Game 69 AfterThoughts: One For the Kids, Three from the Defensemen

Thomas Harley and Esa Lindell took care of business in this one

After Pete DeBoer criticized his team’s effort and general performance against Tampa Bay on Thursday, Saturday’s game against the Flyers took on even more importance than usual. Would the team respond to their coach’s calling them out?

In overtime, Thomas Harley did that, after Jason Robertson told him he was running the Montour post-route off the face-off. Robertson ended up having to dig a puck away from the Flyers to make it all work, but the plan was good enough to combine with hard work for a goal, and that is what effort is all about.

That’s not how the game started, though. Shots on goal ramped up to 5-0 Flyers in the first six minutes, and some concern was in the air. Philadelphia came into the contest with a white flag well and truly raised, as the Flyers were on a three-game skid, going 2-8-0 in their last ten. For Dallas to respond to blunt comments of disapproval and disappointment from their coach by spotting the other team a couple of great looks seemed concerning.

But the fourth line came through for the first goal, as Thomas Harley would start the scoring. He would also end it, much later on.

“I thought they were great,” said DeBoer of the fourth line. “They tilted the ice, they were heavy and hard on pucks in the offensive zone. I think some of our other lines could take some notes on how they did it tonight, the relentlessness in the offensive zone.”

Against Tampa, DeBoer pointed out that it was a big problem that the Stars’ biggest contributions came from their fourth line and a rookie defenseman. But in a tighter defensive game against Philadelphia, the Stars managed a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes despite only putting three shots on goal—all of which came from defensemen.

From a fan persepctive, the Stars were still making some unforced errors in this game. But in a league where the margins of victory are often tight even when a team plays well, it’s clear that finding a way not to throw the game away in an odd day-game tilt was good enough. For now.

“You know, wasn’t perfect, but definitely a step in the right direction after the last game,” said DeBoer. He pointed to the three penalties Dallas was assessed in the first period as a factor in the low shot total, and also pointed to much cleaner breakouts from the Stars.

Still, the Flyers’ two goals in the second period to tie things back up came off defensive breakdowns that showed things haven’t been magically fixed in one game. Travis Konecny scored the Flyers’ first goal after the Stars failed to cover him at the end of the Benn-Johnston-Dadonov’s shift, and he had time and space to make a great shot past Oettinger after the Flyers probably ought to have scored on a 3-on-1 chance just a few moments earlier.

Ryan Poehling added a second goal less than six minutes later on a similarly rough bit of coverage, though it was all started by a turnover by Mason Marchment as the Stars forwards were rushing 3-on-3 into the Flyers zone, only to get caught up ice. Matt Dumba had also just changed, with Marchment looking to take the puck deep into the other zone, only for Ilya Lyubushkin to hop over the boards to replace him and find himself already too far away to stop Poehling.

That’s a tough minus for a player to eat, but it didn’t seem to bother Lyubushkin any, based on some fun he was having with Harley after the game, wearing one of the commemorative Harley youth t-shirts being given away for Kids Day on Saturday.

You can focus on the negatives and say the Stars papered over deeper issues. You can also focus on the positives and say it’s all part of a long season.

I don’t think a single player in that room honestly believes everything is roses right now. But it’s clear that their focus is on steady improvement rather than rash overreaction, and if that means they keep collecting points while the top-nine forward group struggles to score for a bit, fans are going to be uneasy. That’s just the way of things, especially with how much this team has scored for most of the season.

As for my part, I can’t tell you what to feel, but I can tell you what the team said.

“Games that we can learn from,” said Jamie Benn after the game, “and improve our game.”

Benn said the team wasn’t too frustrated, pointing to Philly’s hard work. “It was just one of those games where there’s really not much out there, and we found a way to get it done.”

As for the first period, Benn looked to the upside.

“When you don’t give up a goal, obviously it’s a good thing,” said Benn. “Defense wins games in this league, and I thought we were better tonight.”

“Every game is different. You know, it’s a long year. You’re gonna go through your hot streaks and your dry spells. As long as we’re not giving up three or four goals, we’ll be fine.”

Matt Duchene, for his part, pointed to the nature of digging out a funk, and how it requires patience, especially when the team is struggling to create offense to their usual standards.

