Game 26 AfterThoughts: Another Banner Night for Local Haberdasheries

Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen aren't messing around, folks

Back on November 11th, the Stars were 9-4-3, having scraped a couple of one-goal wins out of contests against Nashville and Seattle after losing three of their preceding four games.

If you recall that November 11 game, the Stars were in Ottawa, where they hadn’t won in nearly a decade. And true to form, the Senators’ forecheck drove them crazy for most of the game, with a 2-0 lead for the Senators getting piled up on a Stars team that looked a step behind and full of frustration for most of the first 40 minutes. It got to the point where even Mikko Rantanen was Doing Questionable Things, and the Stars got deep into the third period still down a goal.

Then Dallas got a breakaway out of nothing, when Robertson poked a puck ahead to Rantanen, and the Stars got back into the game. And you know the rest: Jason Robertson finally broke his goal drought, and the Stars won in overtime after a barrage of chances and some referring the Senators clearly didn’t care for.

Since arriving in Ottawa on November 11, the Stars have gone 8-1-1, and Jason Robertson hasn’t stopped scoring, with 13 goals and 8 assists in that span. He’s been every bit as unstoppable as the team he plays for, even with Dallas continuing to battle injuries night after night.

So how fitting was it that in the rematch with Ottawa in Dallas tonight, the Stars put together what Glen Gulutzan called afterward probably the team’s most complete game of the year.

“I thought our 5-on-5 play was probably the best of the year defensively,” Gulutzan said.

And indeed, the Stars allowed the fewest shots on goal of any game this season, with the Senators managing just 16 shots on goal despite having three power plays to draw upon. Dallas simply didn’t let the Senators get things going, and that led to Dallas capitalizing on mistakes more and more, especially as the game got out of hand late.

And that goes back to how Dallas started, as the Stars began this game much better than the one they played in Ottawa a few weeks ago, when they were hemmed in by Ottawa’s incessant forecheck for the first half of the game.

This time, Dallas looked like a team that brought a couple of strategies for quicker zone exits and greater offensive-zone pressure themselves, which allowed them to neutralize a lot of the forecheck that had terrorized them back in Ontario.

Casey DeSmith still had to make some early saves, including a couple from in tight, but most of the chances were along the ice, and his pads flashed according to their need on all but one occasion. But again, he faced just 16 pucks on net, which is five fewer than the Stars’ second-lowest total this season. Goaltending tends to meet its goals when the defense does its job.

Again though, that first period was crucial, as special teams also took a turn early. Michael Amadio took an offensive-zone tripping penalty on Kyle Capobianco in the offensive zone to send the NHL’s top power play to work seven minutes into the game, but after a dangerous one-timer by Hintz was blocked, Dallas couldn’t quite connect on a couple of other low cross attempts, and the Senators escaped without asking Ullmark to do all that much. They would not continue to escape as the game wore on, though.

Here is where it’s worth pointing out the solid work done by the penalty kill, because Alex Petrovic took a tripping minor of his own almost right afterward, and the Stars had their own shorthanded work to do. But after some decent pressure from Ottawa, a good bit of great work by Colin Blackwell with the puck strangled the end of the kill, and the period reverted to 5-on-5 for the remainder, which finished scoreless.

In fact, the penalty kill was nails all night long, as you can see from the respective power play shot attempts by both teams. Casey DeSmith faced just a single shot on goal in three Ottawa power plays, and it wasn’t a particularly dangerous one, either:

Ilya Lyubushkin was part of that penalty kill again, drawing into the lineup after two weeks dealing with an injury. Gulutzan praised Lyubushkin for working hard to get back early, and his 2:38 on the PK was a boost to Dallas, and no mistake.

Speaking of Lyubushkin, Mavrik Bourque was playing in his 100th NHL game tonight, and he chose to celebrate by deflecting in an Ilya Lyubushkin point shot to give the Stars a 1-0 lead early in the second period. I’m told that going to the net is how you get rewarded in the NHL.

Ottawa would tie it up not too long afterward, however, when Jake Sanderson got a couple of chances to beat DeSmith, and finally did after Ottawa was able to turn the puck over from Jamie Benn along the boards. Sanderson got a quick pass over from David Perron, and he fired it just under DeSmith’s stick (which had lifted off the ice as the goalie had to slide over to face the new shooter) for a five-hole goal that felt like it was coming.

But the Stars did what they’ve been doing a whole lot lately, which is turn and watch Jason Robertson Do Something. And he did, after a really poor clearance from Tim Stützle, most certainly Do Something:

That wasn’t exactly textbook defending from Ottawa, sure; but it’s a great shot nonetheless, taking advantage of the threat of a pass in that situation. That is how you capitalize on a turnover.

