Game 45 AfterThoughts: Sound and Fury

If you watched the playoff series against Colorado last year, you know how this matchup goes. The Avalanche have a major push in them at any given time, and you simply have to weather it, then take advantage of the inevitable chances they’ll give up when their best guys are off the ice.

Last year, the Stars did so, winning the series 4-2 with a heartbreaking Matt Duchene overtime goal that will live long in Stars fans’ memories almost as long as it’ll stick in Colorado’s craw. (And it’s a goal that the NHL should be particularly grateful for, given that the game should’ve been over long before it happened, if not for the reluctance of the Situation Room and the on-ice officials to reverse a call to award a series-winning goal.)

Anyway, the point is, we’ve been through this before, bunches of times. The way to beat Colorado is to trust your depth, bending but not breaking under intense pressure from a couple of the best players in the NHL.

Well, Dallas did weather that storm, holding Nathan MacKinnon to just one assist and an even plus/minus on the day. But if I’d ever seen Twister, I’m sure I would know if there’s a scene where people think they are avoiding one tornado only to get caught by another, and that’s what happened today in Colorado.

I haven’t seen Titanic either, but I read about it once, so if you’d like a more confident metaphor, how’s this: Dallas ended up avoiding the iceberg only to crash upon a coral burgundy reef, as the Avalanche’s second line created five goals on an absurd afternoon. Jonathan Drouin, Artturi Lehkonen, and Casey Mittelstadt (whose name has been in the rumor mill lately) all scored a goal, with Lehkonen adding a second along with a pair of assists. For once, it was Colorado’s depth who brought delight to the home faithful a mile above sea level:

By the way, “Mittelstadt” in German translates to “middle town,” and the Avs also have Keaton Middleton on their team, whose last name translates to, well, what it is. Who are these citizens, proudly naming their towns on account of its middle-est-ness? Have some pride, fellas!

We’ll talk about the individual goals down below, but today was one of those matchups where a line was feeling it, and where Dallas continued to suffer from their inability to beat goaltenders on great looks far more often than in years past. So when Colorado grabbed the lead halfway through the game, all the best-laid plans went out the window for Dallas, as even a two-goal night from Jason Robertson wouldn’t be enough to offer anything more than tepid hope for a comeback. Colorado created chances and rebounds that more than negated a few great saves from Casey DeSmith, while the only Dallas goal that didn’t require a protractor and surveying equipment to explain was called back for offside.

The story was fated to be a happy one for Colorado, as even Cale Makar not only avoided a serious injury after blocking a shot off his ankle that took him down in pain, but he also grabbed two goals after going cold for the last five or six games. Obviously the Stars didn’t deserve to win this one, but it’s also fair to say that the Avalanche got some gravy, too.

Sam Girard was poised to step up in a big way for Colorado when it looked like Makar might miss the third period. He’s always fascinated me, as a player who the Avalanche are willing to deploy in defensively crucial situations despite his size. Girard has shown he can fill that role despite playing against type, and that’s kind of the exact sort of player the Stars are still looking for, aren’t they? No disrespect to Ilya Lyubushkin, who has played better than almost anyone hoped this year, but he’s not an ideal top-four defenseman in terms of 5-on-5 ice time in the playoffs, and neither is Nils Lundkvist, at least not yet. At best, they’re both second-pairing defensemen, and the Stars have no Devon Toews to play with their top defender like Colorado does.

Moreover, with no Chris Tanev on the trade block this year, it remains to be seen how the Stars are going to solve this particular conundrum. But I always find myself impressed at how Girard has earned trust and respect despite being basically my height in the NHL. He really is a dependable defenseman, and Jared Bednar deserves a lot of credit for how he’s grown his defense corps into a thoroughly functional unit, whether Makar plays 30 minutes or not on any given night.

On the other end of the Colorado Love Spectrum, Duchene is far from beloved in Denver. After being traded following the disastrous 2016-17 Colorado season that would end up mirroring Dallas’s season (in both fan misery and subsequent draft gold), Duchene left town without a farewell parade, to put it lightly. And so when he scored a goal early in this one from what turned out to be the only spot the Stars were allowed to score from all night, you began to hope for a game in which Duchene once again terrorized his former club, celebrating as the boos rained down. Alas, the schadenfreude shower wouldn’t last.

Jason Robertson didn’t end up turning the game around, and obviously most coaches aren’t going to get elated about turning a 5-1 game into a 6-3 loss. But I think the confidence of Robertson to meticulously disassemble Scott Wedgewood today is a very positive sign, particularly given the other good things Robertson has been doing lately. But even mildly celebrating a three-point game (which Wyatt Johnston also had, surprisingly) in the midst of a bad loss would cause Patrick Roy to fly to my house and yell at me in person, so we’ll skip it.

