Game 13 AfterThoughts: When You’re the Jets, You’re the Jets All the Way (to a 4-1 Thumping)
Does anyone remember that the Winnipeg Jets had 110 points last year? Time and time again, I’ve heard folks marvel at how the Jets are rolling, but it’s worth remembering they weren’t exactly starting from a lottery position. When you have a great goaltender, a beloved new head coach, a power play as sharp as it is loaded, and your scorers are scoring, just about any team can have a great run for a dozen games or so, and that’s where Winnipeg is right now.
You love to have those runs come at the start of the season, as it gives your team a huge cushion to work work and a lot less panic when you inevitably do cool down. The Stars, you may recall, started last year at 11-3-1. The Jets were a very good team last year—the 2015-16 Stars only put up 109 points, just for reference —but they look nigh unstoppable right now, as the Stars discovered today.
The game started off with a noticeable disparity in urgency between the teams, which is a nice way of saying that the Stars just looked like the worse team. To their credit, they tried to find something, as Matt Dumba laid a big hit early, and the Stars even got the game’s first power play. But that power play wouldn’t last that long, as Tyler Seguin was called for tripping in maybe one of the most obvious cases of “I saw a player fall, but I wasn’t watching anything before that” you’ll ever see.
But the Stars couldn’t blame the officiating for how much better Winnipeg looked early on. The first dangerous chance came when a post was hit by former Stars trade deadline acquisition Vlad Namestnikov, and if you want a sense for how rough things were for Dallas at that point, one of their few decent shots ended up landing in Mason Marchment’s face. Sam Steel moved back up to the second line, but Marchment would get stitched up/superglued back together/butterflied and back onto the bench before the first period ended.
Sam Steel then took a tripping call to give Winnipeg another go on the power play, and it was a call that got sold a tad along the boards, but with the referees clearly in buy-now mode, it wasn’t a shock to see the Jets get another chance.
The Stars almost got out of it after some good fortune, when a puck that trickled past Oettinger and got poked through the crease and wide. But Oettinger lost his stick in the process, and in the final seconds of the power play, Ilya Lyubushkin pushed out aggressively to cut off a cross from the corner but couldn’t stop the pass, which found Alex Iafallo busting to the net ahead of Tyler Seguin, who was having to cover two players in front of the net, which is a testament to the havoc that Winnipeg’s power play is creating these days. I think there were about four dependent clauses in that last sentence, but if I were to add one more, it would be to mention again that Oettinger also didn’t have his stick for that shot, and perhaps that would have changed things a bit.
After the game, Tyler Seguin said that Winnipeg moved the puck well, and that it was probably his fault for being a bit too aggressive on the kill. Again, there was a lot that didn’t go well on that kill, but nobody is every going to say that Seguin doesn’t take responsibility. Leadership is most apparent when the chips are down, you know.
The Winnipeg power play looks incredible right now. It’s just collapsing the penalty kill and tearing the diamond/box limb from limb. When you have confidence, dynamism, and scoring talent, you can go on a heater like this one. Yesterday after practice, I asked DeBoer if the power play was what needed to jump start the team’s scoring, but he said it wasn’t just the power play, but that everyone needed to be more offensively productive, from the defense on out.
Well, the defense would get involved in the scoring, but probably not in the way DeBoer was intending. Matt Dumba went back to collect a puck and didn’t get the radio call about impending traffic. Despite appearing to check his shoulder before curling back into the middle, he attempted a pass up the guts of the ice that got immediately turned over, handing the puck to Iafallo in a horrible spot (or a great spot, if you’re Iafallo or his close family members who are probably rooting for him unless there’s some feud there I don’t know about, but why even contemplate such things, let’s just assume that his family is a bunch of peaches, I’m sure they’re great folks). Er, so Oettinger bailed Dumba out on the initial high-grade shot, but with two players there, the rebound was only too easy for Rasmus Kupari to tuck in around Oettinger. It’s a play that Dumba can’t make, regardless of what he was warned about or not on the play, and it put Dallas in a 2-0 hole just ten minutes into a huge game. Isn’t it always the way that the really bad losses have the ugliest goals?
