Game 66 AfterThoughts: Franchise Histories

Detroit, Dallas, Overtime, and Thomas Harley

Song of the Game

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The Dallas Stars scored a power play goal for their twelfth straight game, and they got points out of the game for the fifteenth time in a row. And once again, they did it in far from boring fashion.

Through two periods, it looked like the Stars were sitting pretty. They had a 2-0 lead, and they’d nearly extended it to three-zip multiple times. Going into the final frame, that third goal felt less like a hope and more like an eventuality.

And in the end, it was just that. Because what else do you call Thomas Harley scoring an overtime goal?

“It just felt I had a step on him [the defenseman],” Harley said afterwards. “And you know, you never know, Throw it on net, see what happens.”

And throw it he did, firing his perpetually underrated snap shot past a John Gibson that had channeled a bit of Scott Wedgewood from the other week in locking things down after the Stars had jumped out to a lead.

That win was especially big, perhaps, because of how the Stars’ original 2-0 lead disappeared.

First, Detroit broke the shutout on a rare gaffe from Jake Oettinger, who slapped his glove down to cover a puck in the third period, only to knock it back between his pads to give Detroit life. And the second goal came with less than four minutes remaining in the game, when the Stars’ top line all got trapped in the offensive zone with the Red Wings rushing 4-on-2 the other way. And while Oettinger got enough of Lucas Raymond’s first shot from a deadly area, the puck bounced up perfectly for Raymond to bat it home.

That sort of swing could rattle a lot of teams, and a goalie in particular. But that wasn’t the case in overtime, when Oettinger made a big save on Marco Kasper, and that ended up being the last one he’d have to make. Wyatt Johnston sent Harley the other way, and the Stars had yet another win in the bank.

“Yeah, they were funky,” Thomas Harley said of the two Detroit goals. “I guess that’s hockey though. I don’t think you blame ‘Otts on either one. It just kinda happened, and I thought I’d get the win for him.”

For Glen Gulutzan’s part, he also was loath to get too worried about Oettinger, who was excellent on many much more difficult chances than the two that found their way past him. Instead, Gulutzan was much more focused on the chances the Stars did allow, including the four-on-two rush.

“I thought for the first two [periods] we were very stingy,” Gulutzan said. “We were good. I thought the last three or four minutes of the second, we gave ‘em a couple of little looks we didn’t need to. Otherwise, for 40, we were very stingy. They got the goal, a little bit of a backspin on Otter, and that gave them life. And I think we can learn a few things from our third [period]. We can tidy a couple of things up there.”

It’s true, all of it. What’s also true is that the Stars’ third period got off to a weird start with special teams, and that didn’t really help them to get into much of a defensive rhythm. And when you’re facing a team trying to break a decade-long (nearly) playoff drought, you can expect even a depleted group to muster a big push.

Even without Dylan Larkin, this game wound up ending the same way the December contest did. But this time, the Stars had their overtime weapon, while the Wings did not. And when you play better hockey for the majority of the game, it’s only fitting that you get rewarded for it in overtime, as Dallas did.

Really, Dallas had every chance to prevent even two weird goals from being an issue. Wyatt Johnston scored a goal early, and he had multiple looks at setting his own franchise record on four different Stars power plays.

Johnston’s lack of man-advantage scoring was Michael Bunting’s gain, however, as the Stars’ newest winger shoveled home a rebound from the slot on the team’s second power play unit for what turned out to be the last goal Dallas would get in regulation.

“I think we played really well,” Bunting said of him and his linemates. “I mean, it was kind of a special teams night, so there wasn’t a lot of flow. But I feel like when we were out there, we made some plays. We drew penalties, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Bunting’s fit in Dallas is likely to be judged more in the playoffs than down the stretch of the season, but for now, he became the latest person down the lineup to chip in a critical goal for a team as hot as any in the league.

After the emotional win over Edmonton, an Eastern Conference tilt against a team missing its captain was likely to be a weird one, and this ended up being just that. But the thing about these Stars is that they’ve won the weird ones and the blowouts, the grind-fests and the comebacks. In 15 games, they’ve won 14 of them. You don’t do that without having a pretty broad arsenal of victorious strategies.

When Gulutzan was asked about tying the 1998-99 team’s 15-game points streak, he pointed to one clear element the two teams have in common: “They’re full of character.”

That might well be the best way to describe it, too. The Stars have gotten leadership from their captain, but they’ve also seen young players take big strides while learning tough lessons. They’ve seen their captain look as good as he has in a long time. As a collective, they’ve executed high-leverage situations on the power play (and held strong on the penalty kill), and they’ve also managed not to break down even when bounces or injuries or calls go against them.

