Game 73 AfterThoughts: Rantanen and Robertson Get Stars Back on Track

Mavrik Bourque scored two goals*

SotG

Have you seen my hands? Just look at 'em shake
And the song just keeps on repeating, drop the needle again

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When you’re a good team on a losing streak, it’s all about snapping the skid in any way possible. It doesn’t matter if it involves a goaltender standing his head, the power play going nuts, or a bunch of bottom-six players mixing it up all night. You just need to get back into the winning column, whatever it takes.

When the Stars found themselves going down early on Pittsburgh power play, they could have sagged. When they went 0-for-3 on the power play in the first period themselves—including 30 seconds of a 5-on-3—they could have wilted altogether. And when Justin Hryckowian tied the game up in the second period, only for Erik Karlsson to go bar-down on Jake Oettinger 48 seconds later to re-take the lead, they could have succumbed to the natural depression that repeated negative results can bring.

Instead, Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson did what great players do, and took the game over when opportunity (repeatedly) presented itself. Twice in three minutes, they executed perfectly by setting each other up for trademark shots: Robertson with an incisive snipe from the slot, and Rantanen with a ferocious one-timer.

Those goals got Dallas to three, which they haven’t been able to do in a lot of their recent losses. And with some depth contributions from Hryckowian and Lian Bichsel (off some work by the fourth line) as well, the Stars were able to hold off a desperate Penguins team down the stretch. No overtime, no drama. Just doing what needed to be done against a team missing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

As for the superstar that did return, Mikko Rantanen looked a tad tentative in movement early, but his playmaking was every bit online, and you could see it even outside of his incredible one-timer. This was every bit the player Dallas sold the farm for, just over a year ago.

Jake Oettinger let in three goals, but for my money, he played well, making a couple of key stops in a night where he only saw nine shots on goal through 40 minutes, most of which were high-quality looks. With so much special teams action, it was a herky-jerky affair, but Oettinger didn’t let the two Pittsburgh goals affect him, nor the no-chance third goal, tipped in from well outside the net. Maybe you want him to stop Erik Karlsson from going bar-down in space, but I’m going to be honest here and say that, given how good Karlsson has looked this year (and did in this game), I can live with allowing that goal to that player. Look at this shot from the angle the Pittsburgh broadcast had:

By the way, that goal, like the third one for Pittsburgh, came off a failed zone exit by Dallas. There is a reason Pete DeBoer was so demanding about breakout procedures: failed ones absolutely kill teams, as two of them did tonight. Dallas will need to tighten theirs up before Game 83 next month.

Speaking of killing, how about that one-timer by Mikko Rantanen? I could watch that goal all day long. I know Robertson’s pass wasn’t 90 MPH or anything, but that play is Sports Endorphins, right there. It doesn’t matter if your power play is struggling: when you have superstars like Rantanen and Robertson, you can just call the Goal Play at any given time. It doesn’t matter how you break the winning streak, but some methods are more delightful than others.

This game wasn’t a gimme, either. Despite missing Malkin and Crosby out, the Penguins have played well this year, and Stuart Skinner made a few fantastic saves that could have done some PTSD-triggering for the Stars. The Eastern Conference is weird as all get-out this season, and Pittsburgh needs every point they can get. They’re now one point ahead of Columbus, and two points ahead of Detroit and Ottawa. It’s gonna be a wild finish.

Michael Bunting returned alongside Johnston and Rantanen, and while their underlying numbers were pretty ugly tonight, the scoring chances were only 4-3 against at 5-on-5 (with one of those being the Karlsson goal, where Bunting was up the wall waiting for the pass out of the zone that Johnston and Rantanen ended up turning over).

I’m still willing to bet on Bunting’s track record. He’s a smart player, and the Stars need him. I’d run it back tomorrow with him on that line and see if they can find some better results. Similarly with Tyler Myers, who I think has shaken off that game in New Jersey pretty well. He’s not a boring player, but he’s got some tools and abilities that can play in big games. Overall, he’s still been a positive addition. Let’s hope that one game was an aberration.

Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn were split up tonight for the first time since mid-January, and I thought both of them actually looked good tonight. Benn had a sneaky backhand effort early that I love to see him trying—he’s got the skill to score those, but he so often chooses the less risky play in the name of team discipline—and Duchene looked confident and creative, with his line looking by far the best of any Stars trio at 5-on-5. Bourque and Robertson were also big parts of that, of course.

Finally, the penalty kill really was impressive in its final three efforts. It still kind of amazes me that Arttu Hyry and Justin Hryckowian have just been tossed out there for big shorthanded minutes in each of their rookies seasons, and done as well as they have.Oskar Bäck and Colin Blackwell have continued their own solid play on the unit, but I do fear that Sam Steel’s absence (however long it ends up being) will end up having a bigger effect on that group than we’ve yet seen. He is very much the sort of player that holds things together, and I’m not sure even above-average rookies can fill the gap left by his injury, if it lingers.

Heiskanen and Lindell were, of course, huge, staying out for all two minutes of the Pens’ second chance. Heiskanen’s stickword was great all night, at all strengths. When that’s clicking, his game is as good as any defenseman’s in the league in the defensive zone.

