When the Dallas Stars decided to employ a two-goalie system before the 2015-16 season, some people thought coach Lindy Ruff had lost his mind.
Others weren’t so understanding.
But after some hiccups during the first half of the season, which Ruff acknowledged Thursday, Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi finished with 25 wins apiece.
“We tried to utilize them both,” Ruff said. “When they got running hot, they played a little bit more. When we got into a tough schedule, we would try to alternate.
“At the end of the year, we ended up with two guys who had 25 wins each, which worked out pretty well for us.”
That’s the glass-half-full approach. The opposite could be that, sooner or later, you have to pick a starter. And the Stars didn’t make it out of the second round of the playoffs last season.
Ruff’s handling of a two-goalie system was topical Thursday because the Penguins are trying to walk the same path with Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury. To varying degrees of success early on.
For Ruff, he said it took a bit before he had total buy-in from both goaltenders.
“I don’t think it was an easy adjustment for those guys; they were used to being No. 1s,” Ruff said. “But midway through the year, they had bought into staying sharp in between their playing time. I have to give them a lot of credit because I don’t think it’s easy for them. At the end, it worked out for us.”
The biggest thing, Ruff said, was managing each goalie’s desire to play again after a bad game. It’s human nature to want to get back on the horse, but back-to-back starts can be rare in such platoon situations.
“They want to get back in and make amends for the last game or get a win under their belt,” Ruff said. “Now if they lose, they come out, they might have to wait a week for the win. I think that was the adjustment.”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has talked often this season about having a plan sketched out — in pencil. Ruff said he didn’t even have that.
“If somebody said, ‘Did you have a set schedule?’ I’d say no,” Ruff said. “I didn’t have a set schedule. We went game-to-game and evaluated where guys where at. It wasn’t an easy task.”
It is, however, one the Penguins will have to figure out, barring an injury or trade.
‘Weird’ return game for Johns
Wampum native Stephen Johns said he expected 200-300 people to attend Thursday’s game, which would account for about a third of his hometown’s population (717) according to the 2010 census.
“This game tonight has been talked about all summer throughout town,” said Johns, now a defenseman for the Stars.
It almost blew up in Johns’ face, too, because of a hit to the face. Johns had to clear concussion protocol after Tuesday’s game and took morning skate Thursday with a full cage.
“I was just praying that I didn’t have a concussion, that it was just [a broken] nose,” Johns said.
A second-round draft pick [60th overall] of the Blackhawks in 2010, Johns has three goals and seven points in 31 NHL games entering Thursday. He’s the 19th player from Western Pennsylvania to play in the NHL.
Johns said he grew up a Penguins fan and bought student rush tickets, but once the NHL Draft became reality, that fandom dissipated.
“I was a Penguins fan for the first 18 years of my life,” Johns said. “I grew up and idolized guys like [Mario Lemieux] and [Jaromir Jagr]. Watched [Sidney Crosby] play.
“It’s going to be weird. I haven’t been a Pens fan for 6-7 years now, so it’s not going to be as weird as if I was 18 years old. It will be really cool to see a lot of friends and family in the stands and try to get a win for them.”
Daley faces old team
Because of when the Penguins played the Stars last season and when he was traded here from Chicago, Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley never played his old Dallas team last season.
In 756 games, Daley ranked sixth all-time among Stars defensemen with 67 goals and seventh with 231 points.
“He’s a tremendous skater,” Ruff said. “He fits in the way that we played, that Pittsburgh’s playing. I’m happy for him. He’s a good man. I’m glad he won a Cup.”
One trade to avoid
Ruff answered three questions in the morning about Dallas countering the Penguins’ speed with plenty of their own and said he’d rather his team play an up-and-down game.
“We’re not a team that can play a great game if we just sit back,” he said.
Trading chances with any opponent, however, is not something with which Sullivan is comfortable, and he made that much known during an emphatic answer in his pregame media session.
“You’ll win some games because we have some skill, but we’re not going to win consistently with that type of a mindset,” Sullivan said. “That is not the mindset that this team is going to have going into any game.”
Around the boards
Tom Sestito, Steve Oleksy and Jake Guentzel were scratched for the Penguins, the latter after accumulating three goals in five games. … Chris Kunitz (lower-body) missed a sixth consecutive game, although Sullivan said he is making progress.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: December 1, 2016, 7:31 p.m.