Update: I saw just after publishing this that Wyatt Johnston wore an “A” today as an alternate captain in Roope Hintz’s absence. It’s a pretty big statement about how the Stars see Johnston, who also happens to be the youngest player on the roster. But it’s also a big statement about what Johnston has done. He’s the team’s top center when Hintz isn’t healthy, and Pete DeBoer has had no hesitation in asking him to step up for three years now, with Johnston consistently showing that confidence to be well-founded. I’ve been really high on Johnston for a while now, but for him to earn this level of trust this early in his career is just the latest indication of Johnston’s massive potential with this team. (Not to mention the potential ceiling of his next contract this summer.)

I have no idea if Colorado has it in them to make another serious playoff run this year. They’ve suffered injuries, sure. But they’ve also Addressed (you’ll note I didn’t say “fixed”) their goaltending, and that’s not nothing. Still, they’ve got their work cut out for them in a severe Central Division, as they still trail Dallas in points percentage despite drawing level at 47, with Dallas having two games in hand. It is a long season, though. So very, very long.

Dallas started the same lineup as they did Thursday, other than Casey DeSmith coming in for Jake Oettinger. Initially, I wondered if that decision was because DeSmith has a decent record in a few games against Colorado in his past, but as the game went on, I also began to wonder if the Stars employed conventional wisdom (“play your starter in the most winnable game of a back-to-back set”) in unconventional fashion, saving Oettinger for Detroit at home. Certainly as this game progressed and Colorado continued getting great chances while Dallas failed to really turn the tide on offense, it looked more and more like a “Burn the Tape” game. Certainly, you’d have taken a split in this two-game set going in, but it’s a bit of bummer that the Stars can only do that now by winning tomorrow.

Matt Dumba did not have his best game in this one, though to be honest, not a lot of Stars did. Still, that makes me wonder if they will play Brendan Smith tomorrow against his old club when the Stars face Detroit, given the back-to-back situation. They’ll also be at home, which would make it slightly easier to shelter a third pairing, as DeBoer and Nasredinne have generally done with Smith this year. But Dumba’s loose pass to Hryckowian that didn’t result in a goal (thanks to his own heroism, it must be said) along with his questionable positioning on the Drouin goal make him as likely as anyone to sit out, should the Stars want to bring their one fresh body back into the lineup tomorrow.

As for the other player not on the ice today, Roope Hintz is “making progress,” per Pete DeBoer before the game, but obviously Hintz won’t be back until he is back. At least, I think that is obvious, but your mileage may vary. Probably it would be good for him not to start playing hockey games again until he is able to play hockey games again without it hurting him. Just call me Mr. Doctor.

All right, onto the game beats.

***

Dallas drew their first power play when Matěj Blümel got enough position along the wall to draw a hooking call on Josh Manson. And from there, the crowd got to start booing Matt Duchene, and he decided to give them something to be sad about, victimizing Wedgewood short side high.

To my eyes, it doesn’t look like Wedgewood was really expecting Duchene to shoot there, and you can see Duchene fake a pass just beforehand. If anything, Wedgewood is leaning into the post, preparing to push off in case of a pass through the crease. Good read by Duchene to just take the available space and rip the puck in.

The Avalanche pushed back after the goal, and Casey DeSmith had to look sharp on a few decent looks. Colin Blackwell gave Colorado some additional means of re-entering the game when he took down Calvin de Haan behind the net in spectacular fashion by sending him head over heels with what was accurately deemed Tripping:

So the penalty kill had work to do, but a Nathan MacKinnon tip-in at the top of the crease was saved by DeSmith on a glorious pad save:

Colorado kept coming after the penalty expired, but DeSmith continued to show he was up to the task, as Colorado jumped out to a 11-1 lead in shots on goal, with many of them being rather less than harmless. (or, more than harmless?) But the Stars, for once, were the team to get a goal on their first shot while the other guys racked up chances without success, at first.

Justin Hryckowian took a heavy hit along the wall from de Haan midway through the first that looked for all the world like a check to the head. You know, they should come up with a penalty for those.

A couple minutes later, a rough exchange between DeSmith and Miro Heiskanen led to a Jonathan Drouin takeaway against Heiskanen. Drouin then had Casey Mittelstadt alone in front, and Ilya Lyubushkin, suddenly in no-man’s land, wasn’t able to block the pass. Even still, Wyatt Johnston nearly got back, even getting his stick on Mittelstadt to foil the initial chance. But that ended up helping Colorado, as DeSmith slid further out of position after anticipating a quicker shot in the slot and pushing out, and that meant Mittelstadt had an empty net when he made his second attempt.

