The Stars carry a four game losing streak into Friday’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes in what is the first game of a home and home against their division rival. Dallas last faced the Coyotes on opening night in a 4-3 Dallas victory. Big news prior to the game as Jamie Oleksiak was set to make his NHL debut, also making a season debut tonight for the Stars was forward Antoine Roussel.

First Period

It was a very slow start to the game, not much action in the opening minutes. Both teams had accumulated one shot each on net within the first seven minutes of gameplay.  The game started to pick up physically as the Stars were quick to put a hit on Phoenix players. The first goal of the game came at the 9:53 mark of the first as a broken play by the Stars led to more of a chip and go and a streaking Antoine Roussel went backhand on Phoenix goalie Mike Smith and gave the Stars a 1-0 lead, and Roussel his first career NHL goal. The assists on the goal went to Ryan Garbutt and Brenden Dillon, also Dillon’s first career NHL point. The goal gave Dallas momentum as a little over two minutes a rolling puck found the stick of Brenden Dillon who fired a slapshot from the left point past Mike Smith for his first career NHL goal, the Stars now led 2-0. Phoenix seemed to wake up after the goal as they controlled the puck for the rest of the period trying to score on Kari Lehtonen. At the 14:00 mark of the first, what seemed to be good defensive coverage by the Stars turned into a Phoenix goal as a shot from the point was tipped by Radim Vrbata and went off the skate of Jamie Benn and into the Dallas net.  The Stars led 2-1 at the end of the first period

Second Period

Jordie Benn took a minor at the end of the first period that carried over to the second and had Phoenix on the powerplay to begin the period, and it didn’t take them long as just 45 seconds into the period Martin Hanzal was screening Kari Lehtonen and put the rebound off a Oliver Ekman-Larsson slapshot just as the Benn minor expired. The game really picked up physically through out the second, led by Antoine Roussel for the Stars and captain Shane Doan for the Coyotes, even a fight between Brenden Dillon and Kyle Chipchura after a high hit by Brenden Dillon. The next goal in the game came at the 14:14 mark as Michael Ryder shot a quick wrister past Mike Smith giving the Stars a 3-2 lead. The assists went to Cody Eakin, his team leading fifth, and Ray Whitney, his fourth. A little over four minutes later the Coyotes struck back as Martin Hanzal shot the puck past Kari Lehtonen scoring his second goal of the game in his first game back after injury. The game was tied 3-3 at the end of two periods.

Third Period

No goals were scored in the third but the two teams went back and forth in each other’s zone the shots were 8-7 Phoenix and no penalties were called as the referres put there whistles away. Kari Lehtonen and Mike Smith each made excellent saves to make the game go to overtime tied 3-3.

Overtime

Phoenix led in shots 6-3 as they controlled the puck for the most part of the overtime period, but Kari Lehtonen and the Dallas Stars’ defense had an answer for everything. The game went to a shootout.

Shootout

• Mikkel Boedker went first and went backhand, but Kari Lehtonen made a glove save
• Loui Eriksson went first for the Stars and went with a forehand wrist shot but was stopped by Mike Smith
• Radim Vrbata went next for the Coyotes and scored on a sweeping back hand move.
• Ray Whitney went next for the Stars and tried a dragging wrist shot, but Mike Smith made a good glove grab.
• Antoine Vermette went forehand on his opportunity but Kari Lehtonen made a pad save.
• Jamie Benn went with a backhand-forehand move and shot the puck past Mike Smith
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson tried a stick deke and then forehand shot on Lehtonen but another pad save.
• Jaromir Jagr went next for the Stars and shot the puck off the cuff of Smith’s glove and it slowly crossed the goal line giving the Stars the shootout victory.

