Stars using their edges to make a run for it!

Stars home ice and special teams keys to Stanley Cup Chase

Photo courtesy Shattered Lens Photography

Don’t look now, but the Dallas Stars have won 7 straight games at American Airlines Center, following their opening round Game 1 loss to Colorado. And their special teams are special as hell.

I’m glad things are moving in the right direction in the playoffs. The referees are calling penalties more than in past eras. But as always, there’s pushback.

And everything we saw in Game 1 were penalties. Just like when Dallas took six minors in Winnipeg in Game 5. Those were penalties too. Whose rules should we play by? I like using the NHL rulebook here but hockey people in the NHL think I’m nuts when I say such things.

There are deep-seeded reasons for why fewer penalties are called in the playoffs, and why old-school guys don’t want penalties called.

But remember, power plays, special teams, are a big part of hockey. We draft and trade for players who are specialists, and who have skill to make plays with the man advantage. Teams covet guys like Esa Lindell who might be the league’s best penalty killer. We hire coaches to study, do recon, and scheme for all special teams scenarios.

We work on it almost every day. A power play can be weaponized, as the Dallas Stars have shown. A penalty kill can save your ass, as the Dallas Stars have shown.

For 82 games - and 6 months worth - special teams win and lose hockey games.

And then here come the playoffs - the time of year when coaches want top-six skill to play like fourth liners and not the other way around, and where there’s yearning from purists to put the whistles away and “let the players decide it.”

Ummmm - if a player commits a penalty, and the other team scores on the ensuing power play - that is letting the players decide it. They can always kill a penalty. Hell - even below average teams kill 8 out of 10…

Even Edmonton’s Leon Draitaisl, pissed off after another loss due to his club’s horrific penalty killing, basically said - you know we gotta kill those - and we’re not. He characterized his team’s disregard for this part of the game - immature.

And if you’re a Dallas fan - you want as much called as possible. Dallas leads all remaining teams, converting 35% on the man advantage. That’s ridiculous. That’s outrageous. Want a bigger jaw dropper? The Stars are 8 for 12 at home = 46%. That’s madness this deep into a playoff run. That’s lapping the field.

And the PK is pretty good too… and the building… and what does 2-0 mean exactly? Another PRE STARS of the GAME - my pick for players who have to shine for Dallas to put Edmonton up against it.