With that said, Myers and Harley have also stepped up as a viable second PK pair, and that’s a big deal. I have to think contributing consistently on the PK is only going to be good for both of their games in the long-run, as well as the short term. The Stars need them right now, and they’re answering the bell. You don’t get to 44-18-11 without that happening quite a few times over the course of the year.

Highlights and the Lowdown

Pittsburgh was clinging to a playoff spot coming into the game, and that desperation was apparent early, as the Pens pushed a fast pace the Stars took a few beats to catch up with.

Colin Blackwell took an early tripping penalty to Kris Letang, and that gave Erik Karlsson a chance to shoot. Anthony Mantha got a piece of the shot, and that’s what put it through Oettinger. It was a nice deflection by a big player.

Manthan nearly got a second shortly afterward, when he got a good look from the slot after the Stars got diced up a bit defensively. But Oettinger didn’t allow a second, and that remained true even after Karlsson and Co. trapped the top line in their own zone for the better part of two full minutes, drawing cheers of encouragement from the Pittsburghians.

It would take Dallas ten minutes to put its first puck on net, and Stuart Skinner rebuffed the sneaky Blackwell effort from the slot. But they would get a better chance after Michael Bunting got a violent high-stick after making a nice move along the boards, putting Dallas on the power play.

Bryan Rust nearly made it 2-0 on a shorthanded rush, but he couldn’t put a good effort on net, and Dallas would end up rushing back the other way and confusing the Pens enough to force a Too Many Men on the Ice penalty, giving them just over 30 seconds of a two-man advantage. Gulutzan promptly called his timeout to set it up, and to rest his big guys.

It was a gutsy call, and it nearly paid off. But Stuart Skinner channeled his postseason self and made two big stops on Jason Robertson (well, that part might not be from the postseason) and another on Rantanen, and both penalties elapsed without any scoring.

Tyler Myers got the Stars a third power play of the first period when he was taken down by Rutger McGroarty, whose name might make you think you’re watching RFD-TV. But you’d be wrong! He is not an agriculture specialist, but a hockey player who tripped Tyler Myers today.

Once again, Dallas put themselves in trouble while up a man, and Miro Heiskanen was forced to bail them out while defending a 3-on-1 rush, which he did expertly:

Esa Lindell also saved a goal with a great skate save in the blue paint, and Dallas went to the dressing room feeling a bit better than they’ve been lately, but looking familiarly behind on the scoreboard.

Shots on goal through 20 minutes were 9-4 for Dallas, with five of their nine shots coming on the power play. But Pittsburgh had scored on their power play, and Dallas hadn’t scored on three of theirs. Thus, it was 1-0 for the ice birds.

Justin Hryckowian would get the Stars level early in the second after Myers, Benn, and Blackwell created the good kind of chaos in the offensive zone, and Hryckowian found himself in the right spot, as he so often is:

That line stayed out for the next faceoff, and they nearly created another one with more good work in the middle of the ice. But unfortunately, Pittsburgh mustered a counterpunch when Dan Muse told Erik Karlsson to go out and keep doing Erik Karlsson things, as he did with this wicked, wide-open wrister:

Egor Chinakov nearly made it 3-1 on a great effort of a shot while falling down, but Oettinger’s pad was there to deny him. And Dallas would then get another chance to capitalize on the power play when Pittsburgh took their fourth minor penalty in 26 minutes of play, this one earned by Colin Blackwell.

On its fourth try, the power play would convert the chance after a big one-timer from Heiskanen to sting Noel Acciari helped to collapse the penalty kill and open up some space. That’s where Rantanen and Robertson can hurt you, and they did:

You can probably guess which one of the four Pens players up there had just blocked a Heiskanen blast. Anyway, the Robertson/Johnston goal-scoring race was very much still on, with each sitting at 40 goals after Robertson’s game-tying goal here.

In keeping with the “no good thing without a bad thing alongside it” theme of the year, Nate Bastian had to head to the room after blocking a shot right after the Robertson goal. He did not return to the game, which could mean yet another injured forward for Dallas going forward.

Mikko Rantanen’s face then had to block an Elmer Soderblom high-stick as he skated into the zone away from the play, and the Stars found themselves with their fifth straight power play.

Rantanen’s face was all right, it turns out, because after Skinner robbed Duchene on the doorstep, Rantanen was able to see a hot pass from Robertson well enough to sizzle his trademark one-timer through Stu Skinner to give the Stars the lead, returning the favor he’d shown Robertson on the last man-advantage:

Lian Bichsel was apparently watching Rantanen’s form, because he promptly unleashed a one-timer of his own on yet another strong shift by the fourth-line, and he made it 4-2 with this blast:

That prompted Dan Muse to use his timeout, which meant both coaches had done so before the game was even 30 minutes old. Day games are weird.

The timeout didn’t appear to do much good for Pittsburgh, and Jamie Benn came one Erik Karlsson skate away from making it 5-2 on the next shift. The Penguins were well and truly rattled, but they’re also a good team, as Ben Kindel reminded them when he rattled the crossbar shortly thereafter.