Later in the first period, a couple of rookies were involved in big hits for Dallas. First, Mavrik Bourque laid a big reverse shot on Cole Perfetti, and the possibly dazed Perfetti then retaliated later in the shift with a cross-check into the numbers of Logan Stankoven, sending him into the boards. It was a chance for Dallas to get angry, and to start trying to get even, but after a brief scuffle and an unfortunately characteristic power play (complete with a shorthanded chance right off the bat for Winnipeg), the Stars were staring a at an 0-for-2 night on the power play and a 12-2 disparity in shots on goal as the opening frame trickled away. Again, more on this later.
The Stars came out with a push in the second period, as you’d expect. That included a vicious Matt Duchene reversal (clearly he spoke with Bourque during the intermission) where he caught Stars’ old friend Colin Miller up high in a sequence that looked a bit more like what Pete DeBoer was looking for. The Duchene/Miller antagnomism would continue on and off for the rest of the night, but it wouldn’t really end up mattering. And what does matter, in our Modern Times? Bodily health? peace with our neighbors? These are the things you start to think about when you realize that a hockey game is probably already bagged up and on its way for one team, but you still have to see it all play out for another 90 minutes.
And despite the early push, Dallas played to form in a game that was too reminiscent of a Dallas-Detroit matchup in 2009, in that a small mistake by Dallas would immediately cancel out their momentum. A wrap-around by literally Vladislav Namestnikov wasn’t covered up in time for a subsequent poke to send the puck out from under Oettinger’s glove and into the net. It was just another instance of Dallas being a step slower than Winnipeg, as a slightly quicker Oettinger cover would have made it easier for the officials to negate the goal. But given how sloppily the sequence went, it was never going to be waved off, and it was 3-0 Jets.
It would then become 4-0 Jets when their power play was given another chance, after Jamie Benn got tagged for a fairly mild roughing call, which Razor pointed out came on the heels of Mark Scheifele cross-checking Logan Stankoven up high during the preceding skirmish after the whistle. And it would be simple stuff that did it, with a open one-timer from the slot blowing past Oettinger. Shots were 15-8 Jets, and goals were 4-0. It was not a fun time to be a Dallas Stars fan.
After a bit of a delay (due to where the backup goalies are stationed for the visitors in Winnipeg), Casey DeSmith would come in for Oettinger. It was an acknowledgement of the entire team’s struggles more than just the goalie’s, but you couldn’t help reflecting that Oettinger has been outstanding all year, except for when he’s faced Florida and Winnipeg, two of the top teams in the league. Ideally, those are the games where you’d want to see your top goalie shine brightest, but then again, the entire team looked second-best through the half of the game in which Oettinger was in net.
After the game, Pete DeBoer acknowledged that the Jets were the better team, and that Dallas really let the game get away from them after the first three shifts. He also said that the game wasn’t on Oettinger at all, and you’d be hard-pressed to disagree with him. It was as much an act of mercy as anything else. To reiterate this, take what Tyler Seguin said after the game: “Our goalie did nothing wrong.” Hard to argue with that.
As if to prove that Oettinger simply didn’t bring his magic amulet to work today, DeSmith would get a bit of great fortune shortly afterwards, when a shot off the post bounced right into DeSmith’s back, only to fall perfectly for him to whip around and cover it before the whistle. From there, it was up-and-down action, with both goalies having a bit more to do, but with neither team finding the net before the second period ended.
After 40 minutes, I reflected that the Stars hadn’t really been creating many chances on their power plays vs. the Jets on theirs. But I didn’t quite realize how bad it was until I looked at this:
I had to see that, so you do, too. The Stars’ power play would get a couple more opportunities after the game was decided, but this is where the game was still in play, and the Stars just couldn’t find any purchase. That’s how you turn games like this into competitive ones, for the record. If you’re the better team (like Winnipeg was), then power play goals help you put the game out of reach. If you’re playing catch-up (like Dallas was), then you can use the power play to hang around in a game until you find your footing. But in this one, as against Chicago the other night, Dallas wasn’t able to do either. And until the scoring starts to flow the way it has the past two years, we’ll be having this conversation every single night. Or day, or afternoon. Technically, the night is after noon, but then, I guess the following morning also would be after noon, so what are we even arguing about this for?
Anyway, a third period happened. And the early part of the third period made it clear that nothing much would be changing, as Nik Ehlers got a wide-open one-timer from the slot that DeSmith stayed big against, and Cole Perfetti continued the target practice with a post-ringer of his own shortly afterwards. Kyle Connor also got a glorious chance during a 4-on-4 a few minutes later (thanks to Colin Miller trying to prove something against Thomas Harley, putting them both in the box), but DeSmith’s right toe reached out just far enough to keep the Stars in the game within four goals. Casey DeSmith’s performance in this game was basically the goaltending equivalent of “why don’t they make the entire plane out of the black box material.” How do you even begin to explain why that’s not a good question?
