Game 49 AfterThoughts: Whatever It Takes

After hanging on to surivive a furious Vegas push in the third period Friday night, the Stars decided to refine that strategy. And by “refine,” I mean, they asked their goaltender to bail them out in St. Louis for most of the game, rather than just for one period. And, believe it or not, it worked.

In fact, not only did it work, but St. Louis didn’t even score. And sure, part of that is because the Blues whiffed on like three chances that probably took more skill to miss than it would have to actually put the puck home, but when you’re facing a team in the throes of rebuilding denial like St. Louis, you almost count on a bit of self-destruction here and there. And when Jordan Binnington is the opposing goalie, sometimes the stepping-on-rakes comes right off the bat.

Really though, this was about the Blues’ offense more than Binnington’s gaffe on the opening goal. Because look at this shot chart, and take a look at all the grey circles that denote misses for the Blues:

That’s a ton of times that the Blues, in the prime scoring area, absolutely refused to test the tensile strength of the twine. Robert Thomas almost shot a puck away from an empty net, while Mathieu Joseph also clanked a wide-open look off the iron from an impossibly close distance, while Philip Broberg decided to square one up late, just to make sure the net’s 4′ x 6′ dimensions hadn’t changed in the intervening minutes. They had not.

Still, it’s not like Dallas pulled a 2022 Calgary Series in this one or anything. They gave better than they got, and they also had great chances of their own. In a way, they made the exact correct calculation in the final period, which was that the Blues simply didn’t have the ability to beat them in a defensive shell. That’s not a strategy you’d like to see Dallas deploy against a Vegas or Colorado in April or May, but if it works against the Blues in January? Go wild, man. Two points, and onto Vegas.

Normally you’d say Dallas looked tired when they got out shot and out-hit to the degree they did Saturday night. But it might also have just been a result of being literally hit in the face, as no fewer than four players took a bonk to the donk, and that’s not even counting the shoulder Casey DeSmith took to his mask on a breakaway chance. Really, this game was a success the moment the final buzzer sounded and 20 Stars players were able to exit under their own power. Availability is an ability, and one that was sorely (in every sense) tested on Saturday.

DeBoer referred to the Stars’ having to play 11 games in the last 19 nights, and Esa Lindell conceded it wasn’t the Stars’ best game. Casey DeSmith said plainly that he was the only fresh guy on the ice for his team, and DeBoer said after the game that the Stars gave whatever they had left, and they found a way to win.

That power play goal really was huge, and I don’t think it’s fair to just write it off as a fluke. That’s a veteran player in Lindell seeing an opportunity, and that’s a veteran playmaker in Roope Hintz finding him at the perfect time. Execution in the high-leverage moments is the difference in most games; the Stars scored on a power play, and on a breakaway. The Blues did not. If we can bemoan the Stars’ lack of timely execution back in December, then we can sure as shootin’ praise the presence of it in January. There are 33 games left before the special ones start, you know.

By the way, it was nice to see Radek Faksa for the first time since he departed Dallas in a trade last summer, as the former first-round draft pick for Dallas was always one of the first to gamely gut out games like these. But given how much the Stars have revamped their lineup at this point, Oskar Bäck is probably the better option in terms of contract and performance, assuming he’s still ambulatory going forward (which isn’t a guarantee for anyone after the gauntlet of the last 48 hours). That doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate Faksa’s time in Dallas, though. He’s an easy player to root for, and always will be. I’m really glad he got that goal against Vegas last spring. He deserved a moment like that.

Ryan Suter, by the way, is still playing tons of minutes for St. Louis, though Jim Montgomery seems bent on reducing them. Just look at what’s happened since Cam Fowler arrived, and you can see that an all-too-familiar process is happening in Missouri. Suter is one of the most impressive U.S. defensemen of the last couple decades, but if he’s a cornerstone of your blue line at this point, it’s probably for lack of options, not because he’s the best of them.

Meanwhile, Lian Bichsel played the fourth-most minutes on the Stars’ defense tonight, just barely eclipsing Ilya Lyubushkin. That’s not a knock against Lyubushkin at all, but rather a reiteration of the trust the 20-year-old has already earned.

