Game 47 AfterThoughts: Learning Lessons and Asking Questions
This year’s Dallas Stars are keeping pace with last year’s, more or less. Sure, there have been some sags, and no, the scoring hasn’t been quite where it needs to be. But they’ve still been hovering at around 10th in the NHL in goals per game despite icing a power play that has legally recused itself from the process on home ice, most nights.
But despite all of that, games like this one are where you start to wonder why it feels different than last year, why they can’t find that same push they did last year, when they mustered so many comeback wins. Why the Stars, in fact, couldn’t generate a single shot on goal in the final seven minutes of a game you could tell they badly wanted to win.
You wondered why Jason Robertson, who has been as hot as any player in the lineup recently, couldn’t score on a couple of great chances. You wonder why Mavrik Bourque, who was set up multiple times while playing with Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn, managed to look good for a lot of the game, only to just barely not quite almost ohmanhowdidthatnotgoin nearly score.
And you wondered why Logan Stankoven ever decided to demolish that giant mirror warehouse while walking under the world’s largest ladder after allowing four thousand black cats to cross the street in front of him. Questionable choices, those.
But asking “why?” is what we do when we know there isn’t an answer. Because hockey fans aren’t really asking “WHY?!” when a puck bounces off Jake Oettinger and right into the lap of a player who only had five goals in over half the season coming into tonight only to have a puck doink off him and in. What they’re asking is, “How long must we suffer?” And thus far, the answer is, “just a little bit longer.”
“Suffering” is a relative term, of course. It’s hard to call the Stars’ season anything but “perfectly fine” when you step outside and look at the record, at the goaltending, and at the best-in-class penalty kill. Given the injuries Dallas has had to weather, they’ve actually been fortunate to be doing as well as they are. And believe it or not, a whole lot of fans in the NHL would love to trade places with you, because their team has it worse. Being 8th in the league might not seem like cause for celebration, but it’s always good to remember that it’s still perfectly fine. Just because Dallas has lost three of their last four games doesn’t also mean they can’t go back on another run, too. And if they do, they’re starting from a good enough spot for that run to really mean something. They’re doing fine. It’s just one game, after all. (Every game is, really.)
You don’t want consolation right now, though. You want answers, man, answers. After all, the Hurricanes played last night in Chicago, so they should have been tired. They should have been the ones struggling to generate chances in the third period, right? But if you were hoping for the Stars to jump on a tired Hurricanes team at any point this season, you hoped wrong, as the Stars put just four shots on goal in the first period to the Hurricanes’ seven, then seven more in the second. And then the third period got bonkers, and Dallas really did lean on Carolina for stretches, the Stars somehow came out on the short end of all the bonkerness (bonkersion?), and it felt like the Hurricanes had committed a mild burglary by being, like, an annoyingly decent team. And it felt like the Stars’ best security guard might have retired at the end of last year.
Fun moment, actually. When DeBoer got asked after the game why the Stars were so good at comeback victories last season only to be 0-13-0 when trailing after 40 minutes this year, he gave a wry smile and said, “Joe Pavelski?” And given how often Pavelski has been brought up by the media this year, it was a pretty good way of saying, “Who knows, man.” And I thought that was perfectly fair. The Stars did enough to win this one, after all, except for the most important detail, which is to score more goals than the other team.
If you commissioned an artist to create a hockey game that would validate every criticism of Dallas’s (few) weaknesses this season, this would be the one you’d create, I think. Their defensive game was very good most of the night, except for a couple of lapses in coverage at bad times, and they got punished with a freakishly bad bounce at the worst possible time for just such a mistake, even though a forward had recovered to stick-check the player in front of the net, but the puck found a way to go in anyway.
The Stars generated more chances than Carolina, but one of Carolina’s least-dangerous scorers found the net earlier with a shot that would rival any wrister in the NHL, while Dallas’s former Art Ross winner and a 100-point winger couldn’t convert golden chances all alone in front of the goal. Sometimes, hockey just decides to be like that.
Why the Stars’ lapses got punished and not the Hurricanes’ is a question for a being more omniscient than I, but if I had to hazard a guess, it’s probably your fault, for not caring enough. Shame on you. Yes, you—not the general reader, but you specifically. Thanks a lot for that one Victor E Green bobblehead you broke last year. The karma finally caught up with you, and your favorite hockey team paid for it. Way to go.
