The Dallas Stars haven’t started their season the way they would have liked to, but that’s no reason why they shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Aside from Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow scaring the bejesus out of opposing defenses, they still have Mike Modano and Phillip Boucher, alongside role players like Steve Ott, Sean Avery and Stephane Robidas and not to mention, a hot stud rookie in Fabian Brunnstrom [a few more goals and we'll see him in a “I Can't Believe It's not Butter†Ad] and an amazing goaltender in Marty Turco.
Simply put, this is a team the Islanders can and will have a ton of problems against if they are not on their game.
However, there is a ray of hope here.
Through his first six games, Turco has a deplorable 4.05 ERA and a Rosie O’Donnell-esque save percentage of .844. If the Islanders can get consistent pressure on the guy and generate some scoring opportunities, they may have an opportunity to break the game wide open.
If not, expect another tough 2-1 game that can go either way.
On another note…
Could Parrish work again with the Isles?
Just got off the phone with good buddy of mine, one New York Islander Blog Boxer Gary Harding. For those of you that don’t know, Mr. Harding is an extremely knowledgeable hockey fan and one of the few people I enjoy talking about the game with. [Anyway, enough brown-nosing. Gary gets enough hits on his site and he knows he's my homeboy, even if he owns a Josef Vasicek jersey, eww] During the course of the conversation, Parrish came up and we talked about how much Parrish could teach a guy like Kyle Okposo about being a prescence in front of the net despite not being a huge guy.
For those that don’t know, according to Eric Duhatschek on the GlobeandMail.com Hockey Blog, Parrish just signed a 25-game tryout contract with Bridgeport after scoring only 16 goals in limited duty with the Minnesota Wild last season. With Nate Thompson’s play not doing much for me and Richard Park being able to play center, I say throw Parrish on a wing with someone and see if he’s still got it. 15 goals from the guy in a third or fourth line role would do more than suffice and would help the youngsters develop some more, while giving the Isles another depth winger who can net the tough to come by garbage goals they desperately need right now.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
