Game 7 WCQF AfterThoughts: It’s Good to Do Hard Things
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since I last saw you
We missed so much trying so hard to hold onto the things that we once had
But you know…
Not even the Stars stay outside forever
***
Some playoff series are a collection of moments where some games feel like outliers. You can tie a few of them together with a theme or a bit of a forced narrative, but there are a few that seem to happen in another context. But in this seven-part epic authored by Dallas and Vegas, every single game was cut from the same cloth. No quarter given, no wins unless a team earned them, inch by painstaking inch. There was a price to be paid for each victory, and it was always going to come down to which team was willing to pick up the tab.
Sure, Game 1 saw Vegas capitalize on their chances a bit more than usual, and Dallas couldn’t quite break through their defense to get all the way back. But it was still a tight one that saw Dallas fight hard in the third period to claw back, only to fall short. Every game after that one got even closer, with the smallest bounce or most isolated chance ending up as the decisive moment. Dallas teetered on a knife’s edge, while we all watched, dreading the awful feeling of seeing this team, this insufferable team, celebrate another huge victory.
That first game was also a rare moment for Jake Oettinger, who surrendered more than two goals for the first and only time in the series. The Stars’ goalie deserves all the praise in the world for what he did in this series, even if the Stars out-defended Vegas down the stretch to help him as much as they could. But from the Chandler Stephenson breakaway in Game 5 to the ridiculous glove save through a screen in Game 7, Oettinger did what had to be done to give Dallas a chance to win. The team with the better goaltender tends to win the games more often than not, and Oettinger looks, right now, like he’s likely to be the better goalie in any series Dallas has for the rest of the spring.
Jake Oettinger surrendered just 14 goals in seven games. You can beat anyone when you don't let them score more than two goals per game.
— Robert Tiffin (@RobertTiffin) May 6, 2024
The only other games Vegas won after the first one involved Dallas being held to 1 and 0 goals, which is a threshold that is hard to ask of a Wild Card team facing the best team in the West. This series was one of defense and precious scoring chances, with most players have to scrape and claw just to get one or two looks a game. There is one notable exception to those players, however:
Stars scoring chance leaders for the series:
Wyatt Johnston – 31 lmao
Tyler Seguin -14
Roope Hintz – 12
Jason Robertson – 11
Jamie Benn – 11— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) May 6, 2024
Wyatt Johnston was the Stars’ best player this series, and their youngest. It’s hard to summarize just what makes him so good, because he’s kind of great at everything (did you see him on the penalty kill in a Game 7, by the way?). But the one thing Johnston was able to do all series that no one else could do was generate chances consistently, and score goals.
WYATT JOHNSTON AND GAME 7 GOALS: A TALE AS OLD AS TIME! pic.twitter.com/05p58ddZ7q
— z – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 6, 2024
Wyatt Johnston led the Stars forwards in ice time in the series. He also led them in shots, goals, points, and reversal hits that channeled Brenden Morrow from 2008. Put another way: Wyatt Johnston went heads-up against Jack Eichel, and Johnston won the battle. He scored on three different forward lines, and he added another Game 7 tally to add to his impossibly mature legacy, already.
Johnston’s goal was all the more crucial for coming when it did, as Jonathan Marchessault had just hit the post of a wide-open net after a lackluster Stars power play, which is a friendly way of saying it looked like Dallas was copying from Toronto’s power play strategy. Following that momentum-sapping two minutes, it would have been a devastating blow to give up a goal, a sure sign that Dallas didn’t have an answer for Vegas for the second year in a row. Instead, the post answered the call, and Wyatt Johnston promptly took matters into his own hands, beating Adin Hill’s glove hand (which was also a problem for Hill for the latter part of the regular season, by the way). Johnston, as he did last year, ensured that Dallas wouldn’t be letting another winnable Game 7 slip away against an inferior opponent. Johnston, as he has done this year, stepped up when his coach called his name. This team is loaded, you might have noticed.
***
In many ways, this game was the inverse of Game 6. Vegas was missing open nets again, but so was Dallas, with a Robertson-to-Hintz-to-Robertson 2-on-1 that didn’t result in a shot being perhaps the most grievous offender for the Stars. I hate how much this series has tempted me to become a “SHOOOOOOOT” guy, but that’s a situation where Hintz rips that pass if he’s got any confidence at all. As it is, Robertson still could have buried the return chance, had it not found his backhand in an awkward spot and sent the puck harmlessly wide. The players looked tight earlier in the game, but in all fairness, I’m not sure how you don’t have some nerves in a game like this.
To Hintz’s credit, he would shoot on a later 2-on-1 after a great Logan Stankoven centering feed from behind the net, but Hintz ripped it high and just wide of the net, which you may remember from such films as, The Last Game Dallas Played.
