Ken Hitchcock remains stuck on 781 wins, one behind Al Arbour for third among coaches in NHL history. First the Dallas Stars lost their home opener to a team playing its first NHL game, falling to the Golden Knights 2-1 on Friday. Then they lost to Hitchcock's previous team, the St. Louis Blues, 4-2 on Saturday.
The Stars outshot the Golden Knights 46-30, including 35-18 through the first two periods, but Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding. The Stars got off to a good start against the Blues, even though they were playing the second game of a back-to-back set on the road, before St. Louis scored three goals in a five-minute span.
The Stars are a work in progress too. They never had their full lineup in the preseason, and they're adjusting to Hitchcock's style -- competing harder at the puck all over the ice, being harder to play against. Consider this quote from Hitchcock, and that it came before the first game:
"I think the buy-in in practice has been tremendous," he said. "It's been great. It's been as good as I've ever seen. I've never seen a team that competes against each other, shows the respect for each other the way they compete against each other. It's been fun to watch. It hasn't as translated into the games on a consistent basis yet, and I don't know how long that's going to take. I know we're going to get it turned, and I know we're going to be there, but it does not happen overnight. …
"We think in two weeks we've improved dramatically in some of the areas, but we've still got a ways to go, so we'll see after a few games, the first five or six games. But I certainly like what I see at practice. It's a telltale sign of where we're going to be in a month."