First Shift 🏒

The great thing about playing an NHL schedule is that there is always a chance to overcome your mistakes.

The Stars had a bad game on Thursday – losing 4-1 to Nashville and generally failing in all aspects of the contest. Now, in a 1-3-0 slump, they get a chance to bounce back at home against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

“It will be great to get back at it and redeem ourselves from last game,” said forward Wyatt Johnston.

While forward Sam Steel added: “Playing every other day, you can’t let one game define you. We didn’t like what we brought last night, but 48 hours later, we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves.”

The Stars are 17-11-0, including 11-2-0 at American Airlines Center, so there’s no need to panic, but coach Pete DeBoer said he understands when the fans (or media) do.

“You guys don’t help,” DeBoer joked after Friday’s practice when asked if it’s difficult to stay calm.

But the veteran coach said it’s the job of those inside the dressing room to understand the ups and downs of an 82-game season and react accordingly.

“It’s not easy,” he said. “I’m sure there were people in the stands last night watching and saying, ‘Blow the whole thing up.’ You’ve got to fight that urge and know that it’s a marathon and not a sprint and look at the underlying numbers and the entirety of the picture. That’s experience that teaches you that.”

After two trips to the Western Conference Final and finishing second in the NHL in points last season, the Stars currently sit 12th in points percentage at .607. However, they are fifth in goals against at 2.61, fifth in penalty kill at 82.7 percent and sixth in goal differential at plus-20. That’s arguably below expectations, but those also are pretty good numbers.

So coming off a lopsided loss to Nashville, the Stars are expected to be motivated.

“We’re not going to overreact to a really poor game,” DeBoer said. “It’s an uncharacteristic night.”

“I don’t think anyone is happy with our performance, particularly with it being a divisional game,” DeBoer added. “We’ve got some really good teams on our docket over the next few weeks.”

And while the big picture is huge, the details are also important. Veteran defenseman Dumba is out with an upper-body injury, so rookie Lian Bichsel is expected to continue to get more games. In the meantime, the lines are hoping to continue to build chemistry with Seguin out 4-6 months. The top line currently has Roope Hintz centering Jason Robertson and Johnston. The second line is Duchene with Marchment and Logan Stankoven. The third line has Steel centering Benn and Evgenii Dadonov. And the fourth line has Mavrik Bourque with Oskar Bäck and Colin Blackwell.

While DeBoer said he can juggle lines when things aren’t working – like Thursday night – he would like to be patient.

“You’re trying,” he said. “As a coach, you want to give those groups as much runway as possible.”

That seems to fit the overall plan.

The traffic death toll in Dallas has already surpassed last year’s total, with more than two weeks left in 2024, according to an analysis of Texas Department of Transportation data by NBC 5 Investigates.

So far this year, 207 people have died in crashes on Dallas streets, compared to 205 in 2023.

On Friday, city and state leaders held a news conference to update plans to address safety concerns on the city’s deadliest roadway: Loop 12. For another year, Loop 12 earned that unwanted title with 21 fatal crashes this year alone.

“Five years, my friends. Citywide, nearly 500 accidents involving serious injury have taken place on Loop 12,” said State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) at a news conference at Dallas City Hall.

West stepped forward to address the concerns on Loop 12 earlier this year, on the heels of an NBC 5 investigation that identified systemic dangers on the loop. Dangers include high speeds, an outdated roadway design, and a lack of safe places for pedestrians to cross the street.

In one spot near Loop 12 and Bonnie View Road, NBC 5 Investigates found five pedestrians had died in less than a year. The death toll at that location has since increased to seven.

“The information that was provided by your station helped us focus with laser certainty on trying to get something done and bringing together the city, the state,” West said in an interview with NBC 5 Investigates.

In the wake of NBC 5’s reporting, West pulled together TxDOT, the City of Dallas and the North Texas Central Council of Governments. They have pledged to install more than a dozen new protected pedestrian crossings on Loop 12 over the next 18 months.

