Secret to Stars success: debuts?

It could be. First, Fabian Brunnstrom began his NHL career with a hat trick (and a Stars win) then Mark Parrish resumed his NHL career with a hat trick (and a Stars win).

The Stars' strange season keeps getting stranger. Then again, Sergei Zubov and Jere Lehtinen should make their season debuts soon (hopefully) so maybe this year will start making some sense.

You'd hate to see Mike Modano resort to finding an off-ice job before it's all said and done ...

Game 1: a sloppy joe of hockey

Breaking out the 'ol Sleek "Robo-das" photoshop one more time

Even after the lockout, it’s nice to be reminded that comebacks are completely possible in hockey. The Stars were down 4-2 in the third period after some really sloppy turnovers and it looked like Dallas turned to heartbreak city.

In a matter of minutes, the game was tied 4-4 and the American Airlines Center was rocking.

Of course, the Columbus Blue Jackets ended up winning in OT after a beautiful wrist shot goal by Rick Nash. It was a really rough, sometimes sloppy game and the Stars should be happy they got a point from this one.

Instead of Fabian Brunnstrom, the new guy to watch might be James Neal. Neal scored a goal in the second period and played a solid 16 minutes tonight.

The most interesting stat line of the night might belong to Stephane Robidas, who might continue the momentum from a postseason that inspired Earl Sleek to nickname him “Robo-das.” He managed to register a -2 even though he had three assists.

The Stars certainly have some things to work on, but at least they didn’t leave empty handed.

Stars Game Day: 'Stache revisited

We'll probably get a taste of Brunnstrom tonight

The Sean Avery era begins in the athletically troubled state of Ohio Dallas at 8:30 ET/5:30 Pacific. The main storyline is the Stars' future versus a ghost of the Stars' past.

Ken Hitchcock's Blue Jackets had quite the revolving door this off-season. They lost enigmatic Russian Nik Zherdev, perpetual project Gilbert Brule (a Golbez favorite if I remember properly) and fairly-nondescript-before-free-agency Ron Hainsey. In their place, Columbus brought in Flyers playoff sensation R.J. Umberger, the flighty Kristian Huselius, overpaid ginger Mike Commodore and premiere douche Raffi Torres. The BJs look like they'll show the scoring ability of a Klan member at a "Soul Train" after-party.

For the Stars, we'll get our first glimpse of a guy who had quite the 15-minutes of Wine and Dine fame, Fabian Brunnstrom. Hopefully Brunnstrom will ease the pain caused by the departure of the Stars' interchangeable Finns.

Can the Stars justify their newly found media darling status without Sergei Zubov? Part 1 of 82 starts tonight.