DALLAS _ Ken Hitchcock continues to hammer the need for poise in his developing Stars team, and Tuesday's game showed the players are listening.
Dallas patiently waited out a desperate Montreal Canadiens team and then struck with two huge goals late in the second period en route to a 3-1 win before a sellout crowd at American Airlines Center.
Dallas moves to 11-9-1 (23 points), while the Canadiens fall to 8-12-2 (18 points).
"The one thing we've been guilty of in the first 20 games is swinging for the fences and trying to get it all back in one shift, and that's kind of escalated," Hitchcock said Monday. "You like the desire, but we go from limited risk to full risk, and sometimes that ends up in the back of the net."
On Tuesday, the Stars sustained a couple of big pushes from the Canadiens and found a way to get back from a 1-0 deficit. The play was a simple one, but exactly what Hitchcock had been talking about. After the Stars were foiled on a couple of chaotic shifts in the Montreal end of the ice, Esa Lindell was moving the puck out of the defensive end.
The young defenseman hesitated for a second, saw a nice opening and then made a cross-ice bank pass off the boards to partner John Klingberg, who was streaking up the right wing. Klingberg carried the puck into the offensive zone, slid it across to Devin Shore in the slot, and Shore snapped in his second goal of the season.
The goal did so much more than tie the game, as it took away the veneer of perfection from young Montreal goalie Charlie Lindgren, fired up Shore, who had just scored his first goal of the season Saturday, and proved that Hitchcock's line shuffling was working.
A minute later, the same line of Shore, Jason Spezza and Tyler Seguin scored again to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. Seguin took a hard angle shot, and the puck landed at the feet of Lindgren. Spezza camped out in front of the net and paid the price as he was knocked on his back while sweeping in the rebound for his second goal in as many games.
It was a statement in many ways for a team that has been looking for positive enforcement. For Seguin, it was his first real success since being moved away from the top line with Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov.
"It's an adjustment, but we're all making adjustments," Seguin said Monday. "I think that's part of the process, and I think we're all working hard. We haven't had a problem with effort at all, so that's encouraging. It's just a matter of putting that effort in the right places. There's lots to learn, lots to build off of, a lot of good things heading in the right direction."
For Spezza, it was success as a winger. Hitchcock moved the veteran center to wing this season, and Spezza said he actually is enjoying learning how to play a new position.
"If I know I'm going to play wing and I get to prepare as a wing, I really do like it," he said. "I think I'm starting to understand the position more and what my role is."
For Shore, it was reinforcement that he's doing the right thing and creating scoring chances even though he went the first 19 games with no goals.
And for the Stars, the win was a step in the right direction. In a game with a ton of distractions like Jamie and Jordie Benn facing each other and former Montreal winger Radulov facing his old team, the Stars stuck to the game plan and succeeded.
Yes, Dallas is 8-2-0 at home and 3-7-1 on the road and has to play in Denver on Wednesday, so all of this could unravel quickly. But, you have to build one block on top of the next if you want to move forward in a season.
"I see a team forging an identity," Hitchcock said. "It's a process. I'm really enjoying the process, because I'm seeing a team emerge. It's going to be hard, it's going to be very challenging, and we've got a long way to go."
