Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars: Game Recap

by nathaneide on Jan 9, 2011 9:38 PM CST in Events

Minnesota Wild 0-4 Dallas Stars

For the Dallas perspective please visit Defending Big D

Ok, I think I picked a good night to not head down to the friendly confines of the Al Shaver press box. Good god, what an ugly loss. But, after a three game East Coast swing where they put forth some of the best effort of the season in wins over the Bruins and Penguins, a letdown isn't all that surprising, even though it is tough to have that letdown come against the hated Dallas Stars. After all, tonight's win was the seventh straight road victory for Dallas.

The Dallas Stars continued to show why they are leading the Pacific division. They applied pressure early and often, controlled the flow of the game. Played a solid physical game, created turnovers, drove to the net and took shots from high percentage areas and kept the Wild from developing any sustained offensive pressure. Frankly, they played about a complete game as possible.

Cam Barker and Marco Scandella, who were fabulous yesterday against the Penguins, were brutal tonight. Both were -3, and their misplays led directly to Dallas goals. Frankly, they might have been pushing a little too hard coming off a nice game, and found that they didn't have the legs. They wouldn't be the only ones. That was pretty much the story of the night.

Not much to say tonight. Jamie Benn, Brad Richards and Brendan Morrow were on top of their game, and pretty much did whatever they wanted all night long. The Wild had two great chances when Pierre-Marc Bouchard hit posts, but a tired team typically doesn't get those good bounces.

The Wild are now 1-6-3 on the second day of back-to-back games. Tonight was a perfect example of a team who was working out there, but simply didn't have the legs. All night long they were beaten to loose pucks, were chasing in the defensive zone and were missing passes because they simply couldn't get to them. Hopefully no practice tomorrow and getting into Nashville at a decent hour will help them rebound Tuesday night against the Predators.

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars:

Jamie Benn (2 G)
Trevor Daley (1 G, 1 A)
Andrew Raycroft (26 saves, 2nd shutout of the season)

Five Questions

Loui Eriksson impresses me every time he faces the Wild. Will they keep him off the scoresheet? Eriksson notched his 30th assist of the season on Trevor Daley's opening goal.
Will Jamie Langenbrunner have an impact? 0 points in 15:03
Can Jose Theodore keep it up? Tonight wasn't his fault. It was a team loss, but four goals against is never good.
Cam Barker, is he going to continue to improve his game? After a great game against Pittsburgh, the Barker/Scandella pairing was an awful -3.
Will the second-half of the season start with a win? Unfortunately not.

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Comments

I have NHL Center Ice and the Dallas announcers are brutal, as they complained about Cal Clutterbuck checking the Dallas stars, what the hell is wrong with people, hockey is a contact sport and hitting is legal and if you don’t want to get hit, avoid the check…

by Eric B on Jan 9, 2011 9:44 PM CST reply actions

They were not complaining

They were just saying that Clutterbuck hits alot and that most of his hits are weak. They didn’t make that up, that is what other players have told him, bud.

by avfcfan89 on Jan 10, 2011 12:23 AM CST up reply actions

That is what other players have told him? We’ll need some proof of that, since the players I have spoken to have never said that. You must have better sources than me.

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by BReynolds on Jan 10, 2011 12:01 PM CST up reply actions

Maybe the Dallas Stars are just a tough team

I am assuming Razor was talking to his team when reffering to this. Maybe he does hit hard, but what kind of person would admit to something hurting? That makes no sense, that would make you sound weak.

by avfcfan89 on Jan 10, 2011 8:50 PM CST up reply actions

I added Trevor Daley

to my fantasy team after the game ended. He is really good.

"Danny Valencia is a fricking stud! Hide your daughters!"
-Denard Span

by taralynn09 on Jan 9, 2011 9:46 PM CST reply actions

lol

most Stars fans would disagree with you. (not me necessarily)

But he’s having an up year.

Defending Big D

by Brad Gardner on Jan 9, 2011 10:13 PM CST up reply actions

What I meant to say is

he is really good against the Wild. If I remember correctly he also had an impact in the last game we played against the Stars.

"Danny Valencia is a fricking stud! Hide your daughters!"
-Denard Span

by taralynn09 on Jan 9, 2011 10:46 PM CST up reply actions

Kobe

Got absolutely undressed on the second goal by Jamie Benn, I mean he might as well just have been a traffic cone because Benn just slid right around him with a nice move and Jose was left to fend for himself.

Special Agent 00Zero
Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Team: 12th Legion

by JMarushin on Jan 9, 2011 10:18 PM CST reply actions

Tonight was garbage

I got my roomate and his family tickets to tonights game for xmas. I said before we left, “I’d be surprised if they win tonight, coming off a good road trip they’ll probably be tired and get outworked by a better team…” Pretty much summed up the night.

There was no energy at all, not from the players or in the building. The Wild spent way too much time standing around, there was way too much in the form of sticks instead of legs, and Scandella was just out of position and a step behind all night long.

I’ll give mad props to Benn. That second goal was sick, through the legs and over the shoulder for the goal in one swift motion. Dallas looked much sharper moving the puck tape to tape, and using the cross-ice backside pass to full advantage when breaking into the offensive zone. They actually seem to run plays when crossing the opposing teams blue line, which is something I wish the Wild would do more often instead of the dump-n-turnover.

While it’s always fun to spend some quality hockey time at the X, tonight’s effort left alot of be desired. I don’t mind losing, but when whole shifts go by and you can see guys are tired and mailing it in and getting constantly outworked, it is frustrating. I expect to see a better team come back on Tuesday, hopefully with an eye on the playoff chase in the second half of the season.

by JMigz on Jan 10, 2011 3:39 AM CST reply actions

Yeah, I was at the game too and I agree, the building was lacking energy and the players just weren’t giving us much to cheer about. I hope it was just the fatigue of the roadtrip because the 8 wins in the last 12 games has been a ton of fun and it’d be awesome to see us continue a clip like that

Special Agent 00Zero
Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Team: 12th Legion

by JMarushin on Jan 10, 2011 8:50 AM CST up reply actions