Over these 15 games, Dallas has:

1. Outscored opponents 63 - 36.

2. Scored 17 power play goals and allowed just 6 on the PK

3. Outscored opponents 38-24 at 5-on-5

4. Led the league with over 60% of the expected goals during that time

5. Collected 29 of 30 possible points for an absurd .967 points percentage

The only true blemish you can point to since January 22 is the same one Duchene said tonight still really bothers him: the shootout loss to Colorado back on March 6, when the Stars were an empty-net goal (or a minute of better defense) away from a win over the Avalanche.

But the good news for Dallas is that, after facing Utah on Monday, they’ll have a golden chance to avenge that loss next week, when they head to Colorado (and next, Minnesota). But whatever happens after tonight, it’s still worth saying as much as you possibly can just what the Stars have already done under Glen Gulutzan. They’ve gone from a team that looked discouraged and lost against the Oilers last May into a team that fears nothing and no one, even without the superstar acquisition that was supposed to effect that transformation almost exactly a year ago.

Adding Mikko Rantanen to a group that is playing what looks and feels like some of their best hockey in a long time is a preposterous and wonderful thought indeed.

I’m sure you’ve encountered folks who aren’t really ready to relax yet, who still find it easier to look for problems rather than celebrate just how remarkable this team has become. But frankly, if you’re a fan of this team, why wouldn’t you be enjoying this run as much as you can? They’re 42-10-14, for goodness’ sake, and they’re still doing all of this without multiple high-end players in the lineup.

The players and coaches know they can’t celebrate anything yet, because they have lots of work ahead of them. But if you’re just watching these games for the reasons that most people watch sports, then you haven’t had this many consecutive reasons to enjoy Stars hockey since 1999. And around here, you really can’t say anything more positive than that.

On the other hand, you might prefer to remain calm, to avoid getting too high with 16 games still to play. That’s fine, of course. If you want to avoid having hopes dashed upon the rocks, then keep them just yea-high, where the fall to said rocks will be short and swift. That doesn’t seem like a very fun way to enjoy sports, but I suppose sports trauma does weird things to all of us, at times.

Whatever you feel, you cannot deny that this team is doing great things right now. But if you want a subtler expression of that optimism, Thomas Harley might have summed things up best for you, in his trademark fashion:

“Well, you know, things could be worse. We are on a 15-game points streak.”

Screencap from Victory+

Highlights and Lowlights

The reconstructed fourth line had an early shift in the offensive zone that showed Nathan Bastian’s chemistry in the lineup was still very much intact. And then a post-whistle scrum in the Stars’ end with Johnston and Bourque’s line on the ice showed that the truculent twosome was still very much ready to go.

Oddly enough, that scrum ended with David Perron taking Miro Heiskanen off the ice for two minutes, which seemed a bit surprising, given that Perron initiated (and continued) 90% of the nonsense after taking a whack at a puck Oettinger had grabbed.

Still, Detroit’s depleted lineup got the worst of the 4-on-4 that ensued, and it became just a footnote.

What wasn’t a footnote was Wyatt Johnston, catching Jason Robertson once again in the team goals race with his 36th of the year, off a chance John Gibson perhaps could have played a bit better than he did:

Still, it was a nice move to slip Lucas Raymond’s coverage in the corner to begin with, and good things tend to happen when elite shooters get to the scoring areas.

Some near-misses at both ends filled out the rest of the first period, including a nice pair of stops by Jake Oettinger on Detroit’s first shots on goal, which came with 3:21 remaining in the period. Wyatt Johnston nearly scored a second goal off the rush as well, only to have Gibson foil his 30-foot effort.

Dallas ended up spending some time in their own zone late in the first, but Oettinger and company weathered the pressure. After 20 minutes, the 1-0 score held, with shots on goal at 9-4 for the home side.

Colin Blackwell vindicated his coach’s decision to move him up to the third line by drawing a penalty in the first shift of the second period, putting Dallas back on the job. And after 1:54, a Robertson-to-Hryckowian royal road pass (say that five times fast) got blocked to Michael Bunting in the bumper spot, and he potted his first as a Dallas Star by shoveling the puck past Gibson.

Hryckowian had gotten a similar chance earlier on the power play that he hadn’t shot, so opting for the active shot this time turned out well.

Nate Bastian got tagged for interference right after that, but a confident Oettinger blocker save took care of the best chance Detroit got, and Dallas made it through without any harm.

J.T. Compher put Dallas on the power play halfway through the period with a slash on a positive Lundkvist rush, and the Stars had a chance to grab the game by the scruff of its neck. The power play didn’t convert this time, though Heiskanen did put a puck squarely off Gibson’s mask that appear to rattle him a bit.