“When you kind of go through a bit of a gully,” said Duchene, “You’re not gonna come straight out of it. You’re gonna work your way out of it. Big win. We’ll keep on working.”

So, as we said yesterday, it takes patience. And when you have Thomas Harley and Jason Robertson working some overtime magic, there’s probably nothing wrong with outwaiting the other team.

The Stars’ second goal was probably the best example of what DeBoer (and the whole team) want to see more of. The Stars worked hard in the corner of their own zone to dig a puck out, and they rushed the other way with numbers. Esa Lindell joined the group, and he beat his man down the ice to get open for a goal that would end up being the one the Stars needed to make it to overtime.

It was also the goal that chased Ivan Fedotov, as Samuel Ersson (another Four Nations representative alongside both Stars’ goal-scorers and one of Philadelphia’s) came in at the start of the second period and was perfect until Harley pulled a beautiful five-hole deke straight out of the best shootout moves in the book.

“He won a puck battle, and [Robertson] kind of picked his eyes up for second, and I got to the open space,” Harley said afterward, before talking more about the game as a whole. “I thought we came out pretty good. We cleaned up our defensive zone. We cleaned up our zone exits a little bit.”

The Stars’ power play was rough in this one. Matt Duchene probably got robbed of a goal he should have had on a puck as close to the line as you could ask to see, but he also missed a great look he had right after that.

I can’t be angry about the Duchene no-goal call, though. Deboer pointed out that the cameras are all high-definition over the net, and Duchene said that Philadelphia probably would have been fine with it, had it been called a goal. It’s just the nature of video review in this league that the closest calls are going to elicit the most frustration, and that’s where a really good team needs to put games like this beyond doubt.

Instead, the Stars made things rough for themselves against a team far below them in the standings, just like they did against Anaheim the other night. But once again, they found a way to escape with two points. You can be upset about it, but if the Stars’ struggles to grow into cohesion continue, I promise you that you’ll have much bigger things you’ll wish you saved your frustration for.

Robertson’s play in overtime was a big moment for him, as he’d struggled on the power play in particular in this game. Philadelphia is a great shot-blocking team, as DeBoer pointed out after the game, but the Stars’ power play should be able to do something better than one puck in the air over the goal line with four chances.

Instead, the power play today too often looks like a magnification of the Stars’ lack of finesse in general. They once again surrendered a great shorthanded chance that Oettinger bailed them out of when Dumba got stripped of a puck along the boards as the last man back, but how angry can you be about the Stars’ third- or fourth-best option for the PP2 quarterback making a rough play there?

Rantanen had a couple of small moments in this one that looked positive, and Hintz snapped a shot just wide late in the game that felt more like a confident player. These are very small things we’re reaching for, but if you want a big one, look at Mikael Granlund’s game today. He was repeatedly creating things and suppressing Philly’s things, and I genuinely think a video review of his shifts alone would be very complimentary to him, despite the inconsistencies of the top-six group as a whole in recent games.

The Stars haven’t solved any of their problems in a big sense, but they did avoid losing, which would be demoralizing and dangerous, with Colorado all-too-eager to claim that home-ice advantage over them in the first round. If Dallas does indeed match up against that group, they will surely want to play as few games in Denver as possible. Getting two points, in whatever fashion, is the best way to do that.

Jake Oettinger was also great again today, with his only goals being great shots by players all alone on him. He wasn’t perfect, but he was much closer to his better self, and that was enough to get Dallas the win.

Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley were probably the Stars’ best players once again, with Lindell in particular making some crucial defensive plays and blocks. Goals aren’t the biggest part of their games on a shift-to-shift basis, but they absolutely deserved the plaudits they got in this game, as well as the goals they put away. The universe can be fair when it wants to be.

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For Kids Day, the Stars had special music and graphics, with children also doing much of the PA announcements and singing the national anthem. It’s always a fun day, and it was delightful to see the building packed with so many kids, rather than the usual rabble like you, reading this.

Here’s an idea, though: if the NHL wants to replace the All-Star Game next year, what about having all the players’ kids ages 5-8 play in a tournament with their dads’ names on their jerseys? I can’t see any way this could go wrong, and also it would be delightful. Of course, you’d need 5-8 year-old referees and linesfolk, too. In for a penny, in for a whole kindergarten class, as they say.

