Game 14 AfterThoughts: Mason Marchment Makes Mince Meat of Pittsburgh Penguins as Dallas Stars Outscore the Cowboys

When the news came out before the game that Matt Dumba would be scratched against Pittsburgh, I immediately thought about amending my piece from this morning, in which I talked about how Dumba’s contract dictated playing time, etc. etc. etc. It turns out, Pete DeBoer was more than willing to hurt some feelings in order to do what he saw as best for his team.

Well, you could hardly ask for more vindication of his decision than a 7-1 victory against Pittsburgh, including a six-goal first period in which Miro Heiskanen met his equivalent of a stardust Mufasa, and Mason Marchment appeared to grab Excalibur from Dennis Soetaert en route to a five-point night that will surely live in Marchment’s memory for many years to come.

One other thing that’s worth mentioning about the roster decisions, however, is that Nils Lundkvist has clearly earned some additional trust vs. last season. After getting scratched in the second Florida Finland game, Lundkvist drew back in against Chicago, and DeBoer made a point this afternoon to mention that scratching Dumba was a coach’s decision, just as it was when Lundvkist was scratched. It’s weird to say that a momentous decision like scratching a new multi-year free agents signing is a good omen, but I think you have to give DeBoer and Jim Nill credit: that’s the sort of move that doesn’t happen unless a coach feels confident in their freedom with the roster.

Historically, fans might remember how free agent signings Dan Hamhuis also ate a healthy scratch under Lindy Ruff back in 2017. Granted, it was a rough season for everyone that year, but Nill likewise permitted Ruff to do what he felt was best, even when it came to sitting veterans who had just been brought on board. It’s good to see that the subsidiarity of the past is still in full force, because that makes for a very healthy work environment. (Read Good to Great if you haven’t already, folks, just saying.)

The other thing worth noting in warmups was that Esa Lindell was paired with Miro Heiskanen, which has been a rarity, albeit not entirely unheard-of since Heiskanen’s debut in 2018. I wonder if DeBoer is making a bit of statement with that move, basically saying that these have been the two best defensemen, and he’s going to give them the two top slots. In any case, it was noteworthy that Thomas Harley stayed on his own pairing with Ilya Lyubushkin, as he’s been the go-to guy to pair with Heiskanen in years past, when the chips are down. This is, weird as it may sound, a good sign, I think. No preconceptions are dictating things, and no cows are sacred. It’s a meritocracy in Dallas, and that’s going to be how they live and die. And tonight in Pittsburgh, they feasted.

***

When Matt Duchene scored on Joel Blomqvist on the Stars’ first shot, it was probably one the Penguins didn’t love. Sean Shapiro wrote at his Substack about how the Stars may have seen something with Blomqvist’s glove hand, and I wouldn’t disagree with Sean about goaltending (or about most things, come to that). And sometimes, a soft goal can open the floodgates, as it did tonight.

Wyatt Johnston followed Duchenee’s lead and took the next two shots for Dallas, but his backhand was saved by Blomqvist, and next shot (which was setup by a nice drop pass from Jamie Benn) rang off the crossbar. It seemed, at the time, like Johnston was still cursed to remain in a rut, but he would finally get his catharsis after a whole lot of other things happened. So, let’s get to Those Other Things.

Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson were also stopped on great chances just six minutes in, so it looked for all the world like a get-healthy night for some of Dallas’s erstwhile scorers just wasn’t in the cards. But indeed, someone who by rights should have more goals would get one, but it would be the rookie Logan Stankoven who instinctively fired the puck when Blomqvist was screened, and the puck whistled into the net at the near post. Some players just know how to score goals, and all evidence suggests that Stankoven is one of them. I am a professional detective when it comes to hindsight.

Halfway through the first period, shots on goal were 7-1 to Dallas. But it would become 8-1 when Marchment showed why he’s an excellent F1, as a tipped dump-in from Brendan Smith (in his 700th game, no less) rebounded sumptuously back into the low slot, and Marchment beat every Penguin backchecker to the puck and fired it over Blomqvist’s left shoulder, sending all of his other joints to the bench as well, as the Penguins switched goalies after going down 3-0 through 11 minutes. At the time, it seemed like a futile attempt to stem the tide. Oh, how futile it would become.