So, the question for you all at this point is this: would you be okay with these six defensemen if the playoffs started tomorrow?

***

DeBoer opted to go with the same lineup as Friday night in Vegas, keeping Nils Lundkvist in the press box and Brendan Smith on the fourth line. And once again, he got what he needed, albeit with some tense moments.

Jamie Benn started this one looking like his vintage version, speeding down the wing to create a 2-on-1 with Mavrik Bourque. But the feed wasn’t quite able to be Hintzed into the net, though who’s going to blame anyone for not pulling that sort of wizardry on demand? Other than the fans, I mean, who are always to blame.

Jordan Binnington really kicked things off in Jordan Binnington Style when he had his chance. First, a puck got through to Evgenii Dadonov after what may well have been a bit of clairvoyant redirecting by Robertson on a feed up the ice, and the Stars’ oldest forward found himself with his daily breakaway from the blue line in. But Binnington must have hit the wrong button on his controller, and he attempted a poke-check that sent his stick flying (which should be a penalty), and Dadonov’s shot and second effort sent the puck through the Binnington Barn Door that was suddenly wide open. As the old saying goes, if you’re gonna score on Jordan Binnington, it’s always nice to do it in embarrassing fashion.

Jake Neighbours nearly victimized Casey DeSmith right after the goal, as a rebound trickled down the Stars’ goalie’s shoulder, but it was thankfully taken care of before any further nonsense took place. DeSmith also made it through a power play later in the first, and despite some scrambling, no damage was done.

Neighbours did victimize his own team by taking a penalty shortly after that, and Esa Lindell then did his best Jason Robertson impression by setting up in the circle and converting a great Roope Hintz cross-ice feed. Sure, it was technically at the very end of the penalty with just three seconds to go, with Lindell coming on for Mavrik Bourque as the team prepared to transition back to three forwards and two defensemen. But also technically, a power play goal is a power play goal, so Esa Lindell is now the Stars’ Official Power Play Quarterback, after scoring on the man-advantage for the first time in six years. The goal was also the Stars’ first power play goal by a defenseman all year, which seems about right.

Sam Steel got two 2-on-1s in the first period, but he went 0-for-2 on them, unfortunately. The first one came with Colin Blackwell, and Steel kept it, but Binnington made the save. You couldn’t blame Steel for testing the Canadian goalie’s five-hole, though, given what Dadonov had done earlier in the period. Also, I can’t blame anyone for shooting a puck at Jordan Binnington, giving the chance, ever. But the second 2-on-1 Steel got later on came with Logan Stankoven, and Steel fed him for a one-timer, and of course, the dozens of invisible gremlins that have been following Stankoven around all year jumped in front of the net to send the puck wide. Binnington may have gotten a piece of it, but personally, I’m crediting the gremlins.

The first period didn’t go by without taking its toll, though. Oskar Bäck went down after taking a stick to the mouth, and Matt Duchene got a cheap shot in the numbers that sent his face into another Blues player, and his nose was leakiing on his way off the ice. Lian Bichsel was also sent into the boards by Radek Faksa on a check similar to the one Steel took yesterday against Vegas, so it was clear that St. Louis had taken to the heart the message, “If you can’t beat ’em, beat ’em.” Thankfully, all three players came back out for the second period.

Here’s a shot from the intermission broadcast with Brien Rea and Brent Severyn that showed how Duchene swapped out his visor for a bigger one after getting his face mashed in:

Matt Dumba mentioned to me earlier this year that he’s had to fiddle with his full-face shield a few times this year, so it’s not surprising that the Stars equipment staff managed to put a new visor in for Duchene to protect was a surely a pretty sore nose.

Jordan Kyrou got a great chance that he probably should have put home, but Casey DeSmith slid over to take away the great look after some tic-tac-toe passing by St. Louis. Rob Thomas nearly tipped one through DeSmith as well later in the second, and in fact the puck did go through DeSmith, but when you saw the angle Thomas shot from, you can see that beating the goalie was the last thing on earth he would have wanted to do:

DeSmith mentioned the other day that he generally played the second game for back-to-backs on his previous teams, and you generally need some #controlledchaor from your backup on the second night of a two-in-two. So the veteran filled the order, and the Stars moved on with their 2-0 lead.

