After going on a 13-2-1 stretch from mid-October to the end of November, the Dallas Stars found themselves swooning a bit after seeing that run of fantastic results come to an end on the second half of a back-to-back in Chicago just days before Thanksgiving. They had not won a game in four straight, and only picked up points in one of those, a shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild at the beginning of the week.
With the Stars looking for answers, and a few ill-timed penalties in the offensive zone by Alexander Radulov combined with long stretches of a lack of production, head coach Jim Montgomery made a bold decision to scratch the Stars’ third-best offensive producer.