How the stars cut lightning with their power play

I know I’m quite late with this article, since the game has been out for a few days, but I wanted to go over something that I think is quite important. I want to talk a little bit about the Stars’ power play and how that helped them beat the Lightning.

I’m also going to mention what was different about Dallas’ power play that night and the rest of the NHL teams. They have a unique system that they were able to use against Tampa three times.

What I saw Saturday night from the Stars was a lot of chemistry from defense to offense. I’ll admit, Tampa Bay probably gave them too much time on the record. But Dallas took every opportunity it could and moved the puck fast enough to confuse Tampa defenders.

On the three power play goals, Dallas passed the puck a lot. Usually it was between two players, particularly Modano and Robidas. His system was simple and foolproof, and best of all, it was almost impossible for the Lightning to defend themselves.

What the Stars did was throw a lot of passes very quickly, they kept passing until the Lightning was out of position. When the Lightnings were out of position, they fired. Dallas was able to force the defense into an error.

The first goal was scored when the Sharks defender left Neil in front of the net. The defender was forced to cover the pass in front of the net and moved away from his original position. That original position was to cover Robidas’ shot. As the defender moved Robidas had an open shooting lane, Modano could see this and made the pass.

Dallas had another chance with just over 3 minutes left in the second half. Again, Tampa Bay made the same mistake of being forced to move to cover a pass. Robidas fired, but this time, Nabokov was able to save.

After the matchup, Dallas never gave up control of the puck, they moved the puck from offense to defense and were able to once again force the Tampa defenders out of position. This led to his second goal.

The third goal Dallas scored was simply poor defense by the Lightning. They can never leave two players that close to the net with only one defender in the box.

What I saw with Dallas’ power play is that he was focusing on movement. They were constantly moving the puck and forcing the Lightning out of position. This is how a power play is supposed to be played. I went to NHL.com to see what the stars ranked this year for the power play, and they were only ranked 14th.

I’m guessing, because I haven’t seen every game, that the Stars haven’t been able to do this in every game. But, his strategy in this game was quite simple. Move the puck until Tampa Bay makes a mistake. When Tampa Bay made a mistake, the Stars attacked.