Game 11 AfterThoughts: Suo-for-two-mi, but Oh My, Finland!

The Stars have had no shortage of measuring-stick games go south in the last little while. Just last year, they came off a win, only to follow it up with a loss to teams like Toronto (4-1), Colorado (6-3), and Vegas (6-1) in the first couple of months. Those are the sorts of teams you feel like the Stars should be able to hang with, but each of those games was a pretty decent letdown.

But you also have to zoom out a bit, given the circumstances. In hearing from Matt Duchene and Pete DeBoer after the game, they’re very much aware that this one was just a couple of posts and a crossbar away from going their way. The Panthers’ goals were primarily playoff-type goals, and the playoffs are brutal if you live and die with every game, as so many fans do.

But you have to zoom out even more, I think, because this week really has been a special one. For goodness’ sake, Roope Hintz got to meet President Alexander Stubb. That’s something usually reserved for winning the Stanley Cup, but this event was so significant, so special, that he came straight back after returning from a trip to China in order to attend Jari Kurri’s acceptance of the Börje Salming Courage Award, then to attend the second game in the NHL Global Series.

Heads of state usually have a pretty good sense for which events merit special attention. It’s just a shame that Dallas wasn’t quite able to give the game the same attention in the finer details.

***

On Saturday morning, Pete DeBoer was asked whether he had gotten together with his longtime friend Paul Maurice during this trip. He responded that the best time probably would have been after Friday night’s game, but that he didn’t really feel like getting a beer with his old buddy given the poor showing by Dallas in the first go-round.

So, it was hardly a surprise to see some significant lineup changes in the second game in Tampere, Finland. But the details of said changes did raise an eyebrow or two.

First, Oskar Bäck drew back in on Sam Steel’s line. And to facilitate that lineup change, the forward who came out was, unfortunately, Tyler Seguin. DeBoer mentioned this morning that the Stars were “Working through some treatments” with a player or player(s), and that usually means a player is dealing with a nagging injury. If it responds to treatment, then the player can play. If it doesn’t, they can’t. This is all speculative, of course, but given the games Seguin has already missed this season, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to presume that he is the main one DeBoer was referring to.

Also, the Stars listed Seguin as “day-to-day with a lower body injury” right after I typed the above paragraph, but I’m leaving it in for posterity. It’s nice to have confirmation.

Mavrik Bourque, then, did not come out of the lineup for Bäck, but rather moved up to take Seguin’s place on Duchene’s right wing. It was a pretty fair chance for Bourque to build on the momentum of his first NHL goal the night before, which isn’t nothing for a really talented player like him. After the game, Duchene mentioned that he’s knows Bourque is going to keep finding his way in the NHL and keep improving. “You can see the top level there,” Duchene ended with. “The sky’s the limit, for sure.”

But while the forwards had some tweaks, the defense got entirely reshuffled, as Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen were reunited. That moved Matt Dumba down to the third pairing, where he took Nils Lundkvist’s spot next to Brendan Smith. It was Lundkvist’s first healthy scratch of the season, but given the back-to-back nature of this trip’s games, I don’t think this is a sign that he’s struggling in DeBoer’s eyes. In fact, DeBoer mentioned that he thinks Lundkvist, while behind Harley and Heiskanen on the power play depth chart, is actually in one of his strongest runs of games he’s seen. So, I would expect Lundkvist to be back in the lineup as soon as the Stars get back to North America.

That left Ilya Lyubushkin and Esa Lindell, who play together on the penalty kill, but less so at 5 on 5. And, for what it’s worth, Matt Dumba ended up playing a lot more even-strength minutes than Lyubushkin anyway. we’re all just trying to predict the future, here.

***

After a 6-4 game that had its share of sloppiness from both sides, this one ended up being a lot tighter. Like a playoff game, as we said. And that means the margins for error tend to be thin.

Florida started the first period with some good chances, always managing to have a bit more time with the puck than Dallas would like to allow. But just when another early goal seemed inevitable, Eetu Luostarinen flubbed a glorious chance as the third man on a rush where the Stars just weren’t quite quick enough to catch up in transition. So the puck waffled harmlessly off his stick on a great cross-ice pass, and the Stars would get their own chance to take the lead on the power play. It could have been a textbook case of a missed chance at one end and a goal at the other. Could have.