But missed chances will happen. Game 7s are going to see breakdowns for both sides, and Ivan Barbashev kicked things off with a laughably bad miss just a couple minutes in to ensure we knew exactly what sort of game it would be. But Vegas started finding the net later, and it was huge to see players like Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene throwing out heroic blocks on William Karlsson in second period. These games, far more than any other, are about results over process. You find a way or make a way or knock over everything standing between you and the way out, and Dallas did that, if you consider William Carrier a Thing To Be Knocked Over, as Johnston did with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
Later in the second period, the Stars got more chances, with Sam Steel making a great pass to Faksa cutting to net, but Faksa had to turn over his stick on the backhand side, and the puck was just too hot for him to direct into the net. Fortunately for Faksa, this would not be the last time he had a chance to direct a puck into the net on his backhand.
But before we get there, we should probably take a moment to talk about Nils Lundkvist’s final shift of the game. For a player who’d been stapled to the bench aside from some perfunctory first-period shifts in most of the series, it was odd to see Lundkvist getting a turn late in the second. It was even odder to see him step up on the puck carrier just for a moment, but that was enough for Brett Howden, who was driving to the net the whole time, to beat Lundkvist to the crease in time for Michael Amadio to find him for a far too easy goal, given the context.
ALL TIED UP OFF THE STICK OF BRETT HOWDEN pic.twitter.com/LGRhBaBcQl
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 6, 2024
Look, we’ve spent the better part of two years in Starsland talking about whether Lundkvist was getting shortchanged by the coaches, whether he was being set up for success, and whether he was a better player than he was permitted to show. And for the record, I think it’s just cruel to put a defenseman through this sort of a process, sitting for 56+ minutes a game in a playoff series. Maybe Derrick Pouliot isn’t up to the challenge of stepping in, or maybe there’s some messaging happening between coaching and management. But you can easily imagine how Lundkvist must have been overthinking his every move, and this step-up reeks of overtry. It’s a prime example of why, you know, most teams actually have six defensemen in the playoffs. Players aren’t going to be at their best when they get two or three shifts a period, especially in a game where the intensity and pressure are at a boiling point. But the bottom line is, that’s a bad play by a defenseman who should know better, and the Stars have a decision to make before Tuesday. But they simply can’t keep doing this, to Lundkvist or themselves.
***
Jack Eichel joined Marchessault on Team Big Miss in the final minute of the second period, with a backhand chance on a prone Oettinger that just rolled off his stick instead of filling the empty net.
Eichel misses a prime scoring opportunity, woof pic.twitter.com/Sw4t7mASFh
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) May 6, 2024
Given that chance and the bad mistake to give up the Vegas goal, it was a period where Dallas probably should have finished either down 2-1 or up 1-0, so 1-1 felt about right. But you know, not everyone on the ice liked that 1-1 lead, and one of the less-vaunted first-round picks on the Stars decided to do something about it:
RADEK FAKSA THE BACKHAND BEAST!!!@dallasstars | #TexasHockey | @BallySports pic.twitter.com/zAvotSTFMl
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) May 6, 2024
That goal was, in many ways, the twin of Noah Hanifin’s goal from Game 6. Same part of the ice, same sort of deflection into the top corner, same devastating one-goal lead in the third period established. A series this tight, and this well-played, often comes down to the right or wrong bounces. The universe doesn’t always repay the loans it takes out, but in this case, Dallas collected some generous interest on the initial loan.
The fourth line was really good for most of the series, particularly after Craig Smith got back into the lineup in Game 3, and it’s clear that both Dadonov and the other fourh-liners benefited from the change, contributing key goals after the first two games. But that Radek Faksa goal was special on a whole other level. As one of only three players left from the 2016 Stars team that also won the West in the regular season, Faksa has seen his own star rise and dip. He’s genuinely a lovely guy to speak with, and he’s always been someone who backs up his commitment with hard work on the ice. Still, his style isn’t best-suited for up-and-down hockey these days, which is why it was such a sweet moment to see him score the game-winning goal twelve years after he was drafted by the team. It’s a long time ago, but you might recall that Cinco de Morrow needed a rebound goal from Antti Miettenen to ensure the Stars made it to overtime to begin with. You need every player to contribute in some way, and sometimes you need them to contribute in the most important ways. Faksa came off his injury absence looking as good as he’s looked as season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The third period was all Dallas for a while after that goal, with Dallas outshooting Vegas 9-1 in the first 10 minutes. Things really opened up, with Vegas starting to send four guys in deep and Dallas trying to counter as quickly as possible with numbers. On one such chance, Sam Steel (of the Noted Fourth Line) almost scored on an open look from the slot, but sent it wide. Sometimes it’s your night, other times you have to settle for joining in the locker room celebration, and that’s not a bad consolation prize.
The officials for this critical game were, unsurprisingly, a pair of veterans in Wes McCauley and Dan O’Rourke, who made sure each team got their allotted Game 7 power play (unlike Rob Schick and Brad Watson 17 years ago, not that we hold grudges around here). Still, the Vegas power play came from a weak tripping call on Oettinger (to equal the earlier weak call on Kolesar, in all fairness). But the Stars’ penalty kill was extremely strong, with Vegas never really getting a single look during the advantage. This was not a game that a power play was going to steal in regulation.
