thought i would jump in this thread if you guys do not mind....have watched most stars' games including the last two(the last two have been rather odd) gotta say i agree with your take and lean under. if it werent those damn rangers i would really like under 5.5 goals on monday but with ny being so feeble defensively, i will just make it a normal play on the under. good luck!
from dallas morning news...
Islanders nip Stars in OT, 3-2
10/29/2001
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News
UNIONDALE, N.Y. ? The last thing that Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said to the media Sunday might have been the most telling.
"It's a wide-open game," Hitchcock said. "Get used to it, folks."
The Stars, fans and the rest of the NHL are trying. It is ... different.
The reason for the surprise wasn't the result, a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders that gave the Stars three out of four points in back-to-back games against the NHL's hottest teams.
Islanders captain Mike Peca scored just under the crossbar on a breakaway against Marty Turco for the win 3:25 into overtime.
Attention was focused on the shot clock. Just like their 90-shot fest Friday against the Detroit Red Wings, the Stars both created scoring chances (43 shots) and allowed them (46 shots).
The Stars last recorded back-to-back 40-shot performances in 1995 with current general manager Bob Gainey behind the bench. And you have to go back to March 1990 to find the previous time the team yielded 40 shots in consecutive games. The Minnesota North Stars under Pierre Page did it in three consecutive games.
Forward Jamie Langenbrunner, who scored his first goal of the season, called it a "red flag for us. That's not our style of game."
Once upon a time, a team that got 20 shots on the Stars felt like it had generated a lot of offense.
Things have changed for the moment.
"Ninety shots in two games is not our team," defenseman Darryl Sydor said. "We're making our goaltenders work too hard, and they're keeping us in the game. We've got to get back to a defensive style with attack when we get the opportunity.
"Sometimes less is more."
Turco and Ed Belfour have combined to stop 85 of 91 shots the last two games, a .934 save percentage that might not hold against sustained pressure.
The difference in style at both ends can be traced to the retooled team, one with more skill and one capable of generating more offense than in the past.
Players are doing what they're paid to do.
"It's a different look to our team," Mike Modano said. "It's going to take time to get the right reads to decide when to go and not to go. Guys want to score. Guys were brought here to score goals and be offensive, so there will be some chances taken to get those."
He isn't sure if the radical change will last ? or be allowed to last by Hitchcock.
"I doubt it," Modano said. "We haven't played that way in five years, so I don't think he's going to change. There's a time to go offensively and a time not to go. We have to know when it is."
Hitchcock was less concerned with the amount of shots and chances his team are creating than the totals on the other side.
The Stars (4-3-2-2) were credited with 13 giveaways Sunday and most came in the neutral zone, where they were quickly turned into scoring chances the other way by the Islanders.
Players are going to have to make the right decisions if they try to carry the puck through the neutral zone, Hitchcock said. Peca's game-winner came off a neutral-zone turnover.
The Stars want the shots. They also want smart decisions.
"That's the team we have," Hitchcock said. "We knew that going into the season. It's a shot-mentality team. We have lots of people who can do it.
"It's the against-shots that are concerning us deeply. We are trading chances."
[This message has been edited by wigs (edited 10-29-2001).]