The Penguins would finally muster a bit of a push back after the goalie change, but it would be Marchment again who would break their hearts when he set up Miro Heiskanen after some behind-the-net puck movement that Alex Nedeljkovic never had a chance to catch up to. Give Heiskanen a lot of credit for that shot, too. Many players would take a beat to get set and fire the puck harder, but Heiskanen understood the timing of the whole thing, and he fired off-balance in time to beat Nedeljkovic.

Give Heiskanen credit on his next shot, too; it’s not often a defenseman gets a breakaway at even-strength, but Heiskanen showed the same instincts he displayed on his first NHL shift, and he took the opening the absentee Penguins gave him, and busted down the ice to beat the Penguins’ goalie glove side low. Which Penguins goalie? Well, the one whose name I am not legally obligated to spell again for a couple of paragraphs, at least. It was 5-0 Dallas in the first period, and every single player could smell the cookie night baking, as Roope Hintz fired a puck on an odd-man rush right afterwards, only to learn that the Penguins’ goalie was actually capable of inhabiting physical space, much to everyone’s surprise.

Something that wasn’t surprising is that the Stars scored, you guessed it folks, another goal. After Sidney Crosby took a pretty hard two-minute minor for roughing Sam Steel, Heiskanen subverted a 2-on-1 shorthanded chance for Kris Letang. On the counterattack, Mason Marchment continued to conduct an orchestral level of point production, setting up Tyler Seguin on a 2-on-1 rush for Dallas on the power play’s own opportunity to get healthy. It’s nice when the medicine works, you know?

In the second period, Nils Lundkvist and Blake Lizotte would both get good chances, but emotions seemed to be tempered after the insanity of the first frame, and the middle 20 minute would be a relative disappointment for Dallas. I am conducting an inquiry into whose fault it is that the Stars didn’t score another six goals in the second period, so stay tuned for that bit of investigative reporting.

After some extended pressure from Pittsburgh in which Evgeni Malkin would test Oettinger to no avail, the Penguins would get their first power play of the game after Brendan Smith celebrated his 700th NHL game by boarding Jesse Puljujärvi, albeit with a less dangerous hit than often draws that call. But, almost according to script, the Stars would get the best chances anyway, as Roope Hintz was fed for a breakaway. But he wasn’t taking the same probiotics as the rest of the team, and even his rebound feed to Thomas Harley couldn’t beat Nedeljkovic, so the Penguins managed to escape their power play without surrendering a goal, miraculously.

After 15 minutes of celebratory hockey from Dallas in the middle frame, the Penguins finally got one (and it would be the only one) of their own when Anthony Beauvillier got a feed in front and managed to put it by Oettinger, giving his team…well, not a raison d’etre, but at least the motivation to keep clambering over the boards for another 25 minutes. You have to find a way to care, some nights.

It may not have been a cookie night for everyone on the roster, but Miro Heiskanen and Wyatt Johnston both found the back of the net, and that’s a solid bit of catharsis in a game the Stars should be expected to win. But for Johnston to unleash a power play one-timer to make it 7-1? Well, you could hardly ask for a better palate cleanser to follow the Winnipeg debacle than what the Stars did in this one. It figures that every member of the Duchene line scored a goal, and it figures even more that Marchment scored five points in the game. I don’t think it’s been said enough how good he’s been this year, so let’s just say it now. Mason Marchment has been exceptionally good this season, so far.

In fact, it’s worth highlighting other good things as well, including a move that Wyatt Johnston made with just 90 seconds left in the game, when he went inside-out on Erik Karlsson to get off a deadly shot on net. Yes, Karlsson isn’t exactly known for his stifling defense, but it was telling that Johnston was still trying that sort of a move on a former Norris Trophy winner. The Stars weren’t interested in playing nice, even when the game was beyond all doubt, and that’s a good thing. You love to see the pedal put down to the metal. That’s a Pete DeBoer signature approach, you may have heard.

Anyway, I purposely didn’t put any clips or tweets in this post, because I think you deserve the joy of discovering all seven Stars goals for yourself. This website is intended to be a go-to resource for every Dallas Stars fans out there, but I also think you have enough self-respect for me not to have to spoon feed you highlights from the game you just watched alongside me, right? That’s just common decency, by me. Please send me some food, thanks.