Star struck

Loui Eriksson celebrates with Steve Ott and Jeff Woywitka. (Photo by Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)

Adam Proteau
2011-01-24 14:25:00

With just two regulation losses in their past 10 games, the Dallas Stars are serving notice that the first half of their season was no accident – and that they’ll remain near the top of the THN Power Rankings for some time to come.

Few pundits believed the Stars would be a playoff contender, let alone a team aiming for a top-four playoff berth in the tough Western Conference, but superb goaltending – by both starter Kari Lehtonen and backup Andrew Raycroft – as well as balanced scoring (Dallas has four players with at least 17 goals) has helped them keep pace.

This isn’t to say coach Marc Crawford doesn’t have issues on which to work: the Stars’ penalty kill is ranked only 21st overall (at 81.0 percent); they average just 27.3 shots on net per game (ranked 28th in the league); and allow an average of 31.0 shots per game on Lehtonen/Raycroft (good for 20th overall).

The Stars have two games prior to the all-star break – a road trip to Vancouver to take on the West-leading Canucks and a home date against the struggling Edmonton Oilers. They’ll need to make the most of their time off, because in their first week back, they take on Vancouver (in Dallas), then travel to Boston and Philadelphia to play the tough Bruins and Flyers.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS
RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	P10	THE SCOOP
1		2	32-12-5	8-2-0	Pronger’s return makes already-tough Flyers all the more lethal
2		1	29-10-9	4-2-4	Alex Edler has more goals (5), points (16) on power play than at even strength (three goals, 14 points)
3		3	29-13-6	5-4-1	Evgeni Nabokov experiment failed, but will Wings try again for another veteran goalie?
4		5	29-14-5	7-2-1	Steve Ott is Stars’ best faceoff man (321 for 560, for a 57.3 faceoff-winning percentage)
5		4	30-15-4	5-4-1	After hosting Isles Tuesday, Pens have full week off to pray for return of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin
6		7	30-15-5	6-4-0	With Crosby hurt, Steven Stamkos now NHL leader in points (67), goals (38)
7		6	27-14-7	6-3-1	Milan Lucic on pace for 33 goals, 55 points – both career highs
8		10	27-15-6	8-2-0	Preds’ top hitter isn’t Shea Weber or Ryan Suter – it’s Francis Bouillon, with 133
9		8	27-14-8	5-2-3	Alex Ovechkin may not be producing goals at his usual rate, but he still leads Caps in hits (150)
10		11	27-17-5	6-1-3	Anybody out there predict Andrei Kostitsyn would be Habs’ top plus/minus player (plus-13)? Didn’t think so
11		12	28-19-3	6-4-0	Marc Staal hasn’t missed a game since he missed two in his rookie season in 2007-08
12		9	24-16-9	6-3-1	Martin Hanzal tied for first on Coyotes with six power play goals; second on team with four game-winners
13		14	26-19-4	6-3-1	Hawks are NHL’s second-best at takeaways (509); only team better is Thrashers (528)
14		17	27-20-4	7-3-0	D-man Toni Lydman is Ducks’ top shot-blocker (123)
15		13	24-18-6	4-5-1	Loss of Tomas Fleischmann for rest of season won’t help Avs’ playoff plans
16		21	25-19-5	4-6-0	Sharks improving after acquiring Ben Eager, Kyle Wellwood, but not yet out of woods
17		18	24-19-5	6-4-0	Wild only one of two teams – the other is Ottawa – to not win in the shootout this season (0-4)
18		15	23-19-6	5-4-1	Joe Corvo leading Canes in average shifts per game (29.3)
19		19	22-18-7	2-6-2	Blues’ top five scorers haven’t missed a game to injury; only three others on team have played every game
20		20	23-19-9	3-4-3	Thrashers lead league in blocks (833), but can’t block continued skid in standings
21		23	23-20-5	3-5-2	R.J. Umberger has five power play goals – one more than leading scorer Rick Nash
22		16	25-22-1	3-7-0	GM Lombardi’s outburst a clear attempt to distract from Kings’ freefall
23		25	22-21-5	6-3-1	With 862 hits, Sabres are NHL’s least-physical team
24		24	22-21-6	4-3-3	Flames’ shots on net miss the mark more times (657) than any team except for Sharks (658)
25		22	21-21-5	3-4-3	When Marty Reasoner has as many game-winning goals as David Booth (three), Panthers still have long way to go
26		26	19-23-5	5-4-1	Some nights, Leafs are world-beaters; just as often, they can’t beat an egg
27		27	17-25-7	1-7-2	Sens owner says he has a plan for turning team around, but for Ottawa’s final 33 games, the plan seems to be to lose
28		28	15-25-7	3-6-1	Nabokov’s refusal to report to Isles another insult to a team that’s been plagued by them
29		29	14-25-8	2-7-1	Oilers worst in NHL for giveaways (601); by contrast, best team is Columbus (219)
30		30	16-29-3	6-3-1	Hot streak comes way too late for playoffs, but may pull Devils out of basement