Game Extras

• Dallas finally ended its four game losing skid
• In his debut Jamie Oleksiak played 15:32 and had 1 hit and 1 shot on goal, along with some good defense as fans got a small taste of what Oleksiak will bring in the oncoming years.
• Antoine Roussel made his season debut tonight taking the place of Reilly Smith on the fourth line. Smith was sent back down to the Texas Stars on Thursday.
• Brenden Dillon had the Gordie Howe hat trick tonight as he scored a goal, got an assist, and got into a fight.
• Tonight’s announced attendance was 18,101
• Three Stars of the Game chosen by Mark Stepneski of DallasStars.com are 1. Brenden Dillon 2.Martin Hanzal 3. Antoine Roussel
• The Stars and Coyotes face-off again Saturday night at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. Puck drop at 7:00

Jordie Benn, one of the 26 assigned to the Texas Stars (Photo taken by Melissa Grissom)

Today, the Dallas Stars have sent 26 players to the Texas Stars and the rest to their junior teams as as the NHL looks like it will be heading into a lockout. I was hoping for no lockout but looks like we are heading into one. Here is more info about the Stars assiging players to the minors from the Dallas Morning News:

Again, these moves would have normally been made during training camp, but they need to be done before the current CBA expires on Sept. 15.

Here is the press release.

DALLAS STARS MAKE ROSTER MOVES

Frisco, TX – The Dallas Stars announced today that 26 players have been assigned to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). The club also announced that five players have been assigned to their respective Junior club teams.

The following players have been assigned to Texas (AHL):

Jordie Benn

Tyler Beskorowany

Jack Campbell

Alex Chiasson

Jace Coyle

Brenden Dillon

Cody Eakin

Maxime Fortunus

Matt Fraser

Luke Gazdic

Scott Glennie

Tristan King

Hubert Labrie

Travis Morin

Cristopher Nilstorp

Patrik Nemeth

Jamie Oleksiak

Toby Petersen

Antoine Roussell

Colton Sceviour

Tyler Sloan

Austin Smith

Reilly Smith

Mathieu Tousignant

Tomas Vincour

Francis Wathier

The following players have been assigned to their respective Junior teams:

Radek Faksa (Kitchener – OHL)

Maxime Lagace (PEI – QMJHL))

Brett Ritchie (Niagara – OHL)

Matej Stransky (Saskatoon – WHL)

Troy Vance (Victoriaville – QMJHL)

Hopefully the NHL can come up with a deal and save the season for us the fans but for right now looks like Stars fans can see their favorite prospects in the juniors and the Texas Stars.

Trevor Daley (Photo: Bridget Samuel/Flickr)

This season Trevor Daley enters his ninth career NHL season (all with Dallas) thus making him the second longest tenured active Star player (behind Brenden Morrow) and longest tenured blue liner. Trevor Daley turns 29 this October so he is just hitting the prime of his career and still has a long time in a Stars uniform as he is entering the second season of his six-year extension he signed in 2011. So with the departure of Sheldon Souray this off season, who played many of the crunch time minutes and a lot on the penalty kill and power play, Daley sees an opportunity to take those minutes and show how he has evolved.

Through Daley’s first five seasons he had the mentors of Sergei Zubov, Phillipe Boucher, and Mattias Norstrom. And the past few seasons we have seen what that leadership did to the game of Daley. George Royle explores the game of Trevor Daley more in his article here.

A big positive for Daley is his everlasting consistency, in the past five seasons Daley has suited up for at least 75 regular season games (two of those seasons he suited up for all 82 regular season games) and averages around 24 points a season, also rounding out being a plus player.

So to preview Daley, he has proven to be consistent so we can expect him to miss only a handful of games if not just play every single one and around the mid twenties for his point production, Trevor Daley is now a long time veteran and expect him to provide the leadership of what it takes to play in the NHL and to play in a Dallas Stars uniform for young players like Brenden Dillon and Jamie Oleksiak who are projected to see some playing time in the NHL this season.

Trevor Daley (Photo Taken by Melissa Grissom)

Last season, I felt that the Dallas Stars built up a decent and consistent defensive unit. It contained a nice blend of youth and experience as well as a lot of physicality. Trevor Daley was an integral part of that unit and he had a great 2011/12 campaign.