Or, you could blame the other team for being good, if that’s easier. Remember, Carolina came in with the NHL’s 2nd-best penalty kill, trailing only some team called the Dallas Stars. So they know how to stifle great chances, even when down a man. And the Stars’ power play couldn’t get out of its own way, following up their first chance with a penalty right after its expiration, and negating their second chance shortly after it began with a penalty. Their third power play didn’t score, but Wyatt Johnston did manage to great a chance by staying out past the full two minutes, mustering that extra bit of energy the best players seem to find when the ice opens up, and he created a goal almost out of nothing after a good-but-not-good-enough two minutes of pressure from Dallas.
That’s what it takes in a game like this, which Pete DeBoer compared to a playoff game afterwards. DeBoer also compared the Florida in Finland games to the playoffs, where most of the goals were on quick tips and net-front battles. Carolina is good at their game, and they didn’t give Dallas a ton of looks, and that allowed them to win with just two goals. But the painful thing is that the looks they did give Dallas were glorious indeed, and the Stars managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory nearly ever time. They’re all detailed below, but just a foretaste here: Jamie Benn had a chance from the front porch all alone, as did Jason Robertson. Colin Blackwell had a breakaway, and Logan Stankoven had multiple chances in tight that just couldn’t quite get over the line. And Mavrik Bourque probably should have scored on a beautiful cross-ice feed that he didn’t quite get enough of to beat Kochetkov. And so on.
***
If you want to ask tough questions after this one, though, you might start with this: Miro Heiskanen played 4:18 on the power play, while Thomas Harley played 0:21. Heiskanen played just about all of Dallas’s two-and-a-half power plays. He also played the entirety of the final couple of minutes with Oettinger on the bench for the extra attacker.
Here’s the game sheet of Heiskanen’s ice time, with three particular shifts highlighted:
That first highlighted shift came after the two penalty kills for Dallas, when Heiskanen wasn’t on the ice, and there was a TV timeout that split them up. Those final two highlighted shifts were the Stars’ last power play, and the Stars’ time with the goaltender pulled. And even with some whistles in there for players to catch a breather, the really notable thing is that those shifts were all times when Thomas Harley didn’t see the ice at all.
That would be the same Harley who scored the Stars’ only goal tonight. And he did so by jumping up into the play after Heiskanen had run the entire power play, and scoring from the crease after Wyatt Johnston took matters into his own hands. Two of the Stars’ best, most clutch players, combined to tie things back up. And yet, one of them was kept off the power play almost entirely, including all of the 6-on-5, when Dallas relied on Heiskanen, who, incidentally, didn’t managed a single shot on goal all night, through over 26 minutes.
It seems like Harley should be getting more chances, not fewer. I wonder, after games like this, whether Heiskanen’s play has become a bit too “safe” to break things open like he’s done so often in years past. I wonder whether he isn’t so responsible that he’s become less dangerous. And yes, I realize how absurd it is to even begin to criticize the Stars’ best defenseman on a night where he played 26 minutes without allowing a goal while the other two pairings allowed one to get past their goaltender. Many other players ought to have scored. This isn’t on Miro. But he also didn’t pull the game out of the fire, either.
Yes, Harley was also on the ice for the subsequent goal against, getting put into a 2-on-1 through no fault of his own, only to have the world’s worst bounce hand him a minus because of the bad coverage of others. This isn’t the time to blow things up, but simply to lean into what’s working without fear of hurting feelings or perceptions. And right now, the fact is that Miro Heiskanen is not the Stars’ most dangerous offensive defenseman, though he was deployed like it tonight.
Certainly, if you’re the Stars, you burn the tape on this one. First, because it’s bad to get your blood pressure too high, and second, because it’s really quite simple: they did enough to win, but didn’t. You don’t re-engineer things because of two mistakes, or because players flubbed some beautiful chances. You simply trust your best players to convert those chances next time.
And maybe you trust one of your best defensemen just a little bit more, next time.
***
Lines began like this for the Dallas Stars:
Robertson-Johnston-Dadonov
Benn-Duchene-Bourque
Steel-Hintz-Stankoven
Blümel-Bäck-Blackwell
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lyubushkin
Smith-Lundkvist
Oettinger
DeSmith
At morning skate, Pete DeBoer mentioned that he’s liked Wyatt Johnston “back in the middle of the ice” at center in Hintz’s absence, so it wasn’t altogether surprising to see Johnston sticking in the top-line center spot for now, with Roope Hintz returning to the lineup on the third line. Whether this is a bit of a playoff preview in terms of where DeBoer sees Johnston playing is still hard to say, but I think one thing that isn’t hard to say is that DeBoer is a big fan of Wyatt Johnston—particularly at center.
