Penalties have defined the first week of the NHL preseason.
There were 19 combined minor penalties when the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 5-3 on Tuesday. Watching a handful of preseason games on Wednesday evening it was more of the same, lots of penalties and ensuing frustrations by the players.
It’s certainly detracted from the game quality so far, but is it going to make the NHL better in the long run?
While I think the face-off violation rule isn’t as necessary, curbing the number of slashes and making a stand that it will be called strictly sets a nice precedent for the regular season. Even if it leads to some early preseason frustrations.
“I think it’s for the best, I’ve been a victim of it too,” Stars defender Marc Methot said. “That stickwork is something I hate. I don’t ever play that way. I like to play physical and clean, some players like to use their stick a little more to their advantage and I think it’s good that the NHL is cracking down on it.”
Methot was the victim of a nasty slash from Sidney Crosby during the playoff last season that led to a disfigured pinky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OrwMIJAnq8
Preseason Game 2
Dallas will play it’s second preseason game against the Colorado Avalanche this evening in Denver.
Unfortunately the game isn’t going to be streamed or televised, but it will be broadcast on Altitude Sports AM 950. You can find the audio link here.
We won’t have the Stars full lineup until the morning skate, but Ken Hitchcok did say earlier this week that Jason Spezza would play in Colorado. Hitchcock also said that Nick Caamano would get another preseason game and he’ll likely play with Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov.
It’s also a probably a fair guess that Kari Lehtonen will make his preseason debut in Colorado after Ben Bishop and Mike McKenna played Tuesday.
Housekeeping notes
– Assuming Mike McKenna isn’t in the travel group, I will be recording a podcast with the goalie this afternoon. If all goes according to plan it will be posted this afternoon.
– The mailbag comes out tomorrow. If you have any questions you’d like answered you can Tweet them my way or comment on this post.
Catch-up links
Dallas Stars Prospect Insider: September
Finding a defense partner for Methot, if not Klingberg then who?
Today’s Schedule
The Stars skate at Frisco this morning. The game group will skate at 10:30 a.m., the non-game group will skate at 12:30. Skates in Frisco are open to the public.
BigZee says
Mailbag-How come everyone is surprised that Justin Dowling is so good? He’s always been good. He’s been a plus player every year in Cedar Park and he has pretty nice PPG numbers. Every time he’s come back from an injury it’s like he never missed a beat.