After the penalty kill, with the crowd standing in the entire bowl, the AAC went nuts. There was something magical about that energy, that hope, that never really found its way out into the light during Games 1 and 2. The players were jumping up and winning board battles—can you imagine what it must be like to go into the corner to fight for a loose puck with that sort of noise reverberating around the arena?—and every clear was met with raucous cheers. It was the sort of environment that tells a team they can bring this one home, just keep your head up and keep your legs moving. The Stars did that, with DeBoer more or less continuing to roll his lines until Vegas pulled Adin Hill for the extra attacker. It was something to see Craig Smith out there down the stretch, taking Stankoven’s spot for a shift as Dallas hunkered down for the onslaught. But while Vegas generated some looks, they never really asked Oettinger to be anything other than Good Enough, and that’s an easy task for this version of the Stars goalie, who even made a casual glove save while looking around Hertl, as if to bookended his struggles with Hertl’s screens in Game 1.
Thomas Harley had to gut out a long shift well over two minutes long at one point, and Jamie Benn had the jump you need from your captain in a game like this. Jason Robertson was constantly making smart plays with the puck and subverting Vegas’s efforts in the neutral zone and at the blue line, and the Stars’ rotating defense pairings looked fast, strong, and better than the forecheckers they were facing. Jack Eichel’s line looked the most dangerous, but Eichel ran out of time and space more often than he has in a lot of games this series, with Chris Tanev in particular taking pride in Being That Guy.
Chris Tanev played 144:12 at 5v5 in Round 1. About 93 of those minutes came against the Golden Knights top two lines. The Dallas Stars won those minutes 5-0
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) May 6, 2024
Tanev’s skating, strength, and instincts are just the perfect combination for a defenseman in this sort of a system. When the Stars went out and traded for Tanev, much was made of how this had fixed the Stars’ depth chart. What we didn’t know it that said depth chart would only go five defensemen deep, not six. And what we also didn’t know was that five would be enough, somehow. Whether there’s a cost to that choice that we’ll see against Colorado remains to be seen, but you can’t say enough about Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, Esa Lindell, and even Ryan Suter for their systematic work to prevent Vegas from generating great chances on the regular. You can, however, say enough about Chris Tanev by simply saying, “please never leave.” He’s been a revelation, the sort of player you always wish for, but whom you assume wouldn’t be quite that perfect upon arriving to your team. But Tanev has been that good of a fit. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and Jim Nill paid for the right guy.
Bruce Cassidy clearly wanted to get Tanev and all the Stars’ defensemen turned around, facing the boards, ripe for forechecking and turnovers. But the Stars held the blue line well, forcing Vegas to dump it in just a bit earlier than they’d have liked, giving Dallas just that extra chance to shoulder check before rimming the puck around the boards, or bumping it to a teammate in the center of the ice. The Stars’ breakouts were just better than Vegas’s in this one, to my untrained eyes, while the Stars were generating turnovers at Vegas’s blue line every period. Heck, the Johnston goal came off some great forechecking on Shea Theodore by Joe Pavelski, whom you may have heard of. He got onto Theodore quickly enough to force him into a poor backhand flip that Johnston was able to step up and grab, while Vegas rarely pressured Dallas’s defensemen to that degree.
Why did Dallas win this series? The usual things, really. Bounces, goaltending, and opportunistic finishing at the right times. But those are categories, not instances. A team doesn’t win a game because they pull a lever and get “two finishings” rolling out a slot. You win games in a series like this because you earn them, through smarts, hard work, and perseverance. Peter DeBoer is 8-0 in Game 7s because he has been fortunate to coach some good teams, and because good teams have been fortunate enough to have him coach them. After going down 2-0 in the series, we were all desperate to know what the coaches would do to make the pain stop, to make the Stars back into the team that bested everyone else in the West. And they promptly went out and won four of five from the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
Look, it’s one round. By rights, Dallas shouldn’t have had to empty the tank against the worst team in the West. But the playoffs aren’t fair, because they cost everything, eventually. Sometimes you don’t have to pay that price until a quadruple overtime in the second round or the Cup Final, and sometimes you get hit with the toughest challenge right out of the gate. What matters isn’t how easy the road is, but whether you can hang in there and keep moving forward. Dallas, despite all of the ways things could have gone wrong, got to the next waypoint on their path to glory. They’ll only have a day to rest, but this doesn’t appear to be a team in need of rest. What they need right now is to celebrate doing something hard, and doing it successfully. Life is full of misfortune, but it is always good for us to attempt difficult things, whether we succeed or not. The journey is the point, but some destinations are better than others.
Most fans don’t have anyone left to root for in this tournament. The Stars eliminated one of the least-loved teams in the league, who also happen to be the team that recently fired Pete DeBoer, and they will celebrate this fact, for a little while. But only for a little while, because as a reward for knocking Vegas out, Dallas will get the pleasure of facing the last two defending champs in successive rounds. Colorado could easily sour things with the firepower they’ve got, but belief is high right now, and victory is sweet. It’s time to enjoy the one thing before thinking about the next, and enjoy it, they surely will. Because they’ve earned it.
Always enjoy the moment. pic.twitter.com/VCsscRrCh2
— z – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 6, 2024