Late in 2010, Daley was given a massive 6 year extension on his contract, worth $19.8 million. This emphasises how GM Joe Nieuwendyk knows that Trevor is a crucial player on the roster and that keeping him in Dallas for a long period of time was needed. Daley has over 500 appearances for the Stars, and the new contract was thoroughly deserved, as he has worked hard on his game over the years.

So, what does Trevor Daley bring to the Dallas Stars? He is a very athletic skater and provides good go-forward with the puck and provides his forwards with some good distribution, something he shows on the powerplay. He is also very durable, playing big minutes without picking up a lot of injuries.

Despite his high levels of athleticism and a good skating ability, Daley lacks size and therefore physicality on the ice. Last season, he was paired with veteran Nicklas Grossmann before he departed to join the Flyers. As Grossmann is a very physical defenseman, this made the pairing an effective one. With Grossmann now in Phillie, Daley could be given a fresh partner for next season. I would like to see him paired with Mark Fistric. Mark is a very big defenseman and will provide the physicality in the pairing whilst Daley provides the athleticism.

Daley is 28 and is in the prime years of his NHL career. With the experience he has, he will also act as a good mentor to the younger players on the roster. Both Adam Pardy and Philip Larsen are young and upcoming defenseman with the Stars, and they will look to players such as Daley for advice. The Stars also have their first pick from the 2011 draft, Jamie Oleksiak at their fingertips. The defensive unit is looking pretty good for years to come.

I am looking forward to seeing Trevor Daley in a Stars Jersey for a few more seasons. I think he is improving vastly year on year and I wish him the best of success for the 2012/13 campaign.

Stephane Robidas (Photo taken by Melissa Grissom)

#3/ Defenseman

March 3rd, 1977 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

5’11/ 196 lbs

GP: 75

G: 5

A: 17

P: 22

+/-: -5

PIM: 48

Contract Status: 2 years at $3.3 Million Dollars

Boston throws out Zdeno Chara for half of each game, Nashville has the dynamic duo of Ryan Suter and Shea Weber playing the majority of minutes on the back end, and down in Dallas we have Stephane Robidas who fills those shoes, every game he suits up knowing he will be going head to head with the best forwards of the opponent that night and obviously not the biggest player by a long shot, but amongst many players and coaches Robidas is noted as one of the toughest to play against and where he lacks in size he makes up for in heart in determination. This has not gone unnoticed as Robidas was voted TSN’s 2009 No Guts, No Glory champion (an unofficial award) for taking a shot to the face breaking his jaw in a game against Phoenix, but only missed one shift putting a cage on his face and logging more ice time than any other skater that night. Since the retirement of Mattias Nordstrom and the departures of Phillipe Boucher and Sergei Zubov in 2008, Stephane Robidas has averaged about 24 minutes a game and if you take every game Robidas has played since the 2008 playoffs that is almost 7,500 minutes of him taking a beating from big forwards and also handing out crushing body checks of his own.

Stephane Robidas has been with the organization for a long time in two tours of duty, including being traded in the 2003-2004 season to the Chicago Blackhawks for Jon Klemm and returning to Dallas as a free agent the very next offseason. He is second only to Brenden Morrow amongst active Dallas Stars in career games played in a Stars uniform, (632 of 799 career NHL games) and one All-Star appearance in the 2009 All-Star game in Montreal.

Robidas is a part of the aging leadership core in Dallas and in all those games and all those minutes his health really started to take a toll this season with injuries and often being exposed by other teams top lines and at the age of 35 with young rookies like Brenden Dillon looking for a spot on the NHL roster next season and possibly first round draft pick Jamie Oleksiak getting a look at NHL ice time some point next season will the Stars be better suited moving Robidas to a team that has a better spot for him possibly as a strong second or really good third pair defenseman, and moving on possibly making room for a free agent and moving the veteran leadership responsibilities to Trevor Daley and Alex Goligoski.