PK To The Max!

Fourth game of a five game homestand for the Dallas Stars.

A chance to gain some momentum and get closer into the playoff chase and discussion.

First there was a little matter of an Eastern Conference team you may know as the Montreal Canadiens. 

Coming into action with  a 20-12-7 record Michel Therrien's group was ready to slow down the momentum Dallas appeared to have closing out 2013. Montreal was finishing out a six game road trip with their record at 23-14-4.

Dallas with a 6-3-1 record playing the East entering this game.

They got behind the eight ball pretty quickly. Despite two comeback ties Montreal would win on this night on the spirit and the strength of PK Subban and Max Pacioretty who each collected four points. Subban had one goal and three assists while Mad Max converted on two goals and two assists en route to a 6-4 win.

One thing the Stars weren't planning on is a flu bug that has hit the team sporadically in the past week to ten days. Ray Whitney was the latest casualty alongside Shawn Horcoff. Although Ray was able to skate he was kept out of Thursday night's game.

“He’s down some serious weight,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “He hadn’t practiced for two days. We let him skate this morning. We didn’t do anything with him. He wouldn’t have been good to play. Horcoff is suffering the same thing. We thought we were out of it, but it still seems to be biting the odd guy on the team.”

Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Valeri Nichushkin would account for three of the four scores.

After coming to tie the game up with scores of 2-2 and 4-4 the tandem of Pacioretty, Subban and Gallagher were key to being responsible for a combined eight points.

“P.K. probably played his best game of the season, not only offensively, but defensively, too. I really liked the work he and Francis Bouillon did in our zone,” offered head coach Michel Therrien, whose contingent heads back to Montreal with a 2-1-1 record on the four-game road swing. “He made good decisions with the puck and that’s important. That’s what we ask of him, to make good decisions. He took the space out there on the ice that the Stars gave him and he didn’t try to force anything.”

On the heels of a frustrating loss to Carolina on New Years Eve PK Subban was quick to talk about bouncing back and finishing strong on the road.

“We had some guys who made some really good little plays out there that might not make the highlights, but open up that open ice and give other guys the opportunity to make good plays. I thought that that line of Pacioretty, Desharnais and Gallagher played outstanding today,” cited Subban.

“They did some great things. They moved the puck. They moved themselves. They battled into open ice and they found each other out there,” continued Subban. “We knew how important this win was for us. We wanted to get it, but even when we got behind the eight-ball early, we still battled and worked hard for each other. It’s a great example of unselfish play. I think that’s important at this time of the season. For our team to be successful, we have to play like that every night.”

As for Dallas Lindy Ruff was quick to discuss the disadvantage Kari Lehtonen was under with the Habs in constant attack mode to start 2014.

“We put him under a lot of stress especially late when we were trying to get back in the game. I thought there was a couple that he’d probably like back, even the game-winning goal, he maybe anticipated that he was going to cross the crease there. He still gave us a chance when the game was on the line to get back in it, but we weren't good enough as a team. This wasn't about one guy, or the goalie, this was kind of a collective effort. Defensively we didn't move the puck very well, offensively we did enough things to battle to get back but we weren't responsible enough to help out our defense in a lot of situations.”

Dallas closes out their homestand with the Detroit Red Wings on January 4th. Always a great draw and forever the rivalry here for longtime Stars fans.

Back to the drawing board for the Dallas Stars (20-13-7).

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will