Observations: Stars showing characteristics of Snoopy during 18-5-0 start

It was a dark and stormy night.

Suddenly, a shot rang off the post.

The maid screamed, "The Stars win again."

Snoopy was a bit of a hero for me growing up, so I'm going to borrow a few of his famous phrases to start you out here. Consider it an homage in the vein of "Fallout Boy" or "Kid Rock"_ literary sampling that puts a new spin on an old thought

The truth is Snoopy helped me become a writer (it was either that or Sopwith Camel pilot), so repurposing a few lines from "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" seems perfect right now. One, it really was a gully washer out there Friday. Two, several shots rang off the post in Dallas' 3-2 shootout win over Vancouver. And three, a lot of maid-like voices were screaming all over a sold out American Airlines Center.

It was a throwback to my youth, when we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown" in about a six-week span. They didn't have DVRs back then (or VCRs or even Beta Max) so you had to all gather in the living room to watch the show when the network decided to air it. That made for a crowded carpet, as my eight siblings and I jockeyed for positioning on the beige berber and propped up on our elbows to watch the genius of Charles M. Schulz.

It was indeed a simpler time, and the creator of Charlie Brown knew how to boil down problems to their simplest form_ seek advice for a nickel, camp out in a pumpkin patch, put on a Christmas play. The results weren't always good, but the effort was there, the heart was there.

And at the center of all of this was a daydreaming beagle.

Snoopy could battle the Red Baron, charm the college girls as Joe Cool, or type out an action tome on the old Smith-Corona. He was the one who got things right, who had the skills, who knew what he was doing.

And the Stars sort of resemble him right now. They are living in a fantasy world where everything turns into gold. One night, they draw out the sabers and win a physical duel. One night, they go into dogfight mode and dip and dodge through the sky. And one night, they dance on top of a piano to a jazzy little ditty while winning the Christmas light contest.

Friday was one of those dancing nights. The Stars were in free-form, despite the fact they were hoping to be more disciplined. The problem with this team is that it really, really, really wants to dance. It wants to show off, to be the center of attention, to "wow." And sometimes that gets you in trouble.

John Klingberg is one of the smartest 23-year-old hockey players you will find, and he was embarrassed by his giveaways in a 7-4 loss Tuesday to Ottawa when Erik Karlsson was on the other side of the ice. So you would have thought he would have been at his most conservative Friday.

But there he was skating up the right boards under duress and deciding to whip a weak, no-look backhand pass right into his own slot that was quickly turned into a Daniel Sedin goal and a 1-1 tie.

It was groan-inducing. It was head-slapping. It was that same kind of childish mistake Charlie Brown would make. But just like in the specials, things found a way of working out. After Klingberg drew a penalty and put the Stars on the power play that led to a 2-1 lead, you found yourself saying, "That John Klingberg sure is a blockhead, but he did buy us a nice Christmas tree."

But simply riding out Jason Spezza's mammoth second period slap shot wasn't enough drama for this holiday special. No, the Stars needed to see the game get tied with 4:10 remaining, needed to thrill you with six shots on Vancouver's goal in the 3-on-3 overtime, and needed to test Antti Niemi one more time by making him face three shooters in the shootout.

The fact Niemi came out with a clean slate and made Tyler Seguin's shootout goal stand up for the win was an important part of the story. Whether Kari Lehtonen is out two games or two weeks with his upper body injury (it looks like two games), Niemi is being tested. He received a heck of a grade Friday night.

The Stars flew through the dark and stormy night and landed early Saturday morning in St. Paul, Minnesota _ birthplace of Charles M. Schulz. It was the perfect handoff of one holiday special to the next. It was the gentle reminder that you need to be on the carpet Saturday night, propped up on your elbows to see just what new tricks Snoopy has in store.

The guy could pen a great novel, after all, and it seems he's just getting started with this one.