The Dallas Stars have done their best to impress owner Tom Gaglardi in his hometown.
In their past 14 games against the Vancouver Canucks the Stars are now 13-0-1 after a 2-1 overtime victory on Monday evening.
“I think when we go to Tom Gaglardi’s house every year we get to see and feel how much his family, not only is it a business for them, but they care a lot,” Tyler Seguin said. “I think that’s what makes us want to come and always put on a show and where our heart on our sleeves and representing Dallas.”
Rad finish
Alexander Radulov’s game-winning goal added another highlight to an impressive trip for the Russian.
In overtime on Monday he had numerous chances, eventually ending the game with a fake pass to Mattias Janmark and then sniping a shot past Jacob Markstrom.
“I was actually looking to make a play to a (Janmark) at first, then I see he’s not there, so I just kind of took a chance to take a shot, and it went in, so it’s good,” Radulov said.
The entire shift was a prime example of what Radulov has brought to the Stars. The finish was pretty, but it doesn’t happen without a full 200-foot effort Radulov made earlier in overtime.
“Just work ethic and compete, there’s never an off day for him, includes practice,” Seguin said. “He puts the work before skill, and he gets rewarded as of late.”
Ben Bishop, who was also superb on Monday, said he’s come to expect that from the forward.
“You don’t expect much less, you see it every day in practice he works really hard,” Bishop said.
Defensive usage
Throughout the Stars road trip the usage of the defense has been interesting to track.
On Monday here was how it played out:
John Klingberg 25:10
Dan Hamhuis 21:00
Esa Lindell 20:52
Greg Pateryn 20:20
Marc Methot 19:07
Jamie Oleksiak 11:06
Oleksiak was the low-man on the totem poll throughout the game, but it was most evident in the third period. Oleksiak had five shifts in the third period of a close game, the rest of the defenders had at least eight, while four had 11 or more.
It’s going to be interesting to see how things shake out later this week if Stephen Johns is cleared and available for Thursday’s game in Winnipeg.
Close call
While the Stars won, it wasn’t a good game.
The Canucks where the better team and outshot the Stars 39 to 29. The possession numbers were even worse, with Vancouver having an edge in shot attempts at 65-40.
On top of that, the Canucks were getting shots from the right areas.
Moral of the story?
Bishop stole the game with 38 saves.
Without his effort the game never makes it to overtime and this game could have turned into a laugher. Markstrom was very good for Vancouver, but he only had to be good in response to Bishop’s play — on a typical night an average goaltending performance for the Canucks easily wins that game.
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