When you hit a rough patch in the NHL, you can either make excuses or you can break out of it. Two teams tried for the latter approach on Tuesday, but only one succeeded.
NHL scores 2014: Stars snap their streak while Penguins fall in New York
Tuesday saw the end of a few notable streaks in the NHL.
Alex Goodlett
The Dallas Stars, losers of eight straight games, rolled into Arizona fresh off an interesting practice session the previous day. Coach Lindy Ruff held what he called a "leadership drill", clearly designed to send a message to the team's best players that they needed to show up when it mattered most to drag the Stars out of the ditch.
They responded in full. Jamie Benn played physically, Tyler Seguin scored two critical goals to tie the game and Kari Lehtonen had a huge third period as the Stars took down the Arizona Coyotes and ended their losing streak in the process.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets faced a similar hurdle after losing eight straight. The only difference is their best players weren't available to step up. Columbus has been plagued by injuries. Sergei Bobrovsky, Artem Anisimov, Mark Letestu, Nathan Horton, Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Murray are all out for the time being.
So, unlike Dallas, the Blue Jackets were unable to pick themselves out of the ditch in a 3-2 loss to Washington. As one beat writer mentioned, if you take your big-contract players out of the equation, it matters. Dallas had theirs, Columbus didn't. The Stars found the light at the end of the tunnel while Columbus is still searching.
All the NHL scores
Stars 4, Coyotes 3
Capitals 4, Blue Jackets 2
Blackhawks 3, Lightning 2 (SO)
3 Things We Learned
1. It turns out the kryptonite of a Penguins' winning streak is a good old-fashioned Henrik Lundqvist shutout. The Penguins came into Madison Square Garden riding a seven-game win streak and departed with puzzled looks on their faces after sixty minutes trying to figure out King Henrik. In reality, the 5-0 loss had more to do with the Rangers' effort defensively than anything: keeping Sidney Crosby contained for an entire period while you run out to a 3-0 lead is no small task. Yet the Rangers handled the Pens' skill players admirably while displaying skill of their own. It was an impressive outing for an up-and-down Blueshirts squad.
2. Cory Schneider got off the schneid! (I've been waiting so long to write that sentence.) In his 16th straight start for the New Jersey Devils, the beleaguered netminder finally pulled out of a season-long funk and earned a 3-1 win for his team. I'll be honest, I doubted coach Peter DeBoer for starting Schneider yet again after another loss. But it seems DeBoer's plan to let Schneider work through his struggles might pay off.
3. If the Stars truly do want to let the kids play for time on the blueline, there might be some mighty struggles ahead. After trading Sergei Gonchar earlier on Tuesday the Stars featured a defensive corp full of young and inexperienced players. It showed: Arizona forced Dallas into desperation mode by pressuring the rookies into mistakes all night. The experience might pay off in the end, but digging out of a hole could be tougher for Dallas now.
Impact Moment
In what might be a first for this series, the impact moment of the night didn’t even take place in the NHL. When NHL ultra/super/mega-prospect Connor McDavid injured his hand in a fight, the hockey world dropped everything it was doing.
It sounds like McDavid could be out for awhile, depending on what comes out of his evaluation on Wednesday. Which begs the question: is fighting in hockey really worth it?
Stat of the Night
If you don't include shootout goals, the Buffalo Sabres are on pace to score 92 goals this season. That's as many goals as Wayne Gretzky scored in 1981-82 and only 32 more goals than Steven Stamkos scored three years ago.
Post to Post
Despite their loss on Tuesday, the Penguins sit atop our power rankings.
Finally, the Predators mascot terrorized Oilers fans with pies.
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