Shots got to 13-1 before Dallas got another shot on goal, and the Stars would draw another penalty right afterwards, as Logan Stankoven got hooked by Parker Kelly out of necessity when a Jamie Benn saucer pass nearly sent Stankoven into the slot all alone.

The Stars’ second power play came with three minutes left in the first period, and it was a lovely little chance to send Colorado to the intermission frustrated, after outplaying Dallas for the vast majority of the period. But the Stars were only able to force one good save out of Scott Wedgewood, and so they settled for a 1-1 score that was still far more than they deserved.

Both teams nearly grabbed the lead to open the second. First, Wedgewood made a couple of outstanding saves on the Stars’ top line, including an almost accidental skate save that Wyatt Johnston probably should have just tucked in more cleanly after stealing the puck from Makar. The Norris Trophy haver may have slammed his stick down in time to disrupt Johnston’s attempt as well, but it was a great save by Wedgewood, who somehow didn’t tear his entire groin in half doing it:

Then DeSmith had to be sharp on a couple of great chances in tight from Jonathan Drouin and de Haan after a dump-in pinballed around nicely for Colorado, but not nicely enough, and the second period’s stop-and-start continued, which usually fits what Dallas wants out of this matchup.

The Stars’ fourth line didn’t play all that much early, as you might expect given how often Colorado throws out their top guys. But they did play six minutes into the second period, along with the third defense pairing, and a Matt Dumba pass to Hryckowian out front was a bit too loose, and Ross Colton grabbed it, with DeSmith desperately diving back on the chance that never should have happened. Only a massive Dumba effort to make the ensuing save prevented the mistake from turning into a 2-1 lead.

It was the sort of unforced error that drives coaches nuts, and for good reason. Colorado is a team that generates plenty of chances as it is; giving them extra looks is basically what the Yankees did in their World Series-losing inning against the Dodgers this year. Which is to say, it is bad to make mistakes.

The Stars’ penalty kill is not known for making mistakes, as they would kill another Colorado power play after Colin Blackwell got tagged for holding Manson. Blackwell has been good for large stretches this year, but taking two penalties as a fourth-liner is never a great way to secure your lineup spot as you stare down the second half of the season. That said, Blackwell also draws a fair amount of penalties, too. It’s one game out of 82, you know.

Speaking of which, the Avalanche top line got humming again, and Stankoven got nailed for interference on Mikko Rantanen in a penalty DeBoer would allude to after the game as one that wasn’t necessary. But the scarier moment came five seconds into the penalty, when Ilya Lyubushkin sent a puck out of play that the officials initially deemed to have clipped the glass, though it was close enough to warrant a conference and some miffed-ness from Jared Bednar.

Anyway, a 5-on-4 situation against Colorado is scary enough. Artturi Lehkonen whiffed on a glorious rebound in front, and you started to think that Dallas might just escape, but it wasn’t to be. A Cale Makar point shot whistled through a lot of bodies and just over DeSmith’s left shoulder, and the Stars, at last, had some catching up to do.

Makar hadn’t been scoring lately, so you just knew a run-of-the-mill shot from the point was going to pick today to go in, right?

Anyway, that goal was quickly forgotten, on account of the next one. Artturi Lehkonen (more like Lurk-onen) was picked out by Drouin at the far blue line, and he had a clean look on his off-wing against DeSmith, putting the puck perfectly past the Stars’ goalie on a chance that you really would have preferred him not to have faced.

It was a tough break for Dallas on a failed zone entry, when Evgenii Dadonov had his pass/dump-in blocked along the boards, wrong-footing the Stars. The Avalanche were changing, and Lehkonen simply hopped on during the Dadonov entry attempt, traversed the far blue line, and got behind a pretty tired Harley and Heiskanen, who couldn’t recover after the puck got turned over and fed ahead:

Dallas lost a bit of oomph after that, and Sam Girard nailed the post on what looked like a fourth goal. But from there, Dallas seemed to get angry, and a couple of non-calls only further infuriated them. That led to a flurry where Cale Makar went down with an apparent injury after a Blümel shot went off his ankle (though he would return for the third period), then Wedgewood lost his stick, another Avalanche player’s stick got broken, and Sam Steel created a scramble at the netmouth that Blümel put in for what looked like his second NHL goal.

Except, it didn’t count, because the play was offside by a few inches. Isn’t it fun when we pause a great game to arbitrarily legislate certain offside calls? Nothing more fun than that, no sir.

