3 Takeaways From Stars’ 2-0 Preseason Home Win Over Wild

Jake Oettinger was supposed to start Wednesday. He felt some lower-body tightness after the morning skate; the Dallas Stars kept him out as a precaution. Rémi Poirier took the whole night on short notice and posted a 24-save shutout.

The Stars came out on top against the Minnesota Wild in their last home game before the end of the preseason, with the shots 24 apiece. Matthew Seminoff and Esa Lindell scored, with Kyle Capobianco setting up both goals. Dallas is now 3-0 in the preseason and has only two goals against.

Though it is exciting as a Stars fan to get some sort of revenge on Minnesota for knocking us out of the playoffs, do not get excited too fast. Minnesota dressed most of its Iowa roster, along with Jesper Wallstedt. Not to put a damper on the excitement, just wanted folks to keep that in mind.

Special Teams Are Running One Way

The penalty kill (PK) is nine-for-nine through these three preseason games, keeping the shots against to nine. In Wednesday’s game, the Wild’s two power plays didn’t produce a shot attempt. The only shot in those four minutes was Seminoff’s going the other way, shorthanded, and it was also the Stars’ first shot on goal of the night.

The power play is 0-for-13. That’s 25 minutes across three games and 19 shots on goal, by the official sheets. Wednesday night’s first unit was Miro Heiskanen, Jamie Benn, and Sam Steel with Arttu Hyry and Michael Sgarbossa. Five chances, five shots, four from 38 feet or farther, and a 50-second five-on-three that produced one attempt, off the post. Monday’s full first unit had eight minutes and went 0-for-4 with a post and a five-foot stop. It still seems that Dallas is struggling with shot production, contentiously seeking the perfect shot and sometimes not having any shots to show for it.

Friday should be a better look, as we approach the final roster, but it should be noted.

The Faceoff Circle Didn’t Decide Anything

Monday I wrote that Dallas is a first-touch team, a system that wants every sequence to begin with the puck on a Stars stick. Wednesday the Stars lost the dot 16-29: Radek Faksa five of 14 and Hyry four of 11, and split the five-on-five attempts (shots, misses, and blocked shots) almost evenly anyway, 34 to 37. Both goals came with the play moving, not after a first touch from a faceoff: Seminoff from 21 feet off a Capobianco touch and Lindell from 27 after Artem Shlaine found Capobianco.

So the idea that I was building in my last write-up looks a bit weaker, and I’ll take it. What didn’t change, unfortunately, is the giveaways: 27 of them, 12 in the Stars’ own zone, and seven Wild attempts at five-on-five came in the 20 seconds after one.

Heiskanen mentioned after practice on Tuesday that the team will be playing a 1-1-3 through the neutral zone this season. It came through well Wednesday night, the Stars pushing the Wild into the corners and either turning over and breaking out the puck or pushing it to the perimeter and forcing a turnover. On paper it looks good, and I can see the vision, but the turnovers are dangerous being so deep into your D-zone, and pucks turned over at the point will leave your goalie on a raft. It seems a bit risky to run this system if Dallas can not work out the kinks.

Two Defensemen Call Up Options

Capobianco took two minors Saturday and did not have much to show for the night. Wednesday he had two primary assists, drew a penalty, and Dallas had 17 attempts to Minnesota’s 11 with him out there. He also had four giveaways. Some good, with some risk attached.

Trey Taylor got a third straight game and was paired with Capobianco: Dallas had 11 shot attempts to the Wild’s five with Taylor on the ice. He also took a high-sticking minor. Both seem to be players who need to settle down a bit and stop taking penalties with the physical play, but both played well enough to be options when Dallas needs a defenseman.

Neither one makes the opening-night roster, and it has nothing to do with how they played. PuckPedia has Dallas about $390,000 under the ceiling with 21 players and six defensemen, so both open the season in Cedar Park. The question is who Dallas can move around during the season, and that is where they split.

Taylor, 24, in the last year of his entry-level deal, does not need waivers, so he is the safer option to move: send him to Texas, bring him back, send him down again, as often as the roster needs it. Capobianco, 29, on a two-year deal at $875,000, needs to clear waivers every time he goes down, as he did last September, and any of the other 31 teams can claim him for nothing on the way through. A two-assist night with their scouts watching makes that more likely, not less. He is the more proven NHL player, so he is the first call when someone gets hurt. But Taylor might be the better option to be exempt from waivers.

Friday in St. Paul is the last preseason game, and it should be the closest thing to an opening-night lineup either team has dressed. Puck drop is 7 p.m., and it’s on TNT.