No doubt in my mind he's the Stars MVP so far. He's pulled their fat out of the fire single-handed more times then they probably care to admit.

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lehtonen was the team mvp last season too. nobody ever questioned this guys talent, but it is nice to see that his health issues look to be behind him.

i think the stars need to rethink having roy man the point on the powerplay. i know he scored a goal from the point on the powerplay last night, but it was literally the first shot that he has gotten through traffic this season. i can't count how many times he has killed any momentum the team had.

anyways, nice to see the stars with their top two centers in the line-up for only the second game this season, though, they still haven't had their top six forwards healthy and playing together for a single game yet. the chemistry is coming, slowly... but the offense should come. especially with benn back and leading the charge.

Gulutzan has preached consistency with lineups recently, but I think this is still the one area where that consistency might be a ways off. They're following in last year's footsteps on the power-play. They are currently 23rd in the league at 13.9%, but that's only 0.4% above last year. And the rise of seven spots in the rankings is due to some surprise teams, Rangers, Bruins, Kings, and Wings, being even more futile on the man advantage.

Maybe allowing the power-play units some time to gel together is the answer, maybe it isn't, we'll see as time goes on. I do have to admit I haven't been taking careful notes on who's been manning which power-play lately. I will correct that going forward.

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Some great observations from the mind of Heika.....

http://starsblog.dallasnews.com/2013...ctations.html/

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benn jagr morrow on one.
eriksson ryder and vincour with roy on the point on the other.

your point about giving this team some time to gel is warranted and makes sense. they haven't been given much of a chance with all of the injuries and benn's contract stuff... sure would be nice to have whitney on that top line.

morrow has been terrible and he should not be on the top line or on either powerplay. just my opinion, of course. but he has been very, very bad. it seemed last night after the first period that benn and jagr just kind of ignored him and they played a lot better as a result.

Right now Morrow is there for two reasons, net presence and to showcase him for a trade. His value is being in there to plug up the front of the net and try to screen for Jagr and Benn, while throwing in the odd goal or assist here and there. He does have a goal and an assist in the last two and is a plus-3 so he hasn't been dead-weight. If he can be that physical net presence and do what he's always done and bang bodies and do the dirty work, he should fetch interest from some contending teams towards the deadline.

I won't speculate who, that's not a strong suit of mine, but they are likely looking to move him. Mike Heika did mention in a tweet last week that he believes Morrow will be gone this season or in free agency. With Whitney out now is the time to show him off. Better to trade him and get something, rather than risk him walking for free in the offseason.

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Pretty quiet today on the news front from both Stepneski and Heika, so we can assume that the forward line combos will be the same....

Morrow-Benn-Jagr
Eriksson-Roy-Ryder
Smith-Eakin-Vincour
Nystrom-Fiddler-Roussel

And with the return of Goli to the lineup the D pairings should be....

Dillon-Robidas
Rome-Daley
Goli-Oleksiak

A mildly buzzed or slightly drunken recap later tonight.

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Make it three-in-a-row for the good guys. And they've scored three goals in each. Come to think of it they now have three days off until the take the ice again. Hmmm, I detect a theme....

- Alex Goligoski responded to his recent healthy scratch with two helpers, one of which came on the power-play. Hopefully he can build on this effort.

- Loui Eriksson showed off that lethal wrister beating Fasth top shelf on the short-side, giving Dallas an insurance goal late. He's going to be just fine people. Fear not, unless your an opposing goalie, then you have much to be afraid of.

- The Stars were able to exploit one of the leagues worst penalty kill units for two goals on the man advantage. It could, should, have been three after that five minute major to Staubitz for his attempted neutering of Brenden Dillon. For now though getting any production from the power play is very welcome.

- The Stars finally outshot somebody!!! The shots ended up 28-21 in our favor. That's more like it!

- The kids are alright. Oleksiak, Dillon, and Eakin in particular just keep getting better and better every night. Roussel has quietly been good in his role as an agitator as well.

- Interesting bit that is both good and bad. I've never seen an entire line get sent off at the same time with penalties. Roussel, Fiddler, and Nystrom pulled off the feat in the final minute of the first. That's the bad, and it was mitigated somewhat by Perry and Souray getting tossed at the same time for the Ducks. The good is that they certainly had each other's backs.

- The Stars now have as many wins after 20 years in Dallas as they did in 26 seasons as the North Stars up in Minny, 758.

That's all I have for now. Enjoy the win!

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This is just one of the reasons why you spend $4mil on a 40-year-old like Jagr....

https://twitter.com/bdougherty1102/s...009024/photo/1

One of those things that so often goes unnoticed at the time, and is only later seen indirectly through the benefits that stem from it. Even after all these years, your respect for Jagr just has to continue to grow and grow.

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Few articles and notes to start the week...

- Jamie Benn has been named NHL's second star of the week...

http://www.defendingbigd.com/2013/2/...ar-of-the-week

- Here's today's practice notes from Mark Stepneski as well....

http://starsinsideedge.com/2013/02/1...actice-update/

- Also from Mark is this writeup on the Big Rig....

http://starsinsideedge.com/2013/02/1...th-every-game/

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