Sturm Blog: Worth Staying Up

Bob Sturm

Now, that is why you are willing to be sleepy at work, right? Don't tell me you gave up in the 2nd intermission! Just like the west coast visit to Los Angeles 21 days prior, the Stars rewarded their most loyal and awake fans with a solid 3rd period and a very nice 2 points in San Jose Thursday night.

This might be a good time to admit that as much as I belly-ache about lost points and lost opportunities on the home-stands, it should be noted that the Stars in 2009-10 are doing a phenomenal job of sticking with the night's objectives and hammering out results on the road this season.

They may have stolen 2 points if you figure that they were down 2 with less than a period to play against one of the league's truly elite teams in their building. You also needed quite a night from Marty Turco, a seeing-eye goal credited to James Neal, and Stephane Robidas to score the Stars first shootout goal (not victory, I said "goal") since opening night. But, 2 points is 2 points.

That is well done, and it speaks to the fact that this team is both dangerous (with plenty of players with game-breaking talent) and full of resolve (they don't seem to give up on games). That is a great combination.

The Sharks, meanwhile, are still a team I greatly fear. They had many close calls, and Heatley could have easily had 4 last night if things go just a bit differently. Frankly, I am getting a bit tired of them trading a bunch of stuff for a superstar. That is the 2nd time (Thornton) that they have done that in the last few years, and Doug Wilson needs to be congratulated.

I have always heard that if you are making a trade, always make sure you are getting the single-best player in the deal. For 2 Eastern Conference teams to hand over 2 of the top 5 or 10 players in the sport for "stuff" is amazing to me. I guess that is the financial end of the game that affects everyone, and one of the reasons the Stars sort of did the exact same thing to get Brad Richards.

Marty was really good - hope you saw his sprawling save on Dan Boyle in the shootout. And it was great to see Modano get back in the goal mix for the first time since March 3 (at San Jose). Something about the Sharks and that arena that brings out a good night for the Stars.

A welcome result. And Robidas going "upper cheese" to end it was the exclamation point.

Stars have 22 points in 18 games (on pace for 100 points). Last year through 18 games they had 15 points (on pace for 68 points).

So far, so good.

Phoenix on Saturday.

Email Bob at Sturm1310@aol.com and follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/bobanddan

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