He stayed in, but Lucas Raymond took another penalty by getting his stick into Bunting’s hands, and the Stars had a brief 5-on-3 that Johnston nearly scored on. But despite Bunting putting another shot off the crossbar, Dallas remained only two goals ahead.

Comphere nearly got Detroit on the board with a nice tip in front of Oettinger late in the second period, but the puck went off the inside of the post and back out the other side of the crease by the narrowest of margins. After 40 minutes, the Stars still had a 2-0 lead.

With power plays 4-1 for Dallas, you kind of knew Detroit would get one before too long. And when Lindell gave a bit of a love tap to Compher that sent him to the ice way behind a Stars breakout, that was all the officials needed to close that gap.

The Stars killed it even without Lindell, however. Sam Steel and Blackwell did their usual bit of shorthanded forecheckery, and Oettinger made the saves he needed to make. The best chance of all came for Dallas, when Hyry and Bäck got a 2-on-1 that Bäck nearly tucked home, but didn’t. But hey, a penalty kill is a penalty kill.

Screencap from Victory+

After another near-miss by Dallas, Justin Faulk and Jason Robertson got tangled up, and again, both players were went to the box to make it 4-on-4, with a Robertson smile en route to the quarantine area kind of telling you he didn’t agree with the call, for whatever that’s worth.

Oettinger had a shutout cooking well, and then he had the baddest of bad breaks you can get when he went to cover a routine puck and put it between his own pads to put Detroit on the board.

A Tyler Myers penalty right after that gave Detroit its best look at the game they’d had. But once again, the Stars’ penalty kill came up nails, and the Stars had nine minutes of defending to do with a 2-1 lead.

The Stars did five minutes of it quite well, but some overeager offensive-zone pursuit got them into trouble, as the Wings got a rush back up the ice that Dallas couldn’t sort out, and Lucas Raymond eventually batted a puck home to knot the game at two.

Johnston probably has to stay higher in the zone there, in all honesty, but you could also have a long conversation about the (very difficult) choices made in defensive coverage by Lindell and Heiskanen. But really, you just don’t want to give up 4-on-2 rushes, is probably the lesson here.

The Stars got one more look in the final minute of regulation, but Gibson held the fort. And like happened the last time these two teams met, we went to overtime after a Detroit comeback.

That’s where Jake Oettinger came up with a big save on Kasper that Thomas Harley turned into gold at the other end. Wyatt Johnston found the puck, and then he found Thomas Harley, who knows what to do in overtime.

The Stars have now tied their franchise record 15-game points streak, originally set in 1998-99. That year rings a bell for some reason, but I can’t quite remember why.

Lineups

Dallas brought this group:

Robertson-Johnston-Bourque
Steel-Duchene-Benn
Bunting-Hryckowian-Blackwell
Bäck-Hyry-Bastian

Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Myers

Oettinger

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Detroit cobbled together this assemblage of characters:

DeBrincat-Compher-Kane
Perron-Kasper-Raymond
van Riemsdyk-Finnie-Leonard
Appleton-Dries-Shine

Edvinsson - Seider
Chiarot - Faulk
Johansson - Bernard-Docker

Gibson

After-AfterThoughts

• Curtis McKenzie tallied his 500th AHL point, if you missed it. Really cool achievement for the Texas Stars captain.

• As always seems to be the case against Detroit, a far number of red jerseys were littered throughout the crowd. But when you compare the moderate number of visiting sweaters these days to the dark days of Chicago and Detroit takeovers during the bankruptcy era, there really is no comparison.

• This exchange between Bäck and Bichsel nearly went awry, but after Bichsel’s desperation dive, the puck was backhanded just wide.

• All three members of the new third line contributed on the Stars’ second goal: Blackwell drew the penalty, and Hryckowian assisted on Bunting’s goal. Chemistry!

• Nils Lundkvist accidentally pegged referee Graedy Hamilton with a hard dump-in in the second period. It looked painful, but Hamilton shook it off and stayed in the game.

• Lian Bichsel and Marco Kasper got into it after the whistle with 15 seconds to go in the second period,and everyone jumped into the pile. Dallas is getting lots of good practice lately for what the playoffs are going to be like after whistles.

  

• Sam Nestler of DLLS asked Bunting after the game if anyone had gotten him his goal puck, and Bunting wasn’t sure. Given that Bunting is a veteran and this game wasn’t filled with any fanfare for him, it might not have been the most automatic thing to grab the puck for him, but who knows: Maybe it did get got, eventually.

• This tweet from Josh really sums it up, I think. The Stars are rolling at an unfathomable level. If you’re not taking time to enjoy it, what are you waiting for?