The city and state also lowered the speed limit on the loop and installed bold new speed signs, even speed limit numbers painted on the pavement. They have also promised to re-examine the road’s design to help address the high speeds.

Dallas police joined West at Friday’s news conference. Interim Chief of Police Michael Igo revealed the city is using new software to identify stretches of road where speeds are too high.

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“It’s based on GPS tracking and it monitors those vehicles that are going through those areas,” said Igo.

When the software flags a speed danger zone, police can deploy additional officers to that location to conduct speed patrols.

It’s really given us some good feedback on areas we needed to address,” Igo said.

Dallas City Councilwoman Carolyn Arnold said Friday that she is seeking help from other regional law enforcement agencies to assist Dallas police with controlling speeds on Loop 12. 

“We are reaching out to all law enforcement and public safety partners to help us in this corridor,” Arnold said.

Meanwhile, the city is also pleading with drivers to help reduce speeds and deaths.

Igo said drivers would notice an increased speed enforcement presence on Loop 12, and he urged people to call 911 to report extreme speeds and erratic driving.

”I’m encouraging everybody to slow down because you will see police officers on that stretch of the road,” Igo said. 

The Dallas Cowboys entered the 2024 season with plenty of uncertainty at the running back position. After losing long-time playmaker Tony Pollard in free agency, the Cowboys needed to find someone to fill the void he left in their offense.

Trying to pick up some of the slack left by Pollard’s departure, the Cowboys brought back veteran Ezekiel Elliott after a year away in New England. There was plenty of doubt about what Elliott had left in the tank entering his ninth season in the league. Elliott’s on-field display this season has proved the pre-season doubters correct as the veteran has averaged a dismal 3.2 Y/A.

It took the Cowboys more than half a season to realize what the rest of the league already knew about Elliott. Once they finally did and stopped giving him significant offensive snaps, it allowed them to unleash the clear best running back on their roster, 26-year-old Rico Dowdle.

In Dallas’ first six games of the season, despite him being the most talented running back on the team, the Cowboys gave Dowdle more than 11 carries in a game just one time. That one game came in Week 5 against Pittsburgh when Dowdle was pivotal to a Cowboys’ victory, carrying the ball 20 times for 87 yards and scoring one of their two offensive touchdowns.

After arguably the best performance of his career, Dallas once again decided to go away from Dowdle as the bell cow back for a few weeks. Finally, all the way in Week 12 against Washington, Mike McCarthy and Dallas’ offensive staff fully committed to Dowdle as their guy for the rest of the season. It’s a move that has looked great over the Cowboys’ past three games.

In those three contests, Dowdle has carried 59 times for 329 yards, averaging an extremely impressive 5.58 Y/A. During this three-game span, the 26-year-old is second in the league in rushing yards, yards after contact, and designated rushing attempts of more than 15 yards. He is also in the top five in first-down runs, missed tackles forced, and explosive runs.

It’s been made abundantly clear Dowdle is more than capable of being a lead back for a contending team, and it’s a shame it took Dallas more than half the season to come to this realization. Now that they have and Dowdle’s capability is on full display, he may be playing so well that he’s beginning to price himself out of a return to Dallas.

Dowdle is a free agent at season’s end, and his second-half of the season performance will likely earn him plenty of suitors in free agency. Last offseason four running backs, Tony Pollard, D’Andre Swift, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs all signed deals totaling $20M or more. While Dowdle is not on the level of those backs in terms of production and longevity, he is certainly showing his ability.

With the lack of talent in next year’s free agency running back class, Dowdle could possibly get something in the neighborhood of the deal Pollard signed with the Titans last spring for three years, $21M. Even if he ends up being offered a little less, it’s hard to see the Cowboys being willing to offer him $5-6M on a multi-year deal to bring him back to Dallas.

Rico Dowdle’s recent performance has been good for Dallas’ team success, but it may end up hurting their chances of retaining him in the future. The Cowboys waited too long to unleash Dowdle, and now they may just be showcasing his ability for his next team.