DALLAS — It wasn’t just the first shorthanded goal of Tyler Seguin’s NHL career, it was the first shorthanded goal of his entire life.
And that’s not an exaggeration after the Dallas Stars beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Thursday. Seguin has a seemingly photographic memory of goals he’s scored, if he’s put the puck in the net, he can remember most of the details.
The shorthanded goal on Thursday was a point of pride for Seguin and the Stars. Since Ken Hitchcock has re-taken over in Dallas, he’s done his best to make the center a complete player.
Two games ago Seguin nearly scored on 5-on-3 penalty kill, but hit the post. Against the Devils it was a two-on-one with Jamie Benn where the final pass — which looked a lot like a whiffed shot — set up Seguin for his 20th goal of the season.
“We talked about it on the ice and said that was a pass,” Seguin confirmed.
Sure.
Either way, it was rewarding.
“I love being on the PK,” Seguin said. “I’ve felt that extra responsibility since training camp and since we first talked when Hitch first got named coach here he said I was going to get that opportunity, I love doing it. Happy I got one.”
Seguin had two minutes and 17 seconds of shorthanded ice time, second highest amount forwards behind Radek Faksa, and actually led the team with two blocked shots in the victory.
Noted penalty killing experts Martin Hanzal and Marc Methot were impressed.
“He’s getting better. I mean even in the beginning of the season I don’t think he was that bad he was pretty good,” Hanzal said. “As the season is going he’s getting better and yeah, he’s smart hockey player.”
“I couldn’t be happier for him,” Methot said. “You know he’s just grown. Not to say he’s a young guy necessarily he’s been in the league a long time already but a little added responsibility never hurts and I think it just shows that your coaches trust you and when you win your coaches trust like that it’s huge for a player’s confidence. He’s playing great hockey for us right now.”
Methot solidifies third pair
Methot had 24 shifts for 16 minutes, and seven second of ice time in his first game back from a knee injury.
For Hitchcock the third pair of Stephen Johns and Methot solidified the Stars defense.
“That’s a hard pair to play against, they’re big, they’ve got size, they can make a play and overall I thought our group back there handled a very tough group of forwards,” Hitchcock said.
Stars assistant coach Rick Wilson was tasked with handling Methot’s minutes against New Jersey and after some early jitters the veteran said he felt comfortable.
“I felt a little weird right off the bat like I hadn’t been on the ice I hadn’t stepped on for a shift in a while as you know so I think just leading up to that first shift for me was maybe a bit of a mental challenge but I kept it simple,” Methot said. “Like I said this morning I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel out there I think my game’s pretty simple it’s being physical and making life difficult for some of the opponents so I thought I did that.”
Methot said he felt at home killing penalties in his first game back, and he said it was a good fit with Johns in that situation.
“I love it. I love killing penalties. You don’t want to be on the kill all game but I think if you don’t’ have a role in this league you’re not playing in the league right?” Methot said. “So I think you have to take advantage whether you’re a killer or on the power play to do your job and I’ve always done that.”
Hanzal plays his role
When Hitchcock talks about Hanzal, he talks about a player that gets big minutes in big situations.
That’s how the Stars used the center late in a one-goal game against New Jersey. He took three defensive zone face-offs in the final three minutes and won three of them, the one he lost the Stars were able to gain possession and iced the puck.
Hanzal was on the fourth line on Thursday, but Hitchcock said he’d like to elevate Hanzal in the lineup, perhaps moving him into a top-six role on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers.
“We would prefer to get Marty up,” Hitchcock said. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow, if he feels fine we’ll push him up. He needs to play more, this is a good start. But quite frankly he needs to play more, if we get him up to 16 or 17 minutes that where he needs to be.”
Scout’s view
There were scouts from 10 NHL teams in the building watching the game, including the Devils (for obvious reasons), Bruins, Hurricanes, Red Wings, Rangers, Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Avalanche, Lightning, and Coyotes.
I was able to catch up with a couple of the during the second intermission for a couple notes and quotes on the Stars.
On Brett Ritchie:
“I normally don’t like his game, but he’s doing what he needs to with those two guys (Benn and Seguin). I still don’t think he’s earned that spot on the power play, but he’s got a hell of a shot and if he can put it together, I feel like there is something there.”
On Radek Faksa:
“Put him on the power play, that’s what I would do. He’s been one of their best players in five-on-five, why don’t you reward him with some power play time. I also like how he’s improved, he’s turned face-offs into a strength.”
On Jason Dickinson:
“He’s not standing out much, but I like that they’re playing him. You have a young guy like that, and you want to see him get a chance and see what he can do. He doesn’t compete as much as (Gemel) Smith does, that’s one thing that line is missing.”
On Stephen Johns:
“He’s always made mistakes, but he also gets away with them more than most guys do. It’s a lot of luck, but it hasn’t hurt his confidence. I think playing with Methot was good for him. I saw him play last week with (Julius) Honka and it was a bit awkward with him on the left, this was better for him and team.”
Odds and ends
-The Stars practice at noon tomorrow in Frisco, it is open to the public.
– John Klingberg registered a helper (0-1=1) against the Devils. He has inked the scoresheet in a career-best eight consecutive games (1-9=10) on home ice. Klingberg has 36 points (5-31=36) in 42 games this season.
Zach Johnson says
One of the more underrated aspects of Seguin’s game before Hitch arrived was his defensive game. He’s been solid, for the most part, but he never got the opportunity to kill penalties. Now that he’s gotten that opportunity, he’s really shown that he can be an elite two-way center.
He probably won’t get many Selke votes, simply because his reputation has always been that of a scorer rather than a 200 foot center. Plus, the Selke voting seems to be stuck among a group of already established two-way centers (Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar, Kesler, etc.) and there are other guys coming up that are more known for playing that role and will seemingly carry the torch (Barkov, Stone, Matthews, etc.).