After an Aaron Ekblad penalty, the Stars went on the power play for the first time, and it would be an incredible Thomas Harley keep, whacking a hot puck down like he was killing a wasp, that drew the biggest cheers from the crowd. It also set up a subsequent shot off the post from Logan Stankoven, but they don’t award Calder Trophies for power play almosts, I am told by NHL folks who are in the know.

Jamie Benn has won an award, though it’s been awhile. He wasn’t messing around in the first period of this game, however, dishing out a hit on just about every shift he had, including a couple of big ones. If you wanted to do so, you could say he was trying to will his team to put forth a better first-period effort than they did last game, and to some effect.

But Dallas did end up trailing 1-0 after the first, and it would end up being a pretty routine play that got Florida on the board, as a faceoff win (thanks to work from Evan Rodrigues) led to a point shot that was tipped into the roof of the net with impressively athletic precision (by Evan Rodrigues). In fact, both his skates were off the ice when he got his stick on the puck. It was pretty impressive.

That’s an example of how well-tipped shots are so difficult to stop. The angle purposely circumvents intensity wouldn’t diminish quickly, and fists would fly after a scrum by the Florida net that didn’t result in a goal, when Mason Marchment hit Nate Schmidt into the boards. He and Schmidt would both be sent to their rooms to think about what they just did, while Matt Dumba and Sam Bennett would also get two apiece for roughing. But the initial Marchment hit would get an appropriate minor for boarding, and Florida had a chance to go up 2-0 for the second time in two nights. But DeSmith made a nice save through traffic that would be the Panthers’ only dangerous chance, and the Stars would enter an intermission with just a one-goal deficit, for once. Thank goodness for small favors.

Aaron Ekblad started the second period by heading back to the box for a holding penatlty, and the Stars had a prime chance to grab the game and turn it in a better direction. But despite a couple of decent looks (including a second puck off the post that nearly bounced off Spencer Knight and back into the net, their power play continued to revert back to pre-Boston form.

DeSmith then had to make a great blocker-arm save off Matthew Tkachuk, after a great pass left him with a nice gap (from his perspective) with time to get a quality shot on net. But DeSmith looked steady as ever in sending it aside, and really, DeSmith was great tonight, right? Just a shame about those posts at the other end. Who invented those, anyway? Why aren’t we hanging the goal net from a clothespin or something? It’s time we re-invented the wheel.

The Panthers would get a second power play of their own when Esa Lindell was forced to take a hooking minor after a great rush from Dmitry Kulikov nearly led to a goal. It would only delay the inevitable, though, as some sharp puck movement and yet another tip in front by Tkachuk beat DeSmith to give Florida a 2-0 lead at the halfway mark of the game.

From an observer’s perspective, it felt like Dallas absolutely had to have the next goal, lest the demoralization set in for good. And because the universe has a sense of humor, Sasha Barkov would take a penalty to give the Stars a chance to do just that.

Evgenii Dadonov took Seguin’s spot on the power play. That’s a spot Dadonov hasn’t been for a while due to the other skilled players in the lineup above him. But after a good pass from Johnston, Dadonov found the five-hole with ease on the rush entry. It was, as they say, a Big One, where Dadonov rightly judged that his chance was the best one to take, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. He can do things, you know.

Or maybe Seguin was disguised as number 63 on that line, because DeBoer would send them out soon afterwards with another good result. A smart Heiskanen shot fell to Matt Duchene, who stuffed the rebound home without a doubt. And at that point, you would’ve been forgiven for just being thankful the Stars finally made a game out of one of these contests, given all the build up.

But then, something unthinkable happened: The Wave.

Maybe it’s a fun little thing over here that people don’t have strong feelings about, but I was not remotely prepared to deal with that experience. And maybe that’s the case for all USA folks, because Jason Robertson took a hooking penalty right after that. Coincidence? You tell me.

After a good portion of said power play, Lyubushkin got into it with Matt Tkachuk after the whistle, and only Tkachuk was sent off for roughing…despite Lyubushkin also skating into the box. But when the referee announced just the Florida minor, Lyubushkin raised a palm and hopped right back out before anyone could change their mind. I appreciate his integrity, though.

