First Shift: Stars return home looking to round out team game against Kraken

The Stars made an impressive transformation last season, going from a middle-of-the-pack team in most statistical categories to one of the league leaders.

Their .659 points percentage was eighth best, their 2.62 GAA was third best and their goal differential of plus-67 was second in the league. What’s more, they were both top five in power play (5th at 25.0 percent) and penalty kill (3rd at 83.5 percent) and made it all the way to the Western Conference Final. When you mix in the fact several individuals had career best seasons, including breakout years for Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger, you had to be impressed.

With all of that success, the organization upped its expectations in the offseason, and it was clear from training camp they wanted more. Adding Matt Duchene, Sam Steel and Craig Smith underlined the desire for more depth scoring, and that has paid off. Duchene has 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) and has helped linemates Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment increase their scoring, as well.

But, there has been a cost.

Dallas last season ranked third in goals against at 2.62 and has dropped to 14th this season at 3.14. It also was plus-2 in average shots on goal per game last season and is minus-1.6 this year. Bottom line: There are some holes in the game that revolve around consistency.

So is this an adjustment to playing with pressure or just a work in progress?

“You read all of the preseason polls and expectations, and after our run last year that’s something our whole group has had to deal with,” said Stars coach Pete DeBoer. “I think we’ve been good with it. I think like anything, you can always be better. I don’t think we’re really `happy, happy’ with where we’re at, but I think we’re doing some good things.”

The offense clearly is a big key. Dallas ranks seventh at 3.48 goals per game and is still hot on the power play at 24.4 percent (8th) and penalty kill at 86.2% (5th). The problem is they were in a similar spot, offensively, last season, and were also much better defensively. Not only is the GAA in a tougher spot this year, but the Stars are playing from behind a lot. Dallas last season ranked second in scoring first at 51 times in 82 games. They are 26th this season with 13 first goals in 29 games.

That creates some situational hockey. Against Ottawa on Friday, Dallas got down early, pushed hard and won the game. At St. Louis on Saturday, the Stars took a 2-0 lead, took its foot off the gas, and then had to battle back just to get to overtime. It just seems like there are issues every night.

“In a season over a 10-game segment, you focus on one thing and the players tend to fix what you focused on,” DeBoer said. “But there’s always something else that slips during that segment, so something you might have been good at in the first segment might have slipped, so you’ve got to refocus back on that. So you’re herding cats every 10 games.”

The Stars in their past six games have allowed 25 goals, and that’s complicated now more by the fact that Oettinger is out with a lower body injury. So while they are trying to juggle different needs, locking down as a team and helping out Scott Wedgewood should be a top priority.

“We’ve just got to maybe demand that more, it’s got to be more consistent,” Duchene said in reference to the slow starts and tendency to allow too many goals against. “We know how good a team we are, we know we can win any game we are in. But that’s a privilege and we’ve got to be sure we’re ready to go for each period and play a complete game. We’ve won a lot of games this year. It’s funny you can sit here and complain and think you haven’t played your best hockey, and that’s probably true, but we’re still winning. Hopefully, we can learn from these experiences.”

DeBoer said learning is essential throughout a season, and that the Stars are focused on playing their best hockey later in the season.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure you want to be peaking in early December,” DeBoer said. “We know we have to get better in some areas, we know there’s some stuff we can clean up. The key for me is that we’re peaking going down the stretch.”

That said, taking a few steps now also would be kind of nice.

“We’ve got a veteran team in here,” said defenseman Thomas Harley. “We know how to play. If we just channel that kind of energy, we’ll win a lot of games.”

Key Number

11
In six career games against Seattle, Stars forward Joe Pavelski has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists). The Stars are 4-1-1 against Seattle in that span.

2.63
Seattle is 28th in scoring at 2.63 goals per game.

11
Seattle has been to overtime in 11 games this season. That is tied for 3rd most in the NHL.

He Said It

“You guys had a lot of questions.”

- Stars coach Pete DeBoer when told that the team had a lot of questions about the power play after going 2-for-21 to start the season.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.