Dallas Stars: Hanzal, Ritchie have redeemed themselves with recent play

Dallas Stars forwards Martin Hanzal and Brett Ritchie have both had to overcome obstacles this season, and they are seeing success in the past few games.

The long-anticipated return of Dallas Stars forward Martin Hanzal finally came to fruition last Friday, where the Stars hosted the San Jose Sharks at the American Airlines Center.

Hanzal, who was limited for the back-end of the 2017-18 season and the first quarter of this season with spinal fusion surgery, played well in his first game back since earlier this year in February.

"“I would say [it was] probably my hardest game of my life,” Hanzal told Stars Inside Edge Mark Stepneski. “It’s been ten months since I have played hockey, so it was a really tough game.”"

Although his return was a tough game, Hanzal played over 12 minutes in the game and won seven of eight faceoffs he attempted.

He also laid a huge hit on Sharks’ forward Joonas Donskoi in the first period:

With the help of goals from Mattias Janmark, Miro Heiskanen, and Brett Ritchie, the Stars were able to surpass the Sharks by a score of 2-3, giving them their fourth win in a row, and improving their record against Pacific Division opponents to 9-0-1.

But wait, there’s more.

Hanzal registered his first tally of the season on Sunday night’s 2-4 loss against the Las Vegas Golden Knights by deflecting a shot from defenseman Miro Heiskanen that bounced its way past Golden Knights’ netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. Hanzal’s goal opened the scoring in the game, and gave Heiskanen his ninth assist on the season, increasing his point count to 14 (5 G, 9 A) in 30 games

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"“That’s what they want me to do, be in front and screen the goalie,” Hanzal told Stars’ media. “I was lucky it hit me in the pants.”"

Along with the strong play from Martin Hanzal, Stars’ winger Brett Ritchie has also played well above-par in recent games. Ritchie tallied goals in back-to-back games, one in the Stars’ win against Edmonton last Monday and the aforementioned score—which was also the game-winner—in  Dallas’ win against San Jose. Ritchie dished an assist in the game against Edmonton, giving him three points in the past three games.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair or accurate to compare the obstacles of Hanzal and Ritchie and declare them similar—Hanzal was restricted due to an injury, and Ritchie has to battle it out with other forwards in the lineup for playing time, and drew the short end of the stick at the beginning of the season.

Despite that, he is still putting points on the board.

In addition to his recent scoring, Ritchie has also thrown his 220-pound frame around and used his size as an advantage. Although he’s played in just 17 games this season, he is seventh on the team in hits with 37 and second on the team in penalty minutes with 23, with only Jamie Benn ahead of him with 30.

Ritchie, who is last on the team in average ice time per game with just under 10 minutes per game, is the only player on the roster not averaging double digits.

Next Five Games

Every team the Stars have played this month (Vancouver, Edmonton, San Jose, and Vegas) and will play in the next couple of games are in the Pacific Division.

The Stars will travel to Anaheim on Wednesday and San Jose on Thursday. They are off on Friday and will play the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday to round out their four-game road trip.

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks (16-11-5) are in second place in the Pacific with 37 points, only behind the Calgary Flames, who lead not only the Pacific Division but the Western Conference with 40 points. Ryan Getzlaf leads the team in points with 24 (8 G, 16 A), and Pontus Aberg is first on the team in goals with 10. Ducks goaltender Josh Gibson is 12-9-4 in 26 games played (25 games started) and is posting a .925 save percentage and a 2.59 GAA.

Dallas and Anaheim are both 4-1 in their last five games.

Anaheim has already played the Stars twice this season. Dallas won both contests, winning 5-3 in the fourth game of the season and 5-2 on Oct. 25. Both games were played at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

San Jose Sharks

San Jose (15-11-5) is right behind Anaheim in the Pacific Division with 35 points. They are also tied with the Las Vegas Golden Knights (17-14-1), who bested the Stars 2-4 on Sunday night.

Forward Logan Couture leads San Jose in points with 30 (10 G, 20 A). Defenseman Brent Burns is right behind Couture with 29 (4 G, 29 A), and Timo Meier is right behind Burns with 28 (14 G, 14 A).

San Jose, who is 3-2 in their last five games, hosts the New Jersey Devils tonight at the SAP Center. One of the Sharks’ two losses in their past five games came against the Stars, who defeated the former by a score of 2-3 at the AAC.

Colorado Avalanche

Dallas’ toughest game of the road trip will arguably come against the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado, who is 17-8-5, is tied for first in the Central Division with the Nashville Predators with 39 points. Their offensive skill is remarkable, as they boast the third best goal differential behind the Calgary Flames and the Winnipeg Jets with +21 goals for.

Forward Mikko Rantanen has begun the season on a fantastic streak and leads the NHL in points with 48 (12 G, 36 A). Rantanen also leads the league in assists and is sixth in plus-minus with +17. his linemate and Avs captain, Gabriel Landeskog, is first in the league in plus-minus with +20. Landeskog is third on the team in points with 34 (17 G, 17 A). The third component of the Avs offense is Nathan MacKinnon, who is second on the team in points (20-25-45) and first in goals.

They have played the Stars once this season, where they won 2-3 at home. Saturday’s game will be the second of four meetings between the two teams.

• Published on 12/10/2018 at 22:01 PM
• Last updated at 12/10/2018 at 22:01 PM