More challenges await, but Stars' needed road win a positive to build on

MONTREAL -- On a night when Alexander Radulov returned to the lineup, the top line was reunited, and Jason Spezza played his 1,000th regular-season game, the Stars turned to a depth forward and two young defensemen to get their first road win of the season.
Oh yeah, and Ben Bishop was pretty good, too.
The Stars' 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre wasn't pretty or perfect. In fact, it probably opens the door for even more questions about this team's ability to create emotion on the road. Still, it also could be the first step in patching up a few holes that dearly needed some spackle.

Dallas moves to 1-1-0 to start this six-game road trip. It moves to 6-5-0 overall. And, it has some momentum that can help provide a good learning environment.
"We're obviously happy with the result, but we still have a lot of work to do," said coach Jim Montgomery.
The Stars are an interesting team right now. They are searching for chemistry, searching for a plan, and searching for points. For large parts of Tuesday's affair, they missed out on the first two. With Radulov returning to the lineup after missing four games, Montgomery put his lines in a blender and watched an awkward first period where everybody seemed a little bit off.
But Bishop stepped up in a big way, and the pipes helped him a good deal, too.
And that was a fortuitous gift from the hockey gods.
But the thing is, the Stars didn't waste it. Montgomery scrambled his lines, putting Radulov back with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, Devin Shore and Mattias Janmark with Spezza, and Radek Faksa with Blake Comeau and Jason Dickinson, and the Stars responded with a much better second period.

Bishop stopped a penalty shot from Artturi Lehkonen, and the Stars responded by scoring twice on great passes from Shore.
The first came on the power play, the second right after the man-advantage expired.
Truth be told, the first unit was struggling mightily, despite Radulov's return, so getting that depth scoring was huge for this game. It also might be huge for the season. Shore fed Esa Lindell on the first goal and Miro Heiskanen on the second. That will help Shore, of course, but also help the young defensemen believe that they also can snap in a goal or two.
Montreal then came pushing back and scored three minutes into the third period. Brendan Gallagher crashed the crease and forced a puck past Bishop. The Stars challenged for goaltender interference, but lost. That double whammy could have really put the Stars in a tough place, especially with their previous struggles in third periods this season, and Montreal gaining a power play four minutes later.
But instead of crumbling and allowing the tying goal, Faksa and Shore created mayhem in the Canadiens end of the ice and scored a shorthanded goal. Faksa was a bulldog in getting the puck, and Shore roofed a backhand to give the Stars a 3-1 lead.
"I thought that was the best we've done in closing out a game," Montgomery said. "I loved how Faksa worked so hard to get that goal for Shore. I thought we played with a lot more desperation throughout the game."
That said, Bishop was under significant duress. Even in that great third period, the Stars were outshot 16-5, and looked a little like the team that had blown leads in previous games.
Afterward, they said they weren't.
"I do think the third period was a little too wide open for our liking, but we did a lot of good stuff," said Shore. "Our crappy third periods with the lead have been us just completely sitting back. At least we went at them, we created stuff for us."

And that was a lesson they will build on.
"It's easy to talk about it and say learn from it when you win -- but Bish was unbelievable," Shore said. "It wasn't perfect, but I do believe it was a good third period with the lead on the road."
A lead on the road in a very tough arena with Spezza's family and Montgomery's family in attendance (it was the coach's first game in his hometown) -- not to mention that dang road curse hanging over their heads.
So, yes, this was important.
"To win in this building should give us a lot of confidence that we can win anywhere," Spezza said. "You hear the crowd there, they get rocking and then momentum takes over. But I thought we did a good job of stopping it.
"Bish had to make the big saves in the first, but once he did that, I thought we settled the game down."
Enough to look forward with some positivity.
"I think we can build on the fact that we finished the game and we had a lot of people contribute and there are a lot of areas we can get better at … and we have to get better at," Montgomery said.
Which is a pretty good feeling as they head to Toronto with more challenges ahead.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika,and listen to his podcast.