Sky's not falling... yet

The Dallas Stars will wrap up their road trip tonight in Phoenix as they take on the struggling Coyotes. This game could be just what the doctor ordered as the Stars have suddenly found it hard to put the puck in the net. The Coyotes are next to last in the NHL killing penalties at 74%. The 'yotes are also 24th in the league in goals scored and dead last in goals allowed. Add to that formula the fact that Mike Modano has solid career numbers against the Phoenix franchise and reportedly received a one-on-one talking to from coach Dave Tippett following practice yesterday. Look for Mo and his line mates to come out on fire and have a solid game.

The Stars also will be putting a premium on having a solid first period. Throughout the early part of the season they've had several games where they've started sluggish. Often it hasn't shown on the scoreboard but they've had a few instances on this trip where it has. 

In the 2-1 loss to Vancouver on Monday night, the Stars' backup goalie Mike Smith allowed a goal from center ice to open the scoring in the first. After knotting it at 1 in the second thanks to a vicious slapper from Eric Lindros the Stars received some payback for the Oilers game. With 2 minutes left in regulation Brenden Morrow was called for a questionable elbowing penalty. The Canucks would score on the resulting power play with less than a minute remaining to send Dallas back to the bus without a point in the standings. 

Not to take anything away from Vancouver's big offseason acquisition, Roberto Luongo. He was stellar in goal... especially late when he absolutely robbed Mike Modano while the game was still tied.

The slow start and hot opposing goalie trend continued the next night in Calgary. The Flames jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first with a bit of a soft goal by Tony Amonte following a bad turnover by Antti Miettinen. Marty Turco probably would say that he should make that save and after watching him early this season, on most nights he would've.

Miettinen atoned for his mistake by firing a wicked wrister past Miikka Kiprusoff early in the 2nd period to tie the game. It didn't stay knotted for long though as Amonte scored his second goal of the game less than a minute later on a deft deflection in front of Turco.  The Stars battled to tie it but Kiprusoff turned them away and an empty netter late by Kristian Huselius gave the Flames the 3-1 win.

The 2-game losing streak is the first such streak of the year so far for the Stars. No need to panic. Go out and throttle Phoenix tonight like you should and you'll come home no worse than 4 points behind Anaheim in the division and with a respectable 2-2 on the roadtrip.

News and notes: 

Good feature on Jere Lehtinen at NHL.com. Jere has long been called one of the most under rated players in the league and it's nice to see him get some recognition. He surely doesn't seek it out. He's a quiet guy who just lets his play speak for him and it speaks volumes. The only thing I'd nitpick in the article is where it lists his favorite bands. Apparently Slayer is a little known local Dallas band. Huh... who knew?

Prior to the Stars game on Tuesday night the pregame show had a feature on new Stars center Jeff Halpern. He's proven himself to be a valuable addition and one that was probably overlooked when he signed with the addition of Eric Lindros and the return of Darryl Sydor. Halpern is a very versatile player... strong on face offs and can score as well as defend. His smarts (he attended Princeton) and his leadership (was a former captain in Washington) will do nothing but help this team. One of the cool things about the feature though had to do with what he's doing for his new teammates and his new city off the ice. They showed the nice new plush monogrammed robes he bought for all the guys by way of introducing himself into the room. His community contribution just proves again that hockey players are great in the community. There are several players on the team that buy tickets and give them to charities, but the American-born Halpern is providing 4 seats to every home game (not in the upper deck mind you... down low... over $100 per ticket) to members of the armed forces injured in battle or to families who have lost loved ones in the military. Way to go Halpy!

Why today doesn't suck in puck history

November 9, 2001 - Luc Robitaille scored a power-play goal for the 600th goal of his NHL career, becoming the 13th player to reach the 600 goal milestone, and Dominik Hasek recorded his first shutout with the Red Wings, in a 1-0 win in Anaheim. (Facts provided by the Hockey Hall of Fame.)