First Shift 🏒
The Stars lost a 4-2 game in Buffalo on Tuesday, and coach Pete DeBoer wasn’t pleased with the team’s intensity.
“I thought they were hungrier than us,” DeBoer said. “It’s tough to go on the road and win when you’re not as desperate as the other team.”
So at practice in Boston on Wednesday, the intensity was dialed up. Most of the drills concentrated on “compete,” and much of the time on the ice was revved up and high impact. For a team that is 5-2-0 and off to a solid start, the message was clear.
“Our expectations of how we play haven’t been up to par,” said Seguin. “In a few that we won, Jake has had to steal a game. It’s early in the year and these practices are needed. To be honest, it feels good. You get those touches, you get that compete up.”
Ironically, the Stars did a lot of good things against Buffalo. They had a 30-25 advantage in shots on goal and a 73-55 edge in shot attempts. Dallas won 61 percent of the faceoffs and finished with 20 hits. In a lot of ways, that’s a good game, but the Sabres seemed to be more intense at key moments and won battles along the boards and in front of the net.
“It always comes down to the No. 1 cliché: winning those battles,” Seguin said. “That’s where we get our offense. It starts in the D zone. We’ve been great at it for the last two years, and it’s just finding that again.”
The game was scoreless in the second period when Buffalo created a chaotic shift and a shot deflected off the crossbar and high in the air behind goalie Jake Oettinger. Sabres forward Peyton Krebs battled for position and tapped the puck in, and Buffalo scored a couple of minutes later to take control of the game.
“It just goes back to going to the right areas,” said forward Colin Blackwell. “If you’re getting pucks to the net and bodies to the net, anything can happen. It was a fluky bounce that ended up working out in their favor. Little things like that can be momentum changers. The stats can vary every night, but it’s playing a little more physical and using our speed to our advantage, it’s little things.”
Dallas saw the return of Matt Dumba, Seguin and Sam Steel from injury, and those new bodies did add some jump to the lineup. Getting back into the flow could help them perform even better.
“It felt good,” said Seguin, who scored a goal and now has three in four games.
