Heika's Take: No bucket, no problem for Michael Raffl in win over Sabres

DALLAS -- Michael Raffl got a radical haircut this weekend, so of course his teammates took advantage of it.
Raffl had his decent "flow" shaved down to a buzz cut. And as he prepared for the pregame skate against Buffalo on Sunday, he couldn't find his helmet. So, he skated out and boldly showed off his new coif.

"I had to," Raffl said of the decision to defiantly skate out without his "bucket" on. "I didn't show any weakness. I didn't care, I was walking out there."

That attitude showed itself throughout the game as Raffl had two goals and the Stars took a 4-2 win that was both delightful and needed. Dallas moves to 29-20-3 and now sits in the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
"I'd rather see us in the eighth spot than ninth or 10th," said Stars coach Rick Bowness. "We're not that far out of third. That's your next step, to get in and stay in. It's there, and you've got to go get it."
Raffl was the embodiment of that philosophy. He scored on a redirection in the first period and a frenetic rebound in the second. That was sprinkled between goals by Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov, and helped give goalie Jake Oettinger the breathing room he needed while stopping 38 shots.
It was an interesting outing right from the start. While Bowness said he didn't like the third period, he did like the team's start. And part of that start was the fact the Dallas players didn't mind having some fun. By hiding Raffl's helmet for warmup, they sparked their teammate and built some positive chemistry.
"We always want the guys to come to the rink and enjoy it," Bowness said. "I don't want them to look at it as a job, I want them to look at it as a game and let's have fun playing the game and have some fun in the room. But when it's time to play, you play. You've got to enjoy it though. It goes by so fast. These guys are going to blink and their career is going to be over."

And at times like this, building chemistry is a good thing. Riley Tufte is a rookie playing in just his seventh NHL game, but even he enjoyed the antics.
"I think that's huge," Tufte said. "Especially throughout the season, you need to have jokesters like that and to have good laughs. It's a long season, and it makes coming to the rink fun every day."

Raffl said he wasn't motivated to play better, but he clearly had a great game. He logged 16:30, had the two goals and was solid on the penalty kill. He and linemates Radek Faksa and Luke Glendening continue to build on the chemistry that's been created throughout this season.
"I think it comes down to honest work for us," Raffl said. "Try to be first on pucks and be painful to play against. Be first on pucks, be strong on the forecheck and have the third guy above so nothing is ever easy for them. We can play against any line, and it's been a lot of fun. [Faksa] was very good the last three games."

Those are lessons that'll be preached again and again. Dallas was the better team for the first two periods, but then slipped up in the third period, getting outshot 23-5 and forcing Oettinger to be very good. Consistency has been an elusive goal for the Stars this season, and it continues to be now.
"The first two periods were great, and we've had some good third periods and then we've had some third periods like that where we just back off," Bowness said. "We play as individuals, and we stop playing as a team. We make it way too easy for the other team to play. It's something we've talked about and something we're going to keep pounding at them. It seems to me like when we play Boston or Pittsburgh or those teams that we bare down a lot more.
"We get a lead against Buffalo and then we don't give them enough respect. They're NHL players, I don't care what the standings are. They're good players and they want to win. We just stopped playing as a team and we play a three-quarter ice game which it makes it so easy for the opposition to keep coming at us."
That said, they did find a way to win, and that's important.
"In this league, there are no easy games," Raffl said. "It wasn't an easy effort tonight. Otter played great and good teams find a way to win. You have to be able to beat anybody in this league."
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.