{"id":89912,"date":"2025-12-16T12:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/89912\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:50:11","slug":"dallas-stars-learning-old-hockey-adage-good-things-happen-when-you-put-pucks-on-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/89912\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Stars learning old hockey adage \u2014 good things happen when you put pucks on net"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a roster full of scorers like the Stars<\/a> have, you wouldn\u2019t think their primary issue would be generating scoring chances.<\/p>\n

The Stars have two of the top 10 scorers in the league, but in recent games, you wouldn\u2019t know. Not only has Dallas struggled to score \u2014 it\u2019s struggled to put shots on net.<\/p>\n

Despite sitting comfortably above .500, the Stars have among the worst shot differentials in the league this season at -91. Only the Sharks, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs and Bruins are worse in that category.<\/p>\n

In Dallas\u2019 latest game against the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>, that number worsened, as the Kings outshot the Stars 28-26. <\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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But Monday\u2019s win showed improvement throughout, as the dormant offense in the first half of the game came alive in the last 25 minutes of play. It\u2019s a hockey clich\u00e9 that good things happen when you put pucks on net, and Dallas learned that late in Monday\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it a lot,\u201d Stars forward Mikko Rantanen<\/a> said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to generate more 5-on-5 and play more offense in 5-on-5. We missed the net quite a bit today, so I don\u2019t think the shots were telling the whole story, but we\u2019ve just got to simplify a little bit, get bodies at the net and get pucks there and try to get some gritty goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 26-shot performance snapped a three-game streak of the Stars registering 20 or fewer shots on goal. It was the first time since 2013 that they went that many games without crossing the 20-shot mark.<\/p>\n

After being shut out two nights before for the first time this season<\/a> by the Florida Panthers, the Stars were on their heels early, as the Kings took an 11-5 lead in shots on goal through 20 minutes. Los Angeles built on that lead in the second, outshooting the Stars again 13-9. <\/p>\n

Through two periods, Dallas had just 14 shots on net. But a shot by Rantanen redirected by Matt Duchene late in the second put the Stars on the board. Then, a shot by Radek Faksa deflected by Oskar B\u00e4ck early in the third became the game-winner. Rantanen and Johnston added insurance tallies with under four minutes to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the stingiest hockey team in the league defensively,\u201d Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. \u201cI thought our guys did a really good job of just staying with it and finally started to break through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stars got off to a 7-1 shot advantage early in the third when they took their first lead of the game. They finished with a 12-4 advantage in the final frame.<\/p>\n

The Stars have still not outshot an opponent in their last five games.<\/p>\n

Shots on goal don\u2019t always correspond to goals, but the Stars have needed to try all they can to find some offensive spark 5-on-5. When Duchene tied Monday\u2019s game 1-1 late in the second period, he scored the Stars\u2019 first even strength goal in 193:11 of game action.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s over three full games.<\/p>\n

Whether it was struggling with zone entries, making one too many passes or getting their shots blocked, Dallas couldn\u2019t seem to put pucks on net. It was even more important they did so Monday on a backup goaltender after Kings starter Darcy Kuemper left the game in the first period with an injury.<\/p>\n

Once they did, it paid off. <\/p>\n

In games when the Stars have outshot opponents, they\u2019re 10-3-1 this season. In ones they\u2019ve been outshot, they\u2019re 12-4-4. <\/p>\n

Ranking third-to-last in the league in shots per game, it\u2019s a stat they\u2019ll have to continue to improve upon. The Colorado Avalanche rank first, averaging nearly 10 shots more per night.<\/p>\n

But Monday\u2019s third period was a decent first step.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stayed on the gas once we got up a goal,\u201d Stars forward Matt Duchene said. \u201cI liked that we stayed with that killer instinct to end the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big win for us. We want to now springboard going into Christmas. It\u2019s important to go into a break where you can kind of reflect with some wins and some good hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a roster full of scorers like the Stars have, you wouldn\u2019t think their primary issue would be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,1115,3633,4679,3626,2484,154,2486],"class_list":["post-89912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-dallas-stars","tag-glen-gulutzan","tag-matt-duchene","tag-mikko-rantanen","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-stars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}