Lineup

The Stars began the game with this lineup:

Robertson-Hintz-Rantanen
Marchment-Duchene-Granlund
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Bäck-Steel-Blackwell

Lindell-Ceci
Harley-Lyubushkin
Bichsel-Dumba

Oettinger

Mavrik Bourque and Brendan Smith were the healthy scratches Saturday, after Bourque was moved down to the fourth line in the third period of Thursday’s game.

When asked about potentially resting some veteran players down the stretch, DeBoer was clear: that’s not his main concern right now.

“"I'm not really thinking about rest right now,” DeBoer said Saturday morning. “We're still playing for too much. We're still playing for home ice advantage. If we're making lineup decisions, it's about who can help us win games tonight."

DeBoer went on to say that the Stars might get to a point where they’d consider resting some veterans, but “we’re not there yet.”

Philadelphia went with Ivan Fedotov in goal.

Game Beats

After spending much of the first minute of the game in the defensive zone, the Stars surrendered the first great chance of the game to Ryan Poehling, after a Lyubushkin stretch pass was intercepted in the neutral zone and turned up ice for a dangerous slot chance that Oettinger swallowed up.

After another scramble that required a save in tight from Oettinger, Ceci then broke his stick on a shot in the offensive zone and surrended a 2-on-1.5 rush, but Ceci managed to get a piece of Matvei Michkov’s shot, and the Stars escaped.

More than escape, the Stars would end up taking the lead, as the fourth line once again scored, or at least they were present when Thomas Harley did so, floating a puck past Fedotov with a host of forwards screening the Flyers goalie.

After that, the Flyers briefly attemped crashing the net, but with an extra preposition thrown in that confused Ryan Poehling:

Another Stars defenseman followed Harley’s example, as Esa Lindell joined the rush and put the Stars’ second shot on goal into it as well, on a nice rush feed from Mikael Granlund, beating Fedotov under the glove.

Fedotov looked to maybe guess high glove here, with Michkov sort of trying to block the shot. But he absolutely missed it, as Lindell’s shot was perfectly placed above the left pad, and the Stars were up 2-0 like it was their plan all along.

As the period wore on, Dallas was content to keep Philadelphia more to the outside. But after 15 minutes, the Stars still had just the two shots on goal.

A bit of a skirmish erupted around the Stars net after an Oettinger glove save from distance, as Ilya Lyubushkin and Travis Konecny got into it around the net, exchanging slashes. But Lyubushkin got angry about something, and he reached over the linesman to throw an extra glove jab, earning him another minor penalty to give Philly a power play.

After some dangerous shorthanded work by Dallas complete with another Lindell shot, the Flyers would get some good looks during and after the remainder of the power play. Then the Dallas defense would get involved once more, as Harley fired a puck from the slot that got blocked down.

But as the Stars battled to grab the puck, Bobby Brinks took a stick up high, and Jason Robertson was called for high-sticking. Of course, the fact of the matter was that Noah Cates had been the one to hit Brink with his stick, but Stars fans have become accustomed in the last week or two to being penalized for other teams fouling themselves.

In any case, the Stars’ penalty kill made it to the intermission without surrendering a goal. They had put three shots on goal, all of them from defensemen, and they had a two-goal lead. Hockey is funny, sometimes.

Second Period

John Tortorella clearly didn’t think much of Fedotov’s goaltending either, as Samuel Ersson replaced the .333 save percentage-having starting goalie and promptly stopped his first five shots.

Dallas killed off the dubious power play to start the second, and Mikko Rantanen finally put a shot on goal from a Dallas forward, with a one-timer that Ersson got over for.

The Stars continued to put pucks on net, outshooting Philadelphia 4-0 in the first 2:31 of the middle frame, but Philadelphia’s fourth line squandered a gift-wrapped 3-on-1 chance when a return feed went into Olle Lycksell’s skates, and he coudln’t corral it for the tap-in, as the puck got through him completely.

There is a reason some players end up on the fourth line, I suppose.

There is also a reason Travis Konecny was selected for the Four Nations Face-Off, as he came in and danced inside Lian Bichsel to set up Matvei Michkov, only for the rookie to shoot it right into Oettinger’s pads. But unfortunately for Dallas, Konecny would get another wide-open chance, and this one he shot himself.