The Stars would tempt fate even further when Matt Dumba valiantly crashed the Jets’ net and appeared to take a stick up high that wasn’t called, leading to a Jets counter that resulted in Matt Duchene wrapping up Connor and being sent to the box, giving Winnipeg a minute of a 4-on-3 power play before the normal version would take over. But Winnipeg chose to be content with just two power play goals, and the Stars escaped. Maybe “escape” is not the right word for a 4-1 loss, actually. (Spoiler alert.)
The third period would see the Stars gamely push some more, including an actually decent power play midway through the frame. But Connor Hellebuyck is the best goalie in the NHL these days, and he showed Mason Marchment what happens when the best team in the NHL also happens to have the best goalie in the NHL. It hardly seems fair, frankly. Also, the Jets are wearing old uniforms for the second game in a row. Sounds like somebody is having an identity crisis up in Manitoba and can’t decide which iteration of their franchise is the real one. Maybe that’s what Colin Miller was so annoyed about. Maybe he should ask Minnesota to assist with this sort of issue.
After Dumba tried to dish out another big hit (which led to a 2-on-1 that Heiskanen expertly subverted, not that it really mattered at that point, but come on, Heiskanen can’t turn it off, and it’s beautiful to watch plays like that happen, no matter the score), Jamie Benn also confirmed that the two teams weren’t in love with each other, giving Cole Perfetti a free back massage by way of a nasty cross check, which then drew Adam Lowry over to stand up for his teammate. The two captains would drop the gloves, and Benn would land a clean right in the middle of Lowry’s face. The Jets would rightly go on the power play as a result of all that, and Benn’s night would end when an additional misconduct was sent his way for reasons known only to Benn and the officials.
Anyway, the game would end with the Stars achieving a moral victory, when Roope Hintz was credited with a goal just after a final power play expired, as Hellebuyck had just seen his crossbar dented on a shot seconds before, only for the puck to go back to the point for Thomas Harley to send it goalward, with the puck snaking its way along the ice and between Hellebuyck’s legs. It’s nice to know that the Stars at least ruined somebody’s day a tiny bit. I mean, they flew all the way up there, so it’s the least they could do.
The question, I think, is whether this game is a referendum on anything. Here are some Final Facts:
Jake Oettinger has lost all three games he’s played against teams in playoff position this season (Buffalo, Florida, and Winnipeg). The Stars’ schedule has been relatively easy, and maybe that’s a very good thing, given how uneven their game as a whole looks right now. There’s good there, but the machine is not firing on all cylinders. I don’t think you can put this loss on Oettinger any more than you can the first Florida game, really (even though he did let in two goals in that one we’re accustomed to seeing stopped). Really, the Stars as a whole haven’t been able to raise their game against Florida or Winnipeg so far. It’s early, but they’ll need to pass one of these tests eventually. Would be good to see it come sooner than later.
The power play isn’t the problem, but I’m beginning to think it needs to start being the solution. Roope Hintz isn’t really at full capacity yet, today’s goal notwithstanding. Jason Robertson hasn’t found a rhythm when the Stars have needed a goal, and Wyatt Johnston has been having the sort of season we all expected him to as a teenager, when a little anonymity isn’t a bad thing. But right now, the Stars need something from that trio. They just haven’t shown the ability to really dictate any part of the game from night to night, and the Stars won’t do much this season if that doesn’t change. But it almost certainly will. Those players are too good for it not to.
The defense is average right now, not terrible. Thomas Harley had some good moments in this one, which is what the Stars need to see. Dumba’s giveaway was obviously the worst thing at the worst time, but the Stars don’t really have better options right now. We’ve covered the problems that come from putting Harley up with Heiskanen, but it will be intriguing to see what they do in Pittsburgh. As an aside, Dante Fabbro did just get put on waivers by Nashville today. I think it’s almost a certainty that a team higher on the priority list than Dallas will claim him (unless the GMs know of something sordid that led to the waiving), but I don’t know that the Stars shouldn’t consider it, should he miraculously fall to them. It’s hard to find right-handed defensemen under three million dollars in this league, let alone ones who have been playing on the top pairing, like Fabbro has. What’s the downside of giving him a shot on an expiring deal?