now they are 14-14-5... take away the overtime loses, and they are at 500. You take away all the goals they gave up this season, and heck, the Stars would look like defensive giants. But, alas, they have one of the worst defenses around.

Dallas Stars Player Stats 08-09

Name	Brad Richards	Mike Ribeiro	Loui Eriksson	Mike Modano
Goals	9	5	18	11
Assists	20	23	8	11
Points	29	28	26	22
+/-	-8	-5	+3	0

The Stars "seem" to be getting better. They are responding pretty well in games and even though the defense doesn't hold up too well, the offense is starting to spark, which is grabbing down some wins for the team. Will the defense start picking up soon?

Anaheim Ducks Player Stats 08-09

Name	Ryan Getzlaf	Corey Perry	Teemu Selanne	Chris Kunitz
Goals	14	9	14	8
Assists	25	23	13	14
Points	39	32	27	22
+/-	+6	+5	-6	+4

These guys have some scoring power and a strong defensive stance. It should spell out trouble for the Stars. Selanne should be out with a thigh laceration.

Goalie Comparrison

Name	Games (Starts)	Record	GAA	SV%
Marty Turco	30 (30)	13-12-5	3.28	.881
Jean-Sebastien Giguere	23 (22)	11-8-2	2.92	.911

Giguere is slightly better than Turco and has a much better record to show for it. Forecast: Stars drop this one due to poor defense... Score: 5-3.

Home Ice

Game 13: Stars at Anaheim

The Stars come into this one with a 4-6-2 record and 10 points. The Ducks are 8-5-1 with 17 points. I had the pleasure of going to the 10/29 game against the Wild and I would have to say that I am becoming a hockey fan, or at least a Stars fan. Maybe it helped to go with someone who plays and understands the game pretty well. But I walked away from that game with one word on my brain - IMPRESSED. I was impressed at how the Stars played against an undefeated team (the Wild did already have a loss in OT or a Shootout) and I really liked the goalie the Stars were using, which wasn't Turco, but Stephan.

I believe if the Stars are going to make it to the playoffs, it will be with Stephan at goalie and limiting Turco, and not the other way around. But that is just my 2¢.

Goalies, by comparison:

• Marty Turco: 3-5-2 with a 4.34 GAA (Goals Against Average) and a .837 SV% (save percentage). In other words, 16.3% of shots on goal go in...
• Tobias Stephan: 1-1 with a 3.54 GAA and a .857 SV%. 14.3% of shots go in.

I really do not care if Turco is making 10 Million a year (which I really have no clue as to his paycheck), but if the other guy is more effective, wouldn't it make sense to use him more? Again, my 2¢. I am results driven. Show me results, I will give you playing time... no results, less time, good results, more time. Maybe I am the only one who feels this way...

Here's some saving grace: Anaheim is better on the road than at home.

Condemning News: Dallas REALLY sucks on the road.

Forecast: I am just looking at the records and getting a vibe that the Stars will drop this one if Turco is gaurding the net. Stephan gaurding would maybe change my tune. Still: Ducks take it 4-2. Stars have what it takes to win, but hold back from using it.

Home Plate

Game 5: Sharks vs. Stars

Man, I think this is classic. I totally dig the duck with the tongue sticking out. I think it would be an injustice if I don't post the Ducks with the tongue. Today, I have gone another way with the Sharks. Honestly, I forgot to change the name from Sharks to Minnows... but it still works. Anyway, the Stars are playing better defense, better shots on goal... and they make the Power Plays count. And that generally spells victory. Victory: better defense (always means a better offense), more shots on goal, and productive power plays = WIN. They didn't get the sweep... but they did everything else.
Forecast: Stars win it 4-1. Johnny Out.

Home Plate

Playoff Game 2: Stars at Anaheim

OK, so I still do not know much about hockey. What I do know, limited as it may be, is that a shutout of a team ranked higher than yourself... well, that just means it is sudden dominance. And the Stars did that in Game 1. They also scored at will. A 4-0 victory in Game 1 in Anaheim says a lot. And what will become of Game 2, 3 and 4? Well, it's tough to say, but the Stars are a great team. I read an article back at the start of the season, which basically stated that the Stars would not be a playoff contender and the Mavericks would be there at the end of playoffs. I thought differently. And I still kinda feel that way, although the Mavs have got me itching a bit.

So, game 2... that's the focus. Can the goalie continue to dominate? I have to say that I noticed that Dallas shot almost 40 attempts to the Ducks 22 shots. And that means Dallas was in Duck turf most of the night and our goalie was picking his nose and practicing his bump national anthem. And so he didn't have all that much pressure, or half the pressure of the Duck goalie. I don't think there will be back-to-back shutouts. Although our guy turns it up quite a bit during the post...

Dallas and the Ducks write in a game 5... Ducks upset Dallas in Anaheim with a 2-1 score.

Home Plate