From there, the Stars poured it on, even with an Ottawa power play mixed in. After a great setup to Rantanen from Robertson that Ullmark got over for, Rantanen collected his own rebound behind the net and made a great pass of his own to Wyatt Johnston, who was in front of the net with everyone else looking to the wrong side, before putting the puck into the net. Great pass, and Johnston got it past the wall Ullmark built at the near post for a 3-1 lead.

Johnston had to elevate this, and he somehow managed to rattle it just between the glove and the pad for a 3-1 lead.

It was a great shot from Johnston, which is not a surprising statement.

Unfortunately, the Lian Bichsel injury dampened the mood a fair bit after that, when Fabian Zetterlund put a hit on Bichsel after the defenseman had sent the puck in deep, and it went horribly wrong:

I’m not including any photos of Bichsel’s agony, but you can watch this clip to see more of the hit, including Bichsel’s grabbing for his ankle after going into the boards. My best read of what happened is that Zetterlund’s skate clips Bichsel’s left foot, and it throws off his ability to turn his blades, leading to what looked like a bad sprain at the very least.

However, it sounds like it might not be quite as bad as it looked.

“[Bichsel] is going to get evaluated tomorrow, and we’re hoping right now that it won’t be as bad as we first thought. So we’re hoping for good news.” Gulutzan said.

That’s a big boost for a team ravaged with injuries to its blue line all year. As for the immediate future, it looks likely that Vladislav Kolyachonok will draw back into the lineup, unless Bichsel is miraculously available to play on Tuesday or Wednesday back East. But that seems highly unlikely right now.

As for this one, Ottawa got a sniff at getting back into the game early in the third, when Claude Giroux went down with Heiskanen doing a bit of reaching, and the Stars were forced to kill a penalty. But Dallas did their killing with typical efficiency, and Sam Steel even drew a tripping penalty of his own behind the Senators’ net with 22 seconds left in the job to erase the rest of it. Genuinely, watching Colin Blackwell and Sam Steel on the penalty kill has become one of the most enjoyable things about this very enjoyable team, though it’s hard to pick only a couple.

On the subsequent power play, a familiar duo once again combined to extend the lead: Rantanen banked a puck off Ullmark’s stick (or call it a save if you prefer), and Johnston grabbed the puck and tucked it underneath the far pad for his league-leading 11th power play goal of the season.

You can watch the full clip here, but this is the salient point, where Johnston knows Ullmark isn’t flat on the ice, so he doesn’t have to get around Ullmark’s skate—only his stick. And he does.

Mikko Rantanen, however, continued to dish. And when he has the puck and space to work with, he tends to find people. And Jamie Benn certainly counts as a People, given that he has three goals in his last four games. At least, he does now, after this setup:

But it would be Wyatt Johnston who decided to hog the glory in this one, after a pretty needless tripping penalty by Michael Amadio on Rantanen sent the Stars back on the job. And once again, the league-leading power play goal-scorer decided to score a power play goal: his 12th such tally of the season.

He really does make it look frightfully easy:

The recipe in this one was pretty simple: don’t let Ottawa get going, and then punch them when the opportunities came. And after a tight first period, the opportunities came in droves.

Wyatt Johnston had an assist to spruce up his hat trick, while Rantanen’s three points were all primary assists. And of course, Jason Robertson added two assists of his own to complement his own goal.

Esa Lindell led everyone in ice time with 26:01, while Heiskanen was kept under 25 minutes himself, which feels like practically a night off for the Stars’ number one defenseman. And when you look at what Heiskanen did tonight, it’s even more impressive that he didn’t need 30 minutes to do it: Heiskanen was on for three even-strength goals and two power play goals, while Ottawa got exactly one shot on DeSmith from the faceoff circles on in during Heiskanen’s entire night.

That is as good a depiction as any of how Heiskanen (and Lindell) can control the ice when the Stars are playing well. Ottawa just got carved apart as the game went on, with the Stars’ defensive details just smothering most of what Ottawa brought in the Stars’ end. That meant that Rantanen and Johnston could feast at the other end, and they certainly did that.

Most complete game? Probably, yeah. As Gulutzan said afterward, all of the four key areas were won by Dallas in this one: Power play, penalty kill, goaltending and 5-on-5 play. And it turns out that when you win every part of a game, you also tend to win the game itself. And that’s really the whole idea here, is winning.

