Game 3 AfterThoughts: Shutouts and No Doubts
The Stars played two games in two nights with two different goaltenders. They walked away with two shutouts and a 3-0-0 record to start the season.
Getting off to a great start is hard to qualify when it comes to the process vs. results. On the one hand, as Peter DeBoer has mentioned, winning games early is the priority, and you don’t stress too much about every detail. Even Oskar Bäck had to just get through his first game before settling in as a more stable contributor in the next two contests, and the coaches weren’t worried about the hiccups along the way.
On the other hand, teams with high expectations are looking to prove that they’re ready to take the next step, that the failures of last year’s final game have been fixed. I’m not sure how a game against the Islanders or the Kraken could really prove that, but certainly the scorelines are about a solid as anyone could ask. Scoring multiple goals and not allowing any goals is, quite literally, the best thing you can do, as a hockey team.
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Coming into the game against Seattle, Dallas had benefited from some exceptional work from Jake Oettinger to give them two wins out of games where the opposing team maybe deserved more.
Dallas Stars through 90 minutes of 5v5 time through two games:
36% xGF
83% actual GF
97.92 Sv%
5 Goals For
1 Against
Jake Oettinger has earned a night off, I think.— Robert Tiffin (@RobertTiffin) October 13, 2024
But with both teams on the second night of a back-to-back, Dallas looked like the better team, and this time, the results reflected all 60 minutes of the preceding action. Casey DeSmith earned a shutout in his Stars debut, and while he had to come up with some big stops especially in the third period, it was undoubtedly the best game by the skaters in front of the net that a Stars’ goaltender has received thus far.
And that’s okay. There are always going to be things that aren’t perfect, and I give DeBoer’s staff a lot of credit for not trying to get the team to playoff-level readiness right out of the gate. Players are going to learn and grow, and not everything is going to go according to play along the way. You can either get annoyed that the process isn’t perfect, or you can be patient and accept that we are all in process, whether your name is Mr. Power Play, Sir One-Timer, or Dame Expected Goals For. (These are not real people’s names, but who knows with the millennials these days, am I right folks.)
In other words, there is a lot to be said for grace. The Stars’ power play isn’t off to a rip-roaring start, but then again, the team got a key 5-on-4 goal from Mason Marchment in Nashville to at least prove they remember how to do those things, and that’s not nothing. You can get fussy about Steve Spott not radically re-designing the power play because of one series in which the Stars were utterly exhausted against a great Oilers’ penalty kill, or you can acknowledge that tweaks are going to happen along the way as a matter of course, and not get too bent out of shape in the lead-up. You can’t fix all the deepest problems of your divorce on the first date with your new beau.
By the way, that Marchment-Duchene-Seguin line is something else. This pass from Duchene was laughably confident, taking it on his backhand in the defensive zone and hitting Seguin on a post route (Cowboys fans, this is something teams do in the NFL when they try to get a “touch down.” I will expand on that concept more in future posts for your benefit.)
Lol. Okay Matt Duchene. pic.twitter.com/q3aGNrjWHt
— Sam Nestler (@samnestler) October 14, 2024
This sort of thing happens when a line is really clicking. It’s not cheating by Seguin any more than it was by Roope Hintz in the first period, but rather a consequence of players reading off each other so well that they can make the right read with a second thought. It’s not “flying the zone” so much as a calculated risk. They’re flying to somewhere important, not from something dire.
Duchene and Marchment ran into each other in Nashville, and Duchene mentioned the other day that while they laughed it off, it could have been a more serious collision if one of them had reacted differently. But right now, these three forwards are making all the right calls, whether they’re bouncing into one another, scoring a couple of goals, or sending a linemate in on a breakaway.
The posts were less friendly in this game, for once. In fact, it was right after a Marchment chance and a puck off the post that Marchment got called for a penalty. It wasn’t a call I saw a lot of merit to, but then again, Marchment’s penchant for penalization is something that seems to flow out of his entire game. And right now, that is very much a net positive for the Stars. Of course, it’s not always an effort penalty, as you can see with this petulant bit of vengeance by Marchment earlier in the game:
I'd love to see NHL officiating in other sports. Like, in football, offsides only gets called when teams are in the red zone. In boxing, one nutshot is allowed for every exchange of five low blows. Et cetera. pic.twitter.com/foxCvqzD4c
— David Castillo (@DavidCastilloAC) October 14, 2024
I’m not sure if the official up the ice had indeed called Ryker Evans for cross-checking (as was eventually stated), but Marchment sure seemed to think nothing had been called, hence the almost-comical cross check in retaliation. They always get the second guy, though. (Parents, too.) Obviously Marchment is more effective when he’s drawing more penalties than he’s taking, and he hasn’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt in his career. But again, with the way his line is playing right now, it’s hard to nitpick.
