"We're doing better in overall goal scoring, but I'm not happy with our defensive play," Bowness said Tuesday. "We're not as sharp defensively as we were earlier, and I don't want to lose the commitment that we had back then. I think if you're looking for analytics and performance, the Carolina game is what we're looking for. We played great team defense, and that allowed us to create double the scoring chances that they created. That's what we want to do."
Bowness admits that the level of play from the competition, the level of energy from his own team because of the schedule, and the level of execution by the players all figure into the outcome -- but he added that striving to play that kind of game is what the Stars need to do every night.
The Stars in that 4-1 win on Feb. 11 had a 36-25 advantage in shots on goal, a 64-52 advantage in shot attempts, and they easily doubled up the Hurricanes in quality scoring chances. They won the battle of faceoffs, 40-28, won the battle of hits, 23-13, an drew four power plays while giving just one to Carolina. Now, the Hurricanes didn't play their best game and Dallas was coming off two days rest, so you can always find mitigating circumstances, but it is a game plan that Bowness and his coaching staff feel they can replicate.
"We've had a few games like that, and we know we can do it more," Bowness said.
The Stars as a team have stressed creating offense from defense for the past two seasons, and it definitely is becoming a mantra within the team. While they are allowing more shots on goal than they get (30.5 to 31.8), they rank sixth in high-danger scoring chances for, according to Natural Stat Trick with 545. They rank 10th in fewest high-danger chances against at 484 and they rank fifth in high-danger percentage at 52.96.
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Bottom line, the Stars know how to keep shots to the outside and counterpunch.
"If we play our game, and if we frustrate teams, then we can make them make mistakes and take advantage," Benn said. "When we get our chances, we've got to bear down and take advantage of them."
And that brings up another key stat: Dallas is 28th in the NHL in shooting percentage at 7.01 percent. So, is that a product of "the system?" Is that simply a slump for some key players? Or is it a concern that the players are not being put in situations that they can take advantage of?
Tyler Seguin is at 6.6 percent after connecting on 9.9 percent of his shots on goal last season. John Klingberg is at 4.3 percent after hitting at 6.5 percent last season. Pretty much every Stars player is down at least a point or two.
"In theory, it balances out," said forward Jason Dickinson. "But it's complicated because where are the shots coming from? Are they outside the dots? Are they on a breakaway? Obviously, we want to score more."