That meant Dallas would get an abbreviated power play after a bit of 4-on-4, and the Stars snapped the puck around looking for a seam, only to encounter the Florida penalty kill that managed to hold off the Edmonton Oilers a few months ago, and you really began to remember, watching it, how the Stars only scored their power play goal earlier off the rush. Because, once Florida gets set up on their PK, you really do have to make some tough choices or some outstanding plays. The Stars weren’t able to do that, and the second period would end with the same 2-2 score.

Matt Dumba had a rough breakout where he almost took an interference penalty after a buddy pass that got turned over way too quickly. And while DeBoer isn’t explicitly saying that Dumba got demoted, it seems pretty likely that he’s played his way off the Heiskanen pairing for the time being. Something to keep an eye on, anyway. Dallas went from 7-2-0 to 7-4-0 on this trip, and that means the breathing room is in much shorter supply than it has been.

It all came down to one final outstanding play, though. The Stars had been more aggressive in covering Barkov in this one, from my perspective. But someone else to keep an eye on (as if that’s even how it works, come on Robert, get a grip) would’ve been A.J “my name sounds like a baseball player’s” Greer, who put the Panthers up 3-2 off a faceoff win and a great shot. Simple, outstanding plays. Greer immediately fired the puck, knowing DeSmith would be a click behind in sorting out the result of the face-off from behind the mass of players, and even a goalie who’s locked in can’t perform telepathy (yet—science, please work on this). It was a heartbreaking goal, but frankly, the Stars ought to have scored a third goal in this game themselves. So you tell me who really let that goal in. (Probably the fans who started the wave.)

Mason Marchment took another minor right after that, and only the edge of DeSmith’s goalstick and a great pad save would prevent the Panthers would immediately restoring their two-goal lead. They certainly tried, however, as Tkachuk went between his legs for a shot before being cleaned out by Brendan Smith. The pair exchanged bumps, and Jamie Benn then finished a hard check into the end boards just afterwards in an attempt to shock the Stars back into wakefulness at the first TV timeout.

From there, however, the Panthers settled into their shell. Dallas poked and prodded, and the skinny part of Knight’s goalstick even had to make a save. But when push came to shove, Florida still wouldn’t be moved, and Dallas never really managed to do anything, even after getting some offensive zone time with six attackers, and Florida would eventually manage to find the empty net when they cleared the neutral zone, and Sam Reinhart was able to force the puck into the empty net.

***

After the game, the President of the Republic of Finland visited both teams in their dressing rooms. It was pretty special to hear about the players, sweaty and exhausted, immediately standing up to listen to kind words from (some of) their leader. I hope that reinforced how special this trip is. I think it must have. And certainly the coaching staff will hope that it makes the trip seem even more surreal than usual, such that the players don’t let it get in their heads. Losing two games in a row to the team that just did the thing you’re trying to do is a bummer, no matter whose hand you get to shake.

As for my part, this trip will live in my memory for the rest of my life. To be really candid for a moment, this trip all came together really quickly after an abrupt job transition, and I still don’t know what the future holds beyond the next couple of months. But for a week, I got to experience a fabulous country in two (very different) cities, all while watching some of the best hockey players in the world have the same experience. And a bunch of people in Finland got to see something really cool, too. Hopefully they don’t remember the results.

Tomorrow, I’m going to fly back to the USA. I’ve had a chance to talk to more legendary hockey figures than you can imagine, all in the span of a short few days. I’ve enjoyed the kindness, hospitality, and humor of a wonderful people only too happy to host an insufferable American, and I’ve even managed to write a bit in the meantime.

Finland is a wonderful place, and I would commend it to anyone who wants to a visit a beautiful country that sounds like it has the most amazing summers you could ask for. I guarantee you that the people will suffer your ignorance, as they’ve suffered mine. And I also guarantee that everything that seems oddly different here is different for a reason. Even the weird dial on the bathroom wall that you find out is to turn on the floor heater. It gets cold here, you know!

The other thing that has been hitting me is that I’ve spent a lot of my own money to make this trip happen, and I’m weirdly proud of that. It’s not like I can do this all the time, but for a lot of reasons, this has ended up being the most perfect time to do the most perfect trip I could imagine. Thanks for reading even the odd word or two that I’ve spouted this week. I really do love it. (And I’m even a bit more grateful if you’re reading this from Finland. Kiitos, y’all!)