Game 19 AfterThoughts: Familiar Faces and a Natural Hat Trick

Jason Robertson Happened, once (thrice) again

“Hey, you, Jason. Score a few tonight, okay?”

Jason Robertson was extremely aware of his low shooting percentage to start the year. I know this, both because he would talk about it before the goals started flowing, and because Robertson is always aware of numbers like that.

I don’t think Robertson gets enough credit for how he handles stretches when pucks aren’t going in, personally. Gulutzan made a point of saying on the recent road trip that Robertson isn’t the sort of player who lets the frustration of not scoring negatively affect his game. Robertson knew he was getting (and creating) chances, and that those would inevitably turn into goals before too much longer.

That sort of confidence and resilience is invaluable, especially for a Stars team that wasn’t scoring a ton of goals early this season. So to see Robertson break out for six goals in three games, including a natural hat trick to salt away a win on home ice? Well, that was certainly a delight for the home crowd in Dallas, but it really shouldn’t have been too surprising. Because Jason Robertson scores goals.

Jake Oettinger called Robertson the best natural goal-scorer he’s ever played with, and you know all the numbers reinforcing that fact by now. Robertson has been one of the best goal-scorers in the league for years, both at even-strength and overall. So when the Stars have him playing confidently and shooting accurately, he’s got to be every bit as frustrating to defend as Oettinger joked Robertson can be in practice, when Robertson tries to score with every single shot.

In other words, you don’t score a natural hat trick by accident in the NHL.

Combine that with Roope Hintz, who racked up three assists in a night where he looked every bit like the two-way force Hintz can be, at his best. Gulutzan called him a “security blanket” after the game, and for good reason: Hintz’s speed, creativity, size, and defense make for a player that complements not only Robertson’s own defensive and finishing skills, but also Tyler Seguin’s vision, passing, and creativity.

Though, I have to say: I find it mildly hilarious that on a night where Seguin played with Roope Hintz, the only goal he scored was assisted solely by Ilya Lyubushkin. The Stars’ defensemen are offensively unstoppable right now, as Lian Bichsel’s first goal of the season proved (coming right after a game in which Alex Petrovic and Esa Lindell scored, too).

“I would say this is probably our most complete game, from start to finish, of the season,” Gulutzan said. “We’re building into a well-rounded group right now.”

And even the most well-rounded group needs players who can score a dagger of a goal now and then. Or three.

Esoteric Song of the Game

Lian Bichsel got the Stars on the board early when he banked a shot off Bobby Brink and past Dan Vladar for the big defenseman’s first goal of the season to give Dallas an early lead.

When a 21-year-old defenseman is getting that bounce, it’s a good sign. Imagine if that hadn’t gone in, and the Stars had wound up doing basically what Montreal did on Thursday, squandering a hot start by not scoring a goal in the first period despite being the better team. You really do need that one result sometimes, and possibly every time.

That Bichsel goal also came after a very quality shift from the third line, which has looked more and more consistent as the season has worn on. Given all the injuries Dallas has been dealing with (more on that later), seeing three players who played a lot of fourth-line minutes last year turn into a young, energetic third line is an outright boon.

The Stars kept the pressure on after the opening goal, and they probably ought to have piled up a two- or three-goal lead in the first ten minutes, as shots on goal went to 8-1 for Dallas, including a couple of near-misses cleared by Philly on pucks and rebounds Vladar wasn’t in the best of positions to clean up himself.

It was the best start Dallas has had in a while, with Oettinger only having to make one big save (which trickled through his pads and just wide). But with just a one-goal lead, the game was very much still up for grabs.

The second period was a cagier one than the first, with Dallas doing much more in-zone defending in the middle frame. But they were able to shut down the most dangerous chances, and that led to another goal for the home side off a really nice rush play by Hintz, Seguin, and Robertson that finished with a possible fanned shot by Seguin that worked like a charm for Robertson.

But it all started with a great play from Heiskanen to beat three forecheckers with one pass.

It’s not the flashiest play, but Philadelphia absolutely gets caught there with their third forechecker going too deep into the zone, and the Stars took advantage.

And hey, stop me if you’ve heard about this before, but I am told that goal-scorers tend to be streaky. And Jason Robertson is most certainly a Goal-Scorer, as he demonstrated by putting the puck higher than Dan Vladar’s glove was able to go to make it 3-0.

I think it’s safe to say Jason Robertson is feelin’ it right now, as that marked his fifth goal in the last three games.

From there, the Stars had another chance to prove that they had learned a thing or two about holding leads since early in the season. Because a much as the 7-0 Montreal Drubbing was technically a lead being held, it was more of a case of a lead being wielded, repeatedly, upon a young team still trying to sort some issues.

Against Philadelphia, however, things were still close as the game went on. Until they weren’t.

After Tyson Foerster high-sticked Bäck, the Stars went on the power play with Jason Robertson hunting for a hat trick. And he didn’t have to hunt for too long before getting a pass from Hintz (who was an assist machine on the night) in the guts of the ice, and Robertson ripped it home with the savoir-faire he tends to show when things are rolling for him. And boy, are they ever rolling these days for Jason Robertson, who brought down the hats with his sixth goal in the last three games.

Jake Oettinger had been riding a shutout all game, but the Flyers were bound to get another good look at some point down the stretch, and they did, when Christian Dvorak timed a foray toward the net well enough to tuck a backhand around Oettinger’s pad after a bit of a coverage issue in front.

But lest you think that the Stars were about to allow a comeback, Tyler Seguin did what he’s been doing lately, scoring a goal off the rush from Ilya “Klingberg” Lyubushkin.