Pavel Buchnevich took a tripping penalty midway through the game when he just cleaned out Bourque’s leg from behind at center ice. The crowd in St. Louis booed the call a bit, but there wasn’t really much to complain about, given the Stars’ power play’s noticeable lack of Esa Lindell. Heiskanen stayed out for the entire two minutes, and his most important moment was his sprawling to block a shorthanded 2-on-1 pass that Mathieu Joseph just barely put wide, thanks in part to some diligently desperate backchecking from Roope Hintz.

Logan Stankoven had a near-breakaway, too. He did not score. This is all that you needed to hear about that.

Brandon Saad had a breakway, too. He did not score, but Lian Bichsel whacked him on the thigh as he made a mode on DeSmith, and Saad’s shoulder clattered against the mask of DeSmith as the forward bounced off into the boards. DeSmith was all right, and for the record, I am told that you cannot teach size, though I think you can teach whacking people with your stick.

The second period really was the Casey DeSmith Show, with the Stars allowing much more than what any decent person would term an appropriate amount of chances. After being out shot 12-9 in the first period, Dallas got thumped 14-6 in the second.

Mavrik Bourque took the Stars’ medicine in the second period, when an attempted tip into the zone went right into his face at center-ice. And when folks with shovels have to come out after a puck hits you, it’s usually not a good sign. Given the three players hit up high with significance before even two periods were over, this game sure seemed like a message from the universe that the Dallas players have been wrecking the attractiveness curve, and some course-correction was apparently, unfortunately, in order. And if you needed any proof of that, Wyatt Johnston got a warning shot to the helmet from Brayden Schenn’s stick to start the third period, though at least that head shot actually put the Stars on the power play.

The power play had some chances early, with Thomas Harley taking a turn with the top forward group, for once. That may have been because Heiskanen had started the period and needed a break, but regardless of the reason, the group got traffic in front and pucks to the same, but no dice. And in fact, the Blues may have ended up with the better chances, with an odd-man rush shorthanded, as that was apparently a box the Stars were required to check on every power play they got in this game, but thankfully, it didn’t cost them.

As the third period progressed, it felt like the Stars’ plan was to hang onto a two-goal lead and sting the Blues on the counterattack. And despite St. Louis generating some very good chances, and the Stars generating some very good chances of their own, neither team managed to capitalize for the first half of the final frame. In practice, that looked something like this: St. Louis would generate a shot towards the goal, and the loose puck would sit around for an agonizing couple of moments, only for the Stars to eventually clear it. Then St. Louis would try another entry, and the Stars would generate a rush chance, but that also wouldn’t go in, and so on, and so forth.

The Blues did manage the most hilarious miss of the night among a crowded field of competition, when Joseph clanked a chance off the post that rivaled anything Gordon Bombay could do in D2, which is to say Jospeh totally borked up a wide-open shot on the back door with a wide-open net, off the post, through the crease, and out the other side:

Philip Broberg got in on the action right before the Blues pulled Binnington, clanging the post behind DeSmith on a wide-open look from the slot that DeSmith’s glove wasn’t close to, but then again, given how accurately the Blues were shooting in this one, letting the puck go was probably the better choice anyhow.

During the 6-on-5 pressure, St. Louis held the puck in the Dallas zone for over 90 seconds straight at one point, but everything came to naught after a DeSmith blocker save sent the puck out of the play, and all 11 players to their respective oxygen tanks. From there, it was more or less academic, and DeSmith got his second shutout of the season, after his first one came in his inaugural game with Dallas, way back in October.

Look, sometimes they’re not pretty, but when you’re playing two in two, you just have to hope that some guys step up without anyone stepping back too much, and that’s what happened. Dallas capitalized with two veterans scoring goals, and their backup goaltender backed the team up. And against a team like St. Louis right now, that was enough to get the win. More than enough, in fact.