With penalties 5-1 for Dallas, any infraction was going to get called on Dallas, and Nils Lundkvist’s stick getting caught inside the skate of Soderblom was the easiest of calls to make, and the officials did their job, sending Pittsburgh on the man-advantage. But Heiskanen and Lindell also did their jobs, staying out to kill all two minutes of the set to earn Dallas its first successful penalty kill of the game, sending them back to the room up 4-2, with shots on goal at 18-9 for Dallas.

Not much happened in the first six minutes of the third, other than Oskar Bäck putting a dump-in attempt off the helmet of Arttu Hyry (he was fine). But with 13:40 left in the third, Pittsburgh got their third power play when the back official called Jamie Benn for holding on what felt a lot like a “we gotta give these guys at least one more” sort of call.

Jake Oettinger would come up huge with a left pad save on the Pens’ 10th shot on goal, which came on said power play on a tricky chance out of a pile in a dangerous spot:

No other pucks would be put on Oettinger during the power play, but the Penguins learned from their mistake, as a Hryckowian turnover on a breakout attempt proved costly. On the ensuing chance, Soderblom one-timed a puck wide of Oettinger, where it ticked off the shaft of Noel Acciari’s stick and into the net, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Dallas got themselves into trouble a few minutes later, getting nailed with a Too Many Men penalty of their own to give Pittsburgh a fourth power play in a one-goal game. But after a narrow escape on a netfront scramble, Pittsburgh failed to get the puck that close again, missing on a couple of hard shots that caught the glass as Dallas killed another penalty.

An insurance goal looked likely when Duchene, Robertson, and Bourque caught the Penguins on the back foot, and a 1:30+ shift in the offensive zone had Pittsburgh being forced to come up with a narrow escape of their own.

The relief was brief, however. Because after a whistle with a tick over 3:00 remaining, Pittsburgh would pull Skinner, and Dallas would take advantage when Tyler Myers easily blocked a shot that Mavrik Bourque sent all the way home.

The Penguins would try again a minute later, but after Jake Oettinger briefly considered trying for a goal of his own, Jamie Benn found himself with the puck alongside someone who had recent experience scoring into empty nets: Mavrik Bourque, who potted his second empty-netter in as many minutes, much to the chagrin of Bryan Rust.

Thus, the Stars broke their losing streak. Not a perfect game, but more than good enough to beat a desperate team. That will be the main order of business in a few more of the final nine contests, one suspects.

Screencap from Victory+

Lineups

Dallas brought Mikko Rantanen into this group:

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

Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Myers

Oettinger

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The Pens started with this lineup, sans Crosby/Malkin:

Anthony Mantha - Rickard Rakell - Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov - Tommy Novak - Justin Brazeau
Rutger McGroarty - Ben Kindel - Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom - Connor Dewar - Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon - Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard - Kris Letang
Ryan Shea - Connor Clifton

Stuart Skinner

After-AfterThoughts

• Nate Bastian did not return after taking a Rickard Rakell shot to what looked like the right hand in the second period.

• This high-stick on Bunting sure felt like it deserved more than two minutes, even if it didn’t draw blood. Painful whack, this:

• How many goals does Esa Lindell save preemptively, let alone directly, like this one? He’s nails.

• Dallas has scored two 5-on-3 power play goals this season:

  -Heiskanen against Carolina on 10/25

  -Robertson against Edmonton on 11/25

  • They’re 2-for-10 (20%) in 5-on-3 opportunities on the season, which means their 5-on-3 power play is actually less deadly than their 5-on-4 unit, which is at 29%.

  • That 20% mark with the two-man advantage is 23rd in the league, by the way.

• Mikko Rantanen’s work on the power play today was masterful. Brent Severyn had a fantastic breakdown during the second intermission of everything Rantanen did to respond to pressure and create space for Robertson’s eventual goal, and I would commend the watching of it to you while it’s still available on Victory + for the next 48 hours or so.

• If you haven’t seen the slow-mo ice-level view of Rantanen’s one-timer, check it out here. It’s incredible.

• Having two 40-goal scorers hasn’t happened since before the Dallas Stars were the Dallas Stars, as you’ve probably heard

  

  

• It was kind of Justin Hryckowian to remind us all that he is still an NHL rookie, and thus will very occasionally still make mistakes you’d expect such a player to make. His play on the final Pittsburgh goal was a good example, but his response here looks a lot like a player who knows exactly what lesson he ought to have learned from such a mistake. Nothing to worry about, I’d say.

• Mavrik Bourque scored two empty-netters today, but he was also quite good before that, including his primary assist on Bichsel’s goal. A three-point night is a three-point night, any way you slice it.

  

  Screencap from Victory+

• Erik Karlsson had a three-point night, and he finished -1 (thanks largely to the aforementioned empty-netters). Remember this, the next time you hear someone cite his plus/minus.

• Minnesota lost a 6-3 game of its own today—to Boston, whom Dallas will face in a few days—which means Dallas is back to five points ahead of the Wild with a game in hand. Dallas very much is in control of their home-ice advantage in the first round, with nine games to play. That’s a good place to be.