Montreal is the type of bad that makes you wonder how hockey was invented by Canadians in the first place. They are so bad that they lost to the Arizona Coyotes who, for what it’s worth, may not even exist within the next few years. They are so bad that you nearly, barely, almost, feel bad for the fan base. (Not really, but for the sake of the article let’s pretend I do.) That was until Tuesday night’s embarrassing display of hockey performed by the Dallas Stars.
The same Dallas Stars who, just a week ago, I touted as a hometeam powerhouse boasting one of the strongest home records along with the second most potent powerplay in the NHL while playing at the American Airlines Center. Even wunderkind goaltender Jake Oettinger couldn’t bail out one of the poorest Stars home performances in recent memory, eventually being pulled and replaced by Brayden Holtby.
Even though the stat sheet may show a gaudy 51 shots on goal versus a mortal 22 in favor of the Stars, the end score of 5-3 saw the Canadiens skate off the ice victorious. Leaving the Stars and their fans questioning the leadership of head coach Rick Bowness, once again. At this point, I am with them. If you listen to any of the post-game interviews with Bones it always seems to be the fault of the players on the ice in the face of defeat and while I agree to an extent, you as a coach are in charge of these athletes. At a certain point, the blame has to be shifted from the players to the leadership, or lack thereof.
“The mistakes we made ended up in the back of our net because just bad puck management, it’s as simple as that,” Bowness said. “They capitalized on every chance they had and we didn’t. It could have been 7-5 very easily. The kid in the net was outstanding. We’ll go from there.”
Head coach rick Bowness on tuesday night’s loss to montreal
When Bones took over as the interim head coach due to Jim Montgomery’s firing, it was a team being built by Monty to access the zone and play an offensively aggressive, college-style, type of hockey. Unfortunately, that philosophy was seemingly thwarted when Bones was handed the reins of the Stars just a few months before the 2020 Winter Classic. Quite honestly, it worked. It worked so well that the Stars went on the historic run to come within two wins of the Stanley Cup inside the bubble. That run now seems to be the shot in the foot the Stars never needed as Bones has virtually turned a passionate fan base against him.
If I had to guess, Jim Nill likes where this team is at as he always does. That in itself is an entire novel of opinions. With all of the decent happenings in the franchise under Nill, it is seemingly starting to be outweighed by the bench boss. Now all negativity aside I can say that the youth movement looks phenomenal as the most recent draft class is already boasting major stats across all leagues. No chance Bones get’s a chance to stimy their careers. Right?
If last night showed us anything then maybe Nill makes the move to let Bones walk into the sunset with a single shred of dignity after the bubble Cup run. Now the Stars begin a road trip that could very well signal some major changes in this franchise as the Stars have struggled mightily on the road this season.
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