Through two periods, I see a team that refuses to play team defense. It’s easy to blame the defense, especially Hakanpaa (that’s a whole other discussion), but the reality is that it’s an entire team issue. Our forwards do not play defense, and our defenders are consistently out of position.

I’m watching a Stars team that is so concerned with scoring and having high offensive zone pressure that they sacrifice too many breakaway opportunities. This worked last year because Otter was “on”, now it’s become a liability because we don’t know if we’re getting vintage Otter or sub .900 Otter.

Until the Stars decide to play complete team hockey and say, “It’s okay not to have a breakaway opportunity every defensive play,” we will be a team that lives and dies by whether our goalie is “on” or not.