On Saturday, five teams hit the 40 game mark in the NHL. Up now, it's time to cover the Dallas Stars. Here is their story.
Dallas Stars: 23-16-1, good for 47 points:
The Stars lost Brad Richards, and they even lost Kari Lehtonen for some games, but somehow they have managed to stay in the playoff race. Dallas is actually second in the Pacific Division right now. However, they do have a minus-2 goal differential, although that isn't all that bad.
WIth Richards gone, Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson have picked up the slack. Benn leads the team with 41 points, while Eriksson has 38. Meanwhile, Michael Ryder has the most goals with 17. On defense, Sheldon Souray has remained a nice bounce back story. He has 16 points and is a plus-9 in 34 games. Alex Goligoski, on the other hand, has been slowed by injuries. He has 10 points and is a minus-4 in 29 games.
In net, Lehtonen, when he has been healthy, has been really good. He has a .921 save percentage in 23 games played. Andrew Raycroft wasn't strong as a backup, but Richard Bachman Turner Overdrive has a .917 SV% in his 10 appearances, which helped keep the Stars afloat when Lehtonen was out.
Dallas has some good players in every facet of the game. If Lehtonen stays healthy, they should definitely stay in the playoff race, and there is a good chance they'll make the postseason. Not bad for a team that lost their best player in the offseason.
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