The Dallas Stars begin a season-long six-game road swing when they visit Toronto on Saturday for a featured game on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. The team is off to the second-best start in club history with a record of 18-7-1 for 37 points, going 12-2-0 in the last 14 games. The team is also 8-2-0 on the road in 2005-06.
The team has found success thanks to solid goaltending, balanced play throughout the lineup, and by scoring timely goals. A good number of those goals have come on the power play, with the Stars tying a franchise record by scoring with the man-advantage in 17 consecutive games.
Curious minds started to wonder: what is the NHL record for consecutive games with a power play goal? The answer was found with a quick call to the Elias Sports Bureau and it provided this fact -- the Dallas Stars have the opportunity to break that league record before they return to American Airlines Center.
The 1989-90 New York Rangers hold the NHL record, scoring a power play goal in 21 consecutive games from February to April of that spring.
The Stars have spread the wealth around during this current streak, with 10 different players scoring a total of 24 power play goals over the last 17 games and 14 different players earning points. Eight of those goals gave the Stars the lead in the game while two others tied the contest at that point.
Stars Head Coach Dave Tippett preaches three main keys to the team on having a successful power play: Effort, execution and finish. He says that if you don't have those three elements on your priority list when your team has the man-advantage, you cannot have consistent success at putting the puck in the net.
"First and foremost, if your power play is going to be successful, you have to work and have effort," said Tippett. "I was a penalty-killer for a long time in the league, I know that the mindset is to go out there and out-work the other five players. If your power play is out-worked by the penalty killers, you're going to be in trouble right from the get-go."
Effort will get you nowhere without proper execution by the unit.
"You have to make plays under pressure and support each other and make good plays that allow players to get chances," said Tippett. "A simple pass for a one-timer is a good example; if the pass is too much in front or too far behind, you're not executing. You have to maximize your chances to score."
Of course effort and execution are both moot points if a team can't finish the play and get the final result of a goal.
"You can have the prettiest hard-working power play ever, but if you don't score on your chances it doesn't mean anything," said Tippett.
The Stars look to continue scoring whenever they get chances on this trip and extend their current four-game winning streak. Who knows? Maybe they'll come back with an NHL record that they can continue building upon.