By the way, Roope Hintz went 7-for-8 on faceoffs tonight and played over 19 minutes. His line looked just as dangerous as any other, and was deployed like it. Safe to say he’s feeling better now.
Pete DeBoer mentioned this morning that playoff teams have great center depth, and he cited Vegas’s depth down the middle before comparing it to the Stars, who have used some younger players like Mavrik Bourque and Oskar Bäck at center this year. But DeBoer said this morning, well, let me just give you the full quote:
“We have some young guys that play center, and can survive during the season, but the reality of this is when we get to the playoffs against those type of teams [Vegas and Carolina], you need to be strong in that area of the ice, and with Johnny in the middle and Duchene and Roope Hintz, we have a version of that.”
In other words, I think seeing Johnston and Hintz and Duchene on three different lines is what DeBoer sees as necessary for the Stars to win in the playoffs. And that probably means they’d like some supplemental winger depth at some point, too. But we’ll hold off speculating on further trades tonight, and simply revel in the fact that Hintz, Duchene, and Johnston are, indeed, three very good centers to have. All three of those centers played between 18:40 and 20:07 tonight, so Dallas really did have three lines they were comfortable rolling against a possible Stanley Cup Final opponent.
Of course, that meant the fourth line kind of suffered, as Blümel didn’t see the ice in the third period with Dallas trailing basically the entire time. But these tight, playoff-stlye games can’t be a time for sparing feelings—whether it’s your 12th forward or your number one defenseman.
***
The game began pretty lifelessly, but Brendan Smith made sure to fix that, as any savvy veteran knows how to do.
First, Andrei Svechnikov took a slashing penalty five minutes into the game by whacking Smith’s thigh, and it was a good thing, too (except for Smith, I suppose).
The power play generated one great cross through the crease to Johnston on the back door, but the puck appeared to clack harmlessly off his skates, and Pyotr Kochetkov escaped the rest of the penalty without incident.
Smith then evened things back up with a penalty of his own, grabbing the shoulder of Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the corner, right in front of the official, putting the Hurricanes on the job.
Sam Steel would then skate through the crease and take a completely unnecessary penalty on Kochetkov to give the Hurricanes a miunte of 5-on-3 time.
It was a scary moment for Dallas, but Colin Blackwell and Company handled the minute with ease, relatively speaking, and a minute after that, both penalties had been killed. Usually, you’d expect the ice to be tilted after two power plays in three minutes, but the shots on goal were even at two apiece after Steel’s penalty expired, so it turns out the game’s sluggish pace wasn’t going to be got out of bed that easily.
Roope Hintz got a great pass to create something akin to a 2-on-1 late in the first with Sam Steel, but Hintz tried for the pass, and it was blocked with ease to negate the rush. Whether that was because Hintz wasn’t confident in his shot in his first game back or because he was especially confident in his passing ability, I’ll leave up to you good people to decide.
Dmitry Orlov rang the far post behind Oettinger on a 4-on-3 for Carolina, which finally did wake the game up in the final minutes of the first period.
Logan Stankoven then got fed by Matt Duchene right on the doorstep, and if you thought the curses had all been broken on the rookie forward, this chance made you reconsider that viewpoint, as Stankoven’s first shot was saved, and his rebound was shoveled into the post and just short of the goal line under Kochetkov’s convenient skate, before the goalie was able to turn and smother the puck.
Other than that, the period was pretty much perfunctory. That’s a fancy word that means “look, don’t lie, you can’t remember much else that happened, either.”
The second period was more of a product you consider paying for. It started when Wyatt Johnston fed Dadonov on a four-man of the Stars’, and Dadonov just ran out of room before trying to feed the puck back in from below the goal line, after miraculously keeping his balance to begin with after the pass:
Logan Stankoven got a couple more chances of his own after some great passing from Roope Hintz in the offensive zone, but that curse was stronger than anyone suspected, and Kochetkov’s dribbler of a glove save was just enough to get the puck out of danger before another one-timer tested him again.
Jamie Benn got a glorious feed from Matt Duchene not too much later, but if there’s such a thing as being too open, Benn found it. He tried a sneaky-quick shot through the five-hole, but Kochetkov flinched faster, and the game continued apace.
Andrei Svechnikov decided to take another slashing penalty, testing Roope Hintz’s recovered frame. But Jamie Benn had to take a hook in the offensive zone 45 seconds into the power play, and so we were back to 4-on-4, with both teams’ penalty-kills looking every bit as effective as billed.
