Stephen Johns benched for mistakes in Dallas Stars 2-0 loss to Boston Bruins

Stephen Johns was stuck in Lindy Ruff’s dog house in the Dallas Stars 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

Johns, who has struggled recently, looked bad on each of the Stars goals against. On the first goal he turned the puck over, on the second he didn’t pay attention and let Torey Krug coast into position behind him.

As a result Johns was benched for the remainder of the second period after Krug’s goal.

https://twitter.com/dnadders/status/847614580851331073

Johns did return to in the third period but only had four shifts in the final frame. He finished with 9 minutes, 59 seconds of ice time. Every other Stars defender had at least 16 minutes, 56 seconds of ice time.

Postgame video

Honka returns

Julius Honka returned to the NHL lineup and had 20 minutes, six seconds of ice time over 23 shifts.

With the Texas Stars virtually eliminated from the playoffs, it’s time for Honka to learn on the fly in the NHL.

Honka is going to make mistakes in the NHL and he’s going to be exposed, but this is actually good for his development over the final five games.

Honka has reached a point in the AHL where he makes mistakes, but can make up for them with his speed and skating ability. That’s not the case in the NHL, and Honka is going to be forced to adapt and find the right way to play his game in the NHL.

For example, he learn from mistakes like this:

https://twitter.com/dnadders/status/847631965058510848

The goals

First Period

15:14 Brad Marchand scored after Antti Niemi couldn’t control a rebound. Bruins 1, Stars 0

https://twitter.com/dnadders/status/847602484503756801

Second Period

1:18 Torey Krug scored on the power play when Stephen Johns didn’t pick up his man by the net. Bruins 2, Stars 0

https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/847608528957132800