That shot from Seguin reminds me so much of his early years in Dallas, when his shot just felt like a revelation, a threat from anywhere in view of the net. To see him still scoring those sorts of goals after all the work he’s been through to get back healthy again is nothing short of a joyful experience. It’s hard not to root for players like that.

The Stars played well enough to get a 1-0 lead in the first period, and they played well enough to hold (and extend) that lead in the second and third periods en route to a tidy 5-1 victory on a very enjoyable night for the home crowd. What more could you ask for on a Saturday night?

Lineups

The Stars went with this group on Saturday night:

Steel-Johnston-Rantanen
Robertson-Hintz-Seguin
Bäck-Hryckowian-Bourque
Blackwell-Faksa-Bastian

Lindell-Heiskanen
Capobianco-Lyubushkin
Bichsel-Petrovic

Oettinger in goal

---

Whereas the Flyers opted for this lineup:

Michkov-Couturier-Konecny
Tippett-Dvorak-Zegras
Foerster-Cates-Brink
Grebenkin-Abols-Hathaway

York-Sanheim
Seeler-Drysdale
Andrae-Juulsen

Vladar in goal

AfterThoughts

• Thomas Harley did not play tonight. The Stars announced just before puck drop that Thomas Harley is now week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

  • Gulutzan said on Thursday morning in Montreal that they’re looking to give Harley as much time off as they can, as he’s been dealing with some sort of nagging injury for a little over a week now.

  • After the game tonight, Gulutzan said this about Harley’s injury: “It’s just a lower-body injury. He was dealing with it, he played three or four games with it. But there comes a point right now where you don’t want to make the injury worse. And it’s the smartest decision for the athlete just to take that time now and get it dealt with.”

  • Whatever the injury is, it’s something Harley was playing through, but that clearly wasn’t getting better. And with the Stars’ having built up a bit of a cushion (if you can call being 3rd in the entire league a “cushion”), you have to think there isn’t going to be a better time for the Stars to let Harley recover than now.

• In Harley’s absence, Kyle Capobianco drew into the lineup, even running the second power play unit for Dallas, which is something he’s done for Texas with regularity. The Stars are already at the point where their 7th and 8th defensemen to start the year will be having to play regular minutes, with a 21-year-old Lian Bichsel surely looking at some more responsibility in the coming days and weeks. Big challenge, but also a big opportunity.

• Ralph Strangis and Joe Nieuwendyk were at the AAC tonight in Dallas ahead of their induction ceremony tomorrow into the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame. Both of them also dropped the puck before the game, with Ralph wearing an Antonio Stranges #71 jersey (which he wrote about) that will be signed and auctioned off.

  

  Nieuwendyk and Strangis also met with the media before the game, sharing some really entertaining stories and anecdotes about their time in Dallas, and what this weekend means to them. Strangis regaled reporters with stories of the early days in Dallas, including a Stars playoff game where the rally towels didn’t arrive on time, so fans grabbed toilet seat covers from the restrooms and waved them instead.

  
  Nieuwendyk also shared some memories, one of my favorite of which involved his trading for Jamie Langenbrunner back in the 2010-11 season. The Stars were in bankruptcy, so adding salary had to be cleared by the NHL at the time.
  ”I remember that we had to clear that we could spend the extra 15 grand through Gary Bettman,” Nieuwendyk recalled with a smile.

• Strangis even called some of the Stars game for a bit in the second period, so check that out—though I was in the press box and didn’t hear it, so I suppose you all can tell me what I missed until I go back and watch it all back later.

  

• Sam Steel had a pass back to the point intercepted in the offensive zone early in the first period. But as the Flyers began to rush back the other way with numbers, Steel was able to chase down the puck and turn it over, creating a 2-on-1 chance for Rantanen and Hintz that forced a great save and an ever greater rebound save out of Dan Vladar. Sam Steel: He does things.

  • In the third period, Steel got caught holding onto the puck for a bit too long, forcing Oettinger to bail him out with a big stop on Matvei Michkov. It was an eventful night for Steel—who also got robbed a minute later with a one-timer of his own from the slot.

• Miro Heiskanen continued to look absolutely outstanding in this game, as he and Esa Lindell made life difficult at both ends of the ice for Philadelphia. Any early-season questions about Heiskanen have been entirely put to bed at this point, I think. And with Harley out for what sounds like at least a few games, the Stars are going to need him to keep up that elite form. But if that Heiskanen-Lindel pairing continues to look as outstanding as they’ve been so far, the Stars should have a bit of leeway as they sort out the blue line.

• Roope Hintz had a rough collision in the third period with Sean Couturier, with neither of them seeing the other before Hintz ran into the Flyers’ center. Hintz made it back to the bench without looking to be in too much pain, and Gulutzan said he was relieved that Hintz’s first step when getting back to the bench was looking for a new stick. I suppose even the Stars are bound to dodge an injury bullet every once in a while.

• Glen Gulutzan also made a point to praise Kyle Capobianco for what he did after coming into the lineup tonight following a few healthy scratches. It’s deserved kudos, and it’s something the Stars will need some more of, as Harley is going to be out for the next little while, by all accounts. But good on Capobianco for sliding into the lineup without any fuss.

• The Eastern Conference has been very kind to the Stars this year, as they are now 5-1-2 against teams from the Other Side.

• The Stars are also on a five-game winning streak, as well as having earned points in 13 out of their last 14 games. And lately, they’ve begun to look like a team that you’d expect to be doing that sort of thing. It’s nice when the eyes and the heart are speaking the same language.