For me, that doesn’t mean I’m leaning toward optimism so much as it means I might have put the foot back down that was extended over the ledge.
The four-game winning streak the Stars are on now is kind of weird. It’s hard to believe. Not that it’s not possible, it’s just weird.
The game against the Carolina Hurricanes was fairly definitive. I haven’t been following the Hurricanes that closely, but I think it was a legitimate win. The Stars played well. They didn’t back into the win at all.
The game was very entertaining. Lots of back and forth, lots of almosts, lots of bouncing pucks and cool defensive plays. Ribeiro and Daley were all over the ice. I thought Ribs had a pretty good game.
Right before Neal scored in the first, the ‘Canes tried many times to clear the puck and the Stars kept keeping it in. Woywitka caught the puck at the point as it ran around the glass to keep it in. Neal scored soon after that. Not only were the Stars keeping the puck in the ‘Canes’ zone, they also kept the ‘Canes out of their own zone.
They were responsible and aggressive. The forwards helped the defense and the defense played well. And Kari did a fine job of not messing any of it up. Usually he is covering for people but this time he didn’t have to too much.
Neal probably should have gotten the primary assist on his own goal in the second period. I guess the League frowns on players getting two points from one goal. He shot it at the end boards and it bounced right back to him. Nice work.
Jamie Benn amazed me again. He made a great move to get Otter the puck for his goal. Then in the 3rd, just as I was thinking how he somehow looks bigger than everybody on the ice, he scored a goal himself. He’s on a 3-game goal streak. He is looking great out there.
The game was pretty good all around. Otter got a goal and another crack at Tim Gleason. Good for him. It probably wouldn’t have taken too much to give Otter an excuse.
I enjoyed the broadcast, too. I think Versus has come a long way since they started carrying the NHL games. I really like their habit of getting a broadcaster from each team’s local pair to do the Versus game. For this one we had Razor and John Forslund from the Hurricanes broadcast. He’s one of the guys I actually like from another team. There aren’t too many. He and Razor had a great rapport. At one point they were joking about something and the sideline guy, Bob Harwood, sounded a little irked. “Back to work, guys,” he said. What a killjoy.
Personally, I hope against hope that the NHL doesn’t get back with ESPN. I cannot stand that network. Versus does a pretty good job now. It helps that I ignore the studio show.
So. What’s going to happen next? Are they going to win 5 in a row? Surely not. But maybe, right? They are still at the top of the Pacific, but they’re also still just a couple of points from 10th.
I think they can beat the Caps. Right? Surely not. But maybe, right?
