First Shift 🏒
The Stars scored their first shorthanded goal of the season on Thursday at Minnesota.
That’s not a bad thing.
Dallas has had some ups and downs on the penalty kill this season, and the focus on actually killing the penalties has been a very positive motivation. By going 3-for-3 on the kill against the Wild, the lads in Victory Green ran their streak of consecutive kills to 34 straight over a span of 10 games.
Head coach Glen Gulutzan said the team struggled early, and so getting the numbers back to normal was crucial. On Nov. 22, Dallas ranked 25th in the penalty kill at 75.7 percent, so there was a real push by assistant coach Alain Nasreddine and his players to fix that hole in the game.
“Early on, we took on a lot of goals early and we were just trying to get it stabilized,” Gulutzan said. “Nas has done a great job of getting us stabilized, so a little less on the table was trying to push offense. Our penalty kill has been stingy, so we’re good there. We’re not trying to score, we’re trying to get the penalty killed.”
The shorthanded goals are just a bonus, and Miro Heiskanen’s was the result of an offensive zone faceoff, so that was a unique situation in its own right. And, truth be told, the Stars had only eight shorties all of last season, so it’s not a huge part of their game.
But it does open up a conversation about the kill and what has been going right. Since coming on in 2022, Nasreddine has run the second-best PK in the NHL at 82.6 percent. A big reason for that is his coaching and the fact Dallas has great players already in place.
Esa Lindell leads the NHL in shorthanded minutes throughout his career and is seen as one of the best defensive defensemen in the league. Added to that this year is the fact Heiskanen has been used more on the kill. Heiskanen is averaging 3:14 in shorthanded minutes this season after averaging just 0:41 last season.
That adjustment might have been part of the reason for the slow start. Add to that the fact that Radek Faksa returned after a year in St. Louis, Justin Hryckowian is new to the NHL level, and Oskar Bäck is being used more, and there were some adjustments.
“I think it’s just ups and downs in any season,” said Steel. “Pucks were going in and now they’re not.”
Lindell said he too felt the actual kill was good even when the numbers weren’t.
“Honestly, it felt the same,” Lindell said. “Sometimes, you just get in stretches where they score and you feel like you’re playing well. I thought we were fine then and I think we’re fine now.”
That said, there are adjustments and there are things the team can do to be better every game.
“I give Naz a lot of credit,” Gulutzan said. “That’s his baby and he takes care of it. It’s been one of the best in the league for years, and there’s a good reason for that.”
