Burnside: Five takeaways from Stars' 2-1 win over Rangers

The Dallas Stars came up with their third straight win Monday night as they squeaked by the New York Rangers 2-1.
Here are some mutterings regarding a game in which the Stars were probably better than the score suggested, but maybe, that's not such a bad thing.

1. This is how good teams go

It's fair to wonder out loud if this is a game the Stars might have let get away from them earlier in the season.
The Rangers came into this game banged up, struggling to string together wins and facing the prospect of key assets, like Rick Nash and others, being moved by the trade deadline. And the Stars did as one would imagine a good team would do, and that was take the game to them.
By the end of the first period, the Stars had outshot the Rangers 21-9 and had 37 shots/shot attempts to just 17 for the Rangers. But it was New York, thanks to a David Desharnais goal with 2:05 left in the first, which had the lead.
Then the Rangers got two early power plays in the second. But the Stars didn't blink. They didn't give up the second Ranger goal that would have changed the dynamic dramatically. And then they got rewarded for sticking with it when Tyler Seguin scored on a delayed penalty with just over five minutes remaining in the second period.
It was a just kind of play as Seguin had drawn the penalty by driving the net and ended up pounding a puck off the post and past Henrik Lundqvist moments later.
The Stars then got the winner on a Martin Hanzal deflection on a power play early in the third.
"We've got to stay with the game plan. That's the plan," said Hanzal, who was making his first start after missing five games with a lower-body injury. "We can't get frustrated because we are down one goal and we have to keep doing what we are supposed to do, and just keep working hard and stick to the game plan. That's the key."
After pouring four second-period goals past the Wild to break open a close game en route to a 6-1 win on Saturday, the Stars could have been excused if they might have expected another outpouring, given their chances against the Rangers. But they hunkered down and ground out two more points when the explosion didn't happen.
"I thought the thing we deserve credit for is we stayed with it. We didn't get frustrated, we stayed on the program, and we had some puck errors, but it wasn't from trying to hit a home run," Dallas head coach Ken Hitchcock said. "This game was really good for us because we had to go a bit deeper than we have here in the last couple games, and we dug deep to get it."

2. Still, there weremoments

If you're glass is half-full, then you look at the three second-period power plays that the Rangers had, but were unable to capitalize on, and say, well, that's good for the penalty kill. And that part is true. The penalty kill, as it has in the previous two games, was perfect.
But it was mildly troubling that the three minors -- all stick fouls -- took place at all.
Not much dispute on any of them, frankly. But credit the penalty kill, buoyed by the return of Hanzal and the play of Ben Bishop for making sure those lapses in judgment didn't cost the Stars. And even though the game-winner did come on a nice deflection by Hanzal on a third-period power play, the Stars had three first-period opportunities (the third carried into the second period) that could have helped break open the game. But especially, the top power-play unit never really got into a groove.
In fact, the lack of urgency on those early man-advantage opportunities spoke to comments made by Hitchcock Monday morning that he wanted to see more desperation in tracking down pucks on the power play.
It happened versus Minnesota, but it didn't really happen against the Rangers.
"Power play, for whatever reason, looked out of sync today," Hitchcock said.
There were a couple of other moments, including a pretty grisly Julius Honka turnover that led to a glorious David Desharnais chance in the second period. But in the end, the Stars were able to overcome.

3. Speaking of Hanzal

There is a kind of Groundhog Day element to writing about Hanzal this year. That's because when he's in the lineup, he makes an immediate impact. His presence is felt all over the ice, in all situations.
Consider that he played a modest 13:46 on Monday, scored the winner on the power play (he called it lucky, but really, a classic tip-drill goal), won eight of 11 faceoffs and played two minutes on the penalty kill. In short, he was as advertised.
"It's huge," Tyler Pitlick said of Hanzal's return. "I mean, when we have Martin in the lineup, we're really deep. Everyone can play. We roll the lines and he's so good on faceoffs and then the penalty kill. Like you saw on the power play, he's huge, the goalie can't see anything and he tips the puck and he gets a lot of goals that way. He's definitely a big, big part of our team and, hopefully, we can have him in the lineup."
And there's the rub, no?
Monday is another glimpse into what can be for this Stars team with a healthy -- or at least healthy enough to play -- Hanzal, and it is a nice picture.
How long does this last?
Since the end of October, he has not played more than seven games in a row before being sidelined by injury.
"He just manages the game so well, he's a real good player and we've missed him," Hitchcock said. "We've missed his presence, he's a real good pro, and I guess we're hoping that he stays healthy. He came through the game fine and that's a good sign. And a healthy Martin Hanzal makes us a lot different hockey club, and very difficult to play against."
The big center said it took him a while to get into the flow of the game, although we thought his impact was almost instantaneous playing with Remi Elie and Brett Ritchie.
"When I get a little bit more comfortable with my game, that's when I get more ice time and my confidence is going to go up, and that's when I'll be playing well again," he said.

4. One thing leads to another

When the Stars are at their best -- and maybe it is so for allteams that aspire to greater things -- there is a kind of interconnectedness within the lineup.
The energy from one line bleeds to the next and so on. It was so, in our estimation, Monday, starting with the Radek Faksa, Antoine Roussel, Pitlick unit as they ended up playing most of the night against the Rangers' top players Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello, keeping them in check, but also chipping in seven shots on goal and drawing the first two penalties of the game.
"They really set the table for us throughout the lineup, and, for me, they negated three really good hockey players," Hitchcock said.
Hanzal downplayed the line's importance, but not his teammates.
"I think Faks' line it's been really good for us pretty much all season," Hanzal said. "They playing against the top line, I know how hard it is, so they've been doing great job so far. That's it -- they've just playing well for us."
Added Pitlick: "I thought we were pretty good. I don't think it was our best game I guess. Maybe we were better than I thought we were. I think we can still do a little bit more in making plays. But we're still getting down there and we're getting the puck behind their defensemen and creating some chances. And (we are) creating just energy by getting down there and being physical and hanging onto the puck."

5. Bishop's return to net -- and to form

It was not an easy night for Bishop. He faced little activity through the first period, but then, with his team trailing 1-0, had to come up big as the team killed off two early power plays in the second period and then another Ranger power play shortly after Seguin had tied the game.
His left pad save on Zuccarello off a great Nash pass on a second-period power play was a game-changer. When all was said and done, Bishop, returning after a one-game absence after taking a puck to the face in Arizona on Thursday when he was the backup to Kari Lehtonen, ended a brief two-game slide with a tidy 31-save performance that probably should have earned him a star of the game. (We can say this because, well, we picked the three stars of the game on Monday and went with Lundqvist, Hanzal and Faksa.)
"I think this has got to be one of the best games of the year," Bishop said. "We played well in every facet of the game. The guys did a great job. Obviously, we went down 1-0, but we were playing so well, we were all over them and continued to play well."
The Stars moved into fifth in the league in goals allowed per game after the win, and Hitchcock has been effusive in his praise of both netminders.
"It's nice, but it's a team effort," Bishop said. "You've got to have the guys in front of you willing to do the work to help you be successful and the guys definitely do it in this room, playing defense and doing the right thing, giving Kari and I the opportunity to succeed. It's nice.
"You want to get up there. You want to be difference makers between the two of us. You want to win that award (the William Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the league) every year, but it takes a whole team to make that work."
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. You can follow Scott on Twitter at @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his Burnside Chats podcast here.