ESotG

Lineups

Dallas began with this group:

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

Lindell-Heiskanen
Capobianco-Lyubushkin
Bichsel-Petrovic

DeSmith in goal

---

Ottawa rolled with this:

Eller-Stützle-Batherson
Tkachuk-Cozens-Zetterlund
Amadio-Pinto-Giroux
Cousins-Greig-Perron

Sanderson-Zub
Kleven-Spence
Matinpalo-Jensen

Ullmark

AfterThoughts

• The Stars honored Jamie Benn ahead of the game for scoring his 400th goal. Jim Nill presented Benn with an engraved Tiffany’s plaque that I assume will go into the same closet where Benn keeps his Art Ross Trophy.

  

• Having seen (many of) the new ‘99 sweaters in person, I can confirm that they look good. Honestly, they look almost exactly like a product of combining the two Reverse Retro designs, which is as easy a choice as it is good.

• Gulutzan said that the choice to start DeSmith wasn’t necessarily related to a broader plan to increase his workload, but was more just a product of all the travel and games the team has been (and will be) playing. Do with that what you will.

• Ilya Lyubushkin returned to the lineup for the first time since November 15 after suffering a vague lower-body injury a couple of weeks ago. As for other injury updates:

  • Gulutzan mentioned that Adam Erne had surgery (which was kind of a safe assumption given the large leg brace he had been wearing in the days following his game in Ottawa), but that he also is “moving and shaking, so things are going pretty good.” Gulutzan added that Erne is hopefully back sooner rather than later, though it doesn’t sound like he’s on the precipice of returning just yet.

  • Matt Duchene is close, and Gulutzan said there are no medical holds on him, but rather that it’s about Duchene needing to feel like he will be able to play at 100% of his ability. Gulutzan cited the same “lingering effects” that Duchene has been dealing with since the hit from Jake Middleton, but it sounds like Duchene is still at least a couple of days away, at minimum, with Gulutzan citing some contioning that still needs to get back up to game-readiness. And given how the Stars have been doing, there is zero reason to rush anyone back prematurely right now.

• Colin Blackwell killed the last 20 seconds of the Stars’ first penalty himself with some great puck ragging, eventually skating it all the way from the offensive zone back towards the Stars’ own end, earning a big cheer from the home crowd as Petrovic exited the box. Blackwell attacks a penalty kill the way I do Thanksgiving leftovers, which is to say voraciously.

• This hit by Lindell on Stützle sent the German center to the bench a bit gingerly, but he didn’t miss a shift. It’s easy to forget how big and strong Lindell is until he does things like this:n

• Casey DeSmith had to make one of his best saves right after the Stars opened the scoring, when Ridly Greig got in behind the defense. But thankfully, Greig’s accuracy isn’t quite on par with other snipers, so DeSmith was able to trap the shot against his chest.

• Sam Steel set up Colin Blackwell for what looked like a sure goal, only for Jordan Spence to block it with a stick at the last moment.

• Dylan Cozens and Roope Hintz mixed it up in the third, as things got silly. But Cozens was clearly the aggressor, and he ended up with an additional roughing minor reflecting that, sending Dallas to a power play. Still, it does feel like Roope Hintz has been less reticent to play that sort of hard-edged game this season, and that’s only going to be a good thing, come playoff time, one would think.

• Colin Blackwell got robbed by Ullmark after a comic collision by Ottawa in the neutral zone to send Faksa in on a 2-on-1. The Senators became more and more recognizable in a historical sense as this game went on.

• Arno Tiefensee was recalled to the Texas Stars the other day, with Ben Kraws heading down to Idaho for now. It’s as good a time as any to get Tiefensee some AHL time, and as of this writing, he’s holding a 2-1 lead for Texas against the Ontario Reign. I am not trying to jinx it here, but it’s a good sign for Dallas that as much as their organizational depth has been tested lately, they do appear to have a couple of goalies in the pipeline (Remi Poirier being the other) who can do good things for them.

• If Bichsel were to be out long-term for any reason, the Stars would probably have to look at Trey Taylor as their next recall. But Ilya Lyubushkin’s return means that Dallas at least does have six healthy bodies right now on the blue line, so they might not bother bringing a seventh defender to New York this week for two games. Then again, for back-to-back contests, it might behoove them to have a backup plan, which I assume would be Trey Taylor. But we’ll see what the team ends up doing tomorrow after they get more information on Bichsel.

• Casey DeSmith is now 6-1-2, sporting a sparkling .920 save percentage that ties him (as of this writing) with the man he replaced: Scott Wedgewood. Poetry does rhyme, sometimes.

• Wyatt Johnston gave credit to Joe Pavelski on The Ticket tonight for some of his recent power play success. The gift that keeps on giving.

• Don’t fail to appreciate this team right now, whatever happens in the next game. I think Michael said it really well after tonight’s game: we are indeed living in a Golden Age of Dallas Stars hockey.