Colin Blackwell got a better chance after the Canes began a brief penalty kill than either team had gotten on the power play, poking a puck down the ice after it jumped over Shayne Gostisbehere’s stick for a clean breakaway. But Blackwell’s deke wasn’t enough to move Kochetkov off his post, and Blackwell ended up tumbling into the goalie as the puck bounced harmlessly away.
With six minutes to go in the second period, shots on goal were 10-9 to Carolina. Mavrik Bourque added some spice to the proceedings with a hard forecheck that cause Kochetkov to come out and play the puck along the boards in what sure looked like the no-no area to me, but then again, it’s a dumb rule, so who really cares? This is what we’re reduced to talking about, in this game.
Jason Robertson also had a great chance that should’ve been in, but Kochetkov’s glove hand was where it needed to be.
And wouldn’t you know it? The Stars’ inability to convert any of their best chances would lead to Carolina’s doing so on their next one, when Jesperi Kotkaniemi fired an absolute missile of a wrist shot over Oettinge’r shoulder after Nils Lundkvist went 0-for-2 on attempts at exiting the defensive zone following a successful faceoff win.
Lundkvist’s first attempt at a high flip was knocked down, which was, in fairness, a great defensive play:
Lundkvist then got another chance after outworking his man and getting the puck back in hopes of sending the puck out along the boards, only to get stick-checked at the last minute by Martin Nečas, who then fed the puck over to an open Kotkaniemi before Smith could get over there.
It was a beautiful shot, though:
Anyhow, the second period expired with the Stars trailing 1-0 in a game they probably should have scored two goals in, at least. Sometimes it’s comforting to know that the team you see in November can still be that team in January. Is “comforting” the right word?
If nothing else, going down 1-0 into the third gave the Stars a chance to break their 0-12-0 record when trailing after 40 minutes. It’s good to get second chances, also thirteenth chances.
And the Stars would generate chances, including an extended stretch from about 13 minutes remaining that ended with an interference penalty on Sean Walker for clearing out Jamie Benn from the netfront. But the Stars really ought to have scored at least twice on the preceding sequence, as Mavrik Bourque got fed a glorious one-timer that he didn’t get all of, but it was still labeled for the net before Kochetkov’s sprawling blocker hand sent the puck into the post and out.
However, Wyatt Johnston would show why he’s the number one center (for tonight, at least) by refusing to be tired despite being out for the entire power play, and he took the puck back in from the neutral zone and made a move to pull Kochetkov out of his net, after which Johnston banked it off Kochetkov’s pad, which was off the post:
That sent the puck into the blue paint where Thomas Harley, of all people, was there to slam it home from a foot away:
ThomasHarleyHypeVideo.mp4 pic.twitter.com/gs9yymNxa1
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) January 22, 2025
It was a wonderful goal, a cathartic release after so many disappointing third periods. But hold on, did somebody say something about disappointing third periods? Because the Hurricanes would get a fortunate goal just afterwards to swap all of the momentum from the building.
Below, you can see a couple of things such as Ilya Lyubushkin, who has followed his man (Kotkaniemi) into the slot. You an also see Logan Stankoven, just barely in frame, pointing at Sean Walker as Dadonov tries desperately to catch him. And you can also see Thomas Harley, in front of the crease, seeing this disaster begin to take shape:
To Matt Duchene’s credit, he actually recovers enough to get a stick on Kotkaniemi, but unfortunately, the puck would bounce off Oettinger (he described it with an adjectival epithet that will probably get bleeped out on the replay, but it rhymes with “itty bitty”) and then off Kotkaniemi, and in.
Shortly afterward, Brendan Smith then got tagged for delay of game in what would’ve been a dagger of a call, but the veteran argued vehemently that the puck had deflected of a stick on its way out, pleading his case all the way to the box. And his coach listened to his lobbying (and the video coaches, more likely) to make the brave challenge, risking a 5-on-3 penalty kill in order to negate the call, and Smith was vindicated after DeBoer did so, as the penalty was called back, to rousing applause from the crowd (who were also a bit miffed when Oettinger was run into without a call just a couple minutes prior).
It was a nice moment. It gave the Stars hope of erasing what felt like a doable one-goal deficit as the strengths remained even, and the Stars had six minutes to tie the game up, again.
They would not tie it up again, though. They wouldn’t even put a shot on goal, in fact. Their last shot on goal was by Sam Steel, with 7:11 remaining in the third period. Carolina is good at tightening things up. Probably then, it would be good to score on your high-grade chances when you get them, and the Stars did not. That was pretty much it.
Thankfully, the Stars will not face Carolina again this season unless something very good happens. So, look at it this way: they got all the bad vibes out of the way now, rather than in June! Optimism is kind of exhausting, huh?