It’s a minor note, but one thing I’ve noticed during the preseason games at American Airlines Center are the seemingly more lively end boards than last season.
In Tuesday’s win against the Minnesota Wild there were a couple dump-ins that got away from the goalies, and a couple of those misdirections led to scoring chances.
The same thing happened on Monday against the Colorado Avalanche. In that game Brett Ritchie scored after a shot by Devin Shore took a hard bounce off the end boards.
Ritchie's goal from last night off a Faksa rebound. pic.twitter.com/oPk7My8DVX
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) September 26, 2017
In that same game Ben Bishop was forced to make a difficult recovery save after a hard misdirection off the end boards for the Avalanche on a sharp-angle shot.
I asked Kari Lehtonen about the lively boards after the game Tuesday.
“I don’t think about it too much, but I see that,” Lehtonen said. “There were a couple times you’d normally go play the puck, and didn’t feel comfortable doing it because of the bounces some times.”
It’s something to keep in mind moving forward and it would play well into the narrative of the “Detroit model” that the Stars love to replicate. For years the Red Wings took advantage of lively boards at Joe Louis Arena, in fact Nick Lidstrom would often shoot pucks wide on purpose to create power play chances.
Not saying the AAC is on that level, but it could be a slight home-ice advantage to keep an eye on.
Housekeeping notes
– Mailbag call for questions will be posted around lunch time today on Twitter and Reddit. You can also leave mailbag questions in the comments on this post or in the Facebook comments.
– There will be a subscriber story coming out later today with a scouting look at the last two preseason games. Half the NHL had scouts at the Stars last two games, and I had a chance to talk to a handful of them and pick their brains on Dallas with a third-party view.
Catch-up links
Shore takes advantage of first-line opportunity as Stars top Wild in preseason
Today’s schedule
The Stars have off today. They return to practice Thursday.
Justin.schmidt24 says
Think we will see a more energized Jamie benn? Miss the old benn that would chip the puck to himself split the d go top shelf. Aka “beast mode benn” he seemed kinda lazy last year. Granted that could be injury related.
Sean Shapiro says
He’s been good in preseason, looks much healthier. That’s going to be a big factor that kind of flew under the radar last season.
TBox56 says
Do you have any insight on what could be at the root of Gurianov’s inconsistencies? In my mind Hintz has already leapfrogged Gurianov in the prospect rankings.
Sean Shapiro says
I almost had Hintz over Gurianov in my last prospect rankings, and if trends continue he could easily be in that No. 2 spot soon. I think we’ll learn more about Gurianov’s inconsistencies this season. Is it a mental thing? Is it a confidence thing? It’s something I’m planning to track and try and figure out.