He beat Oettinger on a great shot off the far post, just over the pad. But he was wide-open on the weak side when the Flyers entered the zone after neither Benn (who had skated far up into the neutral zone in pursuit of the puck-careeir) nor Johnston (who was taking Couturier in the midde of the ice) picked up Konecny on the far side, and Johnston wasn’t able to close him down before he unleased a great shot to make it 2-1.

Dallas would get a power play on a delay of game penalty right afterward, and Matt Duchene got a beautiful saucer feed that he caught and deked with, flipped a shot off Ersson’s pad that was floating over the line, only for Emil Andrae to make an absolutely fantastic play to catch the puck on the edge of the line in the air and knock it back out. After a video review, it was confirmed that the puck, by a fraction of an inch, had not completely crossed the goal line, which this view seems to clearly show.

Matt Duchene would get another chance on an open one-timer on the power play, but he sent that one far over the net, and the Stars’ power play would end ignominiously.

Oettinger saved Dumba’s bacon with a poke check after Dumba lost the puck at the end of the Stars power play to an onrushing Tyson Foerster. It was a beautiful bit of awareness by Oettinger, but he couldn’t do much about the subsequent wide-open chance for Ryan Poheling, which came courtesy of a turnover on a 3-on-3 rush by Mason Marchment.

Philly turns the puck up ice here, and you can see the Stars appear to have numbers. They do not, it turns out.

Ilya Lyubushkin has just come over the boards, and he’s going to try to beat Ryan Poheling to the slot. But Michkov (at the bottom of your screen here) collects the puck and dishes it beautifully to Poehling just before Bichsel lays a big hit on him that Michkov won’t mind a bit, as he got an assist for his troubles.

Poehling’s speed is too much, and Lyubushkin can only get close enough to slash him (which drew a brief delayed penalty call before Poehling makes a sweet move to slide right and shoot back up high on Oettinger, tucking the puck just underneath the bar in the far corner.

It was a sobering goal after the Stars were within less than an inch of a 3-1 lead, and DeBoer would send the fourth line out on the ice right afterward. They drew a hooking penalty on Konecny in the final seconds of the second period, giving Dallas a chance to regroup and come out in the third period with a vengeance. If they could find such a thing, at least.

Third Period

The power play would not get the job done, though a Rantanen tip nearly did beat Ersson’s left shoulder. A late one-timer effort was blocker by Nick Seeler, but Dallas got right back on the job after an Owen Tippett tripping penalty (more like Owen Trippett, but the Stars would pull themselves right back off the power play with a Dumba interference penalty in the neutral zone.

After killing that penalty despite a couple of failed clearances and Lyubushkin using Bäck’s stick in a moment of exigency, the game quickly turned into a tense affair, with Dallas on the precipice of falling behind to a bad team playing badly.

Lycksell got another great look a sweet one-on-one move in front of the net, but he put his shot just wide of the far post while falling down, and Dallas approached the halfway mark of the final period with the same 2-2 tie.

They did their best to give the Flyers chances, however, as Pelletier and Poehling both got gift-wrapped looks, only for one to end with a failed cross-crease pass, and the other getting blocked into the netting. Konecny also got a look from the same spot he scored a goal from after a stretch pass, but he put this one past Oettinger’s glove and into the crossbar, letting Dallas off the hook once again.

The teams exchanged looks in the final five minutes, but most of them were from defensemen creeping in from the blue line, with Ilya Lyubushkin getting a couple of decent shots on Ersson that didn’t get past him. But the teams both took the overtime point, and the Stars crept past 60 minutes for the fourth straight game.

Overtime

Poheling appeared to actually win the faceff, but with Robertson busting down the ice, he got to the puck at the same time as Ersson and Travis Sanheim. The two came together with the puck only getting weakly flipped toward the boards, and Robertson pursued it further, eventually poking it toward the slot to an onrushing Harley.

From there, Harley made a strong move to the backhand to open up the surprised Ersson, then tucked it back through his five-hole with cucumber-coolness for the win.

The Stars keep picking up points even if they’re not doing everything right. They close out the homestand on Monday against Minnesota, and that will be a chance to see if they can raise their game against another playoff team to an extent they haven’t quite managed in recent measuring-stick games.