The Royal Rumble on Victory Ave.

Stars lost a stinker to the Blue Jackets at American Airlines Center tonight, and since I'm not in the mood to dissect and analyze another loss to an inferior opponent (seriously guys... wins against Detroit and San Jose, losses to Phoenix, Minny, and Columbus?), I'm just going to cop-out and do a simple "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." Does that show a lack of effort on my part? Maybe... but maybe I'm just playing to the level of the Stars, as the Stars play to the level of their opponents? (Ooooh, burn!)

The Good:
Mike Modano has played well since coming back from injury, making me think he might actually make the Olympic team... I'd be okay with him coming back next year too, if he so desires. I also love the emotion a few of the Stars displayed early. Daley is always good for sticking up for teammates, even if he's not the most physically imposing young gentleman. I like fights, so I'll give us the nod in "The Good" for the 4 early set-tos. I'm reaching here trying to think of more good. I didn't see Ric Renner's face tonight, so that's good. I loved seeing Ken Hitchcock get some love from the AAC crowd.

The Bad:
Special teams. All of them. Power-play, penalty kill... doesn't matter which, because Columbus scored on all of the above. 3 power-play goals again, and a shorthanded goal against. The fact that we lost to Columbus, with our #1 goalie in net... at home, when we're just 24 hours removed from a win against the Wings, with our backup in net, on the road. Shoot me now. The baddest of the worst... the worst of the bad... the boneheadedest of the blah blah blah, was Mike Ribeiro's "pass" that led to the shorty against. I love you to death, Ribs... but guh. Back breaker.

The Ugly:
Speaking of back breakers (I'm hilarious, even if inappropriate)... Neal's boarding penalty on Dorsett broke the team's back, almost broke Dorsett's back, and did a lot of harm to our overall chances of making a game out of this one. Honestly, I won't be surprised if he gets suspended, which is unfortunate because Neal isn't a dirty player... but it was ugly. Hopefully as I type this, Dorsett has remembered his name and phone number and dog's name, and is well on his way to a speedy recovery. The empty seats were also ugly. For a short period of time, we looked like we actually had asses in seats... but that was after the notoriously "late-arriving" crowd showed up, and before the "this game is over" bunch of crappy fans left to "beat the traffic." Come on, North Texas... I can't keep making fun of Phoenix if we keep broadcasting empty seats into the atmosphere.



Another loss, in our string of inconsistency... ho hum... Where's my Snuggie?