And in any case, the penalties didn’t burn the Stars, as the penalty kill came up big once again. Sam Steel and Colin Blackwell led the charge, but I think Ilya Lyubushkin and Esa Lindell deserve a lot of credit for protecting DeSmith effectively. Even Brendan Smith had to take a few solid turns on the kill in his first game in Victory Green, and I think that’s where his game looks its best. If the power play isn’t quite as good as you’d like it to be so far, you can’t deny that the penalty kill is humming along better than ever. Try not to be so greedy!
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DeBoer mentioned after the game tonight that he swapped Logan Stankoven and Evgenii Dadonov in this game for two reasons: First, because he wanted to get Wyatt Johnston going. Well, with that gorgeous shot off the rush (along with a wonderful net drive by Jamie Benn to clear some space), I’d say mission accomplished. Not that Johnston hasn’t been good, but everyone knows how good of a player Johnston is, and can still be. It’s nice to see the coaching staff not settling for “good enough” in that regard.
Second, DeBoer said they wanted to “reward” Dadonov for a great preseason and a start to the year by putting him on the top line. And indeed, Dadonov had some good looks up there, including a two-on-one in the third period where he fired it just wide of the far post (and I believe slammed his stick down into the boards out of frustration after the shift). I’ve said it ad nauseaum, but Dadonov really is a unique sort of player. I’m not sure there’s another coach in the NHL that would feel as comfortable using Dadonov throughout the lineup the way the Stars do, but when it’s working, you can really see why. Dadonov’s skating is still wonderful despite his age–I mean, he’s almost as old as I am, for goodness’ sake–and he’s creative without coasting or quitting on plays. Dadonov works hard, even when he’s looking for a pretty play. And more often than not, he ends up making one. All three members of the top line had a look or two tonight, and the Stars’ team is deep enough that if one line doesn’t convert its looks, usually another one does. Tonight, two did.
Johnston’s shot was beautiful–I saw some Jason Spezza in there, but you can pick your right-handed snap shot of choice–but the Sam Steel/Colin Blackwell connection was nice to see. It was fairly well deserved, too; DeBoer mentioned that the third period of last game was the first real period the fourth line had given the team, and I don’t think that’s a shot at them so much as an acknowledgement that great periods from that line aren’t an aberration but their true potential. It was neat to see a good Harley play at the blue line turn into a reward for a line that’s earned it.
As for the defense, Harley and Miro Heiskanen played hefty minutes, but they were good in them. I don’t love the idea that Heiskanen has to play 25+ minutes every time someone goes down, but it seems clear that Smith and Lundkvist are third-pairing options in every sense of the word. That’s not a bad thing, but it does suggest, to me, that Lundkvist isn’t really a viable option in these coaches’ eyes for the top spot next to Heiskanen any time soon.
I could be wrong. It’s a long season, and Lundkvist has looked better than ever in these three games, but he’s still got some shortcomings in his game (as do most young defensemen), and those flaws seem to have been designed in a lab to cause mistrust.
Lyubushkin’s game, on the other hand, seems to have been designed in the same lab, but with fans as the target recipients of the annoyance virus (this is a bad metaphor; I need to start paying my editor again). On paper, as I wrote in July, Lyubushkin’s game doesn’t seem to merit the three-year contract he got. But in practice, so far, I’m finding it hard not to enjoy it quite a bit. Lyubushkin will carry the puck all the way to the net on one shift, then make a crucial block on the penalty kill on another. He’s not a defensemen easy to fit into one mold, and I think that causes consternation among fans.
In fact, it reminds me of Jamie Oleksiak (who is a second-pairing defenseman for the Kraken, you may have noticed). Oleksiak never quite won Stars fan over because he was big, but not mean. A great skater, but not a great scorer or power play option. He goes against type for a 6’7″ defenseman, and I think Lyubushkin is similarly interesting (you’ll note my refusal to use the tired word “enigmatic” when describing a Russian player). He is fearless and nasty, but also careful and surprising, all at once.
The Stars added a few interesting players this summer, but their success this season will probably live and die with the ones we know best. To that end, it’s been encouraging to see names like Jamie Benn, Seguin, Johnston, Robertson, Hintz, Marchment, and Stankoven all hit the scoresheet in only three games. You have to have certain parts of your game “carry” other parts in most nights, but these Stars are pretty well-designed to share the load. So far, they’ve shouldered that burden as far as you possbly can after three games. Only 79 more to go.