Anyway, Manson hit a post right afterward, and it really did feel like Dallas was all set to have one of those infuriating afternoon games where you can point to a couple of grievances while also ignoring the bad mistakes and self-inflicted wounds.

Speaking of inflicting wounds, Benn nearly did so on MacKinnon, who turned his numbers out along the boards to avoid a hit, only for Benn to solve the puzzle and get a solid hip on him anyway.

Any good vibes from there would disappear shorter afterwards, however, as Jonathan Drouin continued to look like the player everyone thought he was going to be like ten years ago, beating DeSmith from distance.

The puck may have ticked off Dumba on its way past DeSmith’s glove, but either way, that’s a goal none of the six Stars on the ice will be proud of, as Colorado rapidly countered in transition and got a wicked shot off that you’d probably prefer to snuff out altogether.

With ten seconds to go at the end of second, the Stars did draw a penalty when Manson joined Blackwell in the Two Minor Penalties Club, and they have a dangerous-looking scramble on the doorstep that could’ve given them some life going into the final frame. Alas, it did not.

The other speck of hope going into the third period was the fact that Colorado had just blown a three-goal lead to Edmonton two days prior. Of course, the Stars haven’t come back when trailing going into the third period once this year. Something special was either going to happen, or it wasn’t.

There were a few rough calls (or lack of them) by the officials in this game, but there was no question that Colorado had been the better team, and they deserved the lead they had. That didn’t prevent the Stars from screaming in fury when a quick whistle blew a puck dead on a scramble in front…despite the fact that the puck had already popped ten feet away, with the Stars looking to pounce on it.

Benn expressed his displeasure per Captain’s Prerogative, but it was only so much noise. The Stars found themselves where they always seem to be against Colorado, which is in the position of having to overcome some kind of adversity.

Instead, the Stars decided to the opposite of overcoming (undergoing?), and they surrendered a fourth goal to Colorado’s second line, when Artturi Lehkonen found the right side of the Dallas zone completely deserted, and he received a pass perfectly in stride en route to getting in alone on DeSmith and beating him in full flight:

I’m not gonna be too hard on anyone here, but I do think you have to acknowledge that both defensemen can’t get sucked this far away from the middle of the ice on the entry.

Anyway, that made it 5-1, and the game seemed to be all wrapped up. The sharp-eyed reader will have notice the word “seemed” in the preceding sentence, though.

Jason Robertson loves to find weaknesses in goaltenders. He watched the video, as everyone knows, and he practices banking pucks in the moment goalies fail to hold their posts, as Stuart Skinner found out in the playoffs last year.

But Robertson has one goalie he needs no video of, because he’s practiced against him for countless hours in years past. That goalie would be Scott Wedgewood, whom Robertson embarrassed twice in less than a minute.

The first goal came from Gretzky’s office, though I don’t remember seeing Gretzky ever do this:

The puck bounced off Wedgewood’s body and back into the net, and you could see Wedgewood giving his old buddy a little nod of “all right, you got me, nice shot” right after the goal:

Wedgewood was a little less affable 39 seconds later, when Robertson did it to him again on a power play:

Unfortunately for Dallas, even a spectacular save from DeSmith on Drouin (again, with that second line) would not be enough to inspire a comeback. Look at what DeSmith does here, diving across like a soccer goalie after Harley got nutmegged on the pass across:

But then look at what Makar finds on the subsequent rebound:

That was that, really. The Stars made a push thanks to Jason Robertson’s surgical dismantling of Scott Wedgewood, and goodness knows the Avalanche could feel the weight of a blown lead on their shoulders, but their second line bore up under the strain with its fifth goal created in the game.

There were some Moments in garbage time when Matt Dumba rang the dinner bell with a shot off the post with a couple minutes left, and when he nearly rang Ross Colton’s bell right after that. Colton pulled out just in time to avoid being sent back to 2024, but despite the efforts at Sending Messages, the Stars would be the ones bearing bad news as they left Colorado with a 6-3 loss.

But the good thing about back-to-backs is that you can wipe away bad memories within 24 hours. The bad thing, of course, is that you can also make more of them. But DeBoer hasn’t lost three in a row in regulation (in the regular season, cough) since coming to Dallas, so even the Suddenly Great Red Wings have their work cut out for them. The Stars will send their number one goalie and a host of Very Annoyed skaters out to win a game tomorrow night, and they’ve typically been able to do that after going into a funk for a couple of games.

Typical, of course, has nothing to do with hockey much of the time. But then, we wouldn’t watch sports if they were always true to type, would we?