Stars coach sends confident message on Wild Stanley Cup playoff series

Stars coach sends confident message on Wild Stanley Cup playoff series originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Dallas Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2 on Monday in Game 2 of Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Head coach Glen Gulutzan trusts that the Texas team will continue to play at its best in the upcoming games.

Gulutzan addressed the media after Monday's game and concluded that his team was slightly quicker than in Game 1.

"You said your penalty kill needed to have a turnaround; we'll see for this game. How much of the success tonight was execution and battles versus adjustments that you made to what you were actually trying to accomplish out there?" Gulutzan was asked.

He responded, "You know, we did try to clean up some things, but you could see a lot more, even in our whole game, but a lot more connectivity. You know, we looked at the goals. We know what happened there, having studied these things for a long time (...), but a lot of it was about battles, better awareness of what they're trying to do, and taking it away. A little quicker, we were just a little quicker."

Glen Gulutzan trusts Stars' best version will continue after 4-2 win over Wild

Gulutzan also noted that he expects his team to maintain the level shown in Monday's game, rather than revert to the style they played in Game 1.

"Can I assume you feel like you saw your team tonight versus the way they played in Game 1. You've seen their team. So, do you now expect this series to resemble this game for the rest of the way?" the Stars head coach was asked.

He said, "Yeah, I can't see it going back. I can't see it going back. So, I think it's just going to stay like this as we go forward."

"That's what I believe (...) It's probably going to stay like this the whole time. And I've seen these things, though. They can get wonky when it's this close, and there's this much energy in it, but I think the energy will stay the same for sure."