Game 74 AfterThoughts: Milestones and Millstones
This game wasn't the most exciting, but it had its moments
Song of the Game
I don’t think I entirely agree with what Jamie Benn said after the game, but I’ll give you his opinion first.
“We probably weren’t deserving of two [points],” Benn said. “They played a good game. They’re a desperate hockey club right now.”
Certainly the Flyers are fighting for their life right now, whereas the Stars are basically just trying to ensure they don’t step on too many rakes in the next three weeks. But considering how banged-up the Stars were even before this game, I don’t think it was anything close to a mismatch, even with Philly leaning on Dallas heavily in the second period.
And when things slowed down a fair bit in the third, Dallas ceded some outside ice that the Flyers pumped shots from, to no avail. This, right here, is not the worst third period when you’re on the road and playing shorthanded:
If Wyatt Johnston scores his late power play chance, the narrative is entirely different. Instead, the Stars allowed a bit of a silly goal in overtime after what was a bit of a silly game in general, and Dallas had to settle for getting to 100 points with eight games to play. Almost every other team in the league would love to be in their position, as one of still only two teams to have clinched a playoff spot so far.
Once again, Casey DeSmith was great in net, giving the Stars every chance to win by allowing just one goal through 60 minutes.
“I thought I played well,” DeSmith said. “Saw the puck well tonight. Unfortunate play on the last one. Just kinda stick-on-stick, and changed the direction of the shot, and just threw me off.”
I’m sure Gulutzan will be asking his team for a better effort on Tuesday in Boston. But tonight, they got a point, and getting points of any kind is what these final games are all about. That’s why having a great backup goalie is so important.
“When you don’t have your best legs in games sometimes, and you see your goalie competing like that, it makes a difference on your bench,” Gulutzan said. “He’s been like that all year.”
Gulutzan also said he didn’t have a full update on Michael Bunting, who left the game with a lower body injury in the first period and did not return. But Gulutzan was willing to offer an opinion, at least.
"Preliminary, I don't think it'll be that long,” Gulutzan said. “But you can see the schedule's taking its toll on teams. And it's certainly taking its toll on us, on the road."
The Stars have lost a winger to injury in each of the last three games, with Bunting being preceded by Nate Bastian (hand) and Sam Steel (hip flexor/groin) in visits to the infirmary. If Bunting isn’t available for Tuesday’s game in Boston, the Stars will have to recall another forward, or dress 11 forwards and 7 defensemen.
One player they will have is Arttu Hyry, who scored his first NHL goal with a shot Neil Graham has seen a whole lot of. But a certain NHL goalie has also seen it quite a bit, and Casey DeSmith wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Hyry get on the board.
“What a shot, too,” DeSmith said. “I see his shot in practice, and I’m like, it’s just a matter of time. I don’t think he had many clean looks before tonight, and tonight, you saw what I saw every day. I’m really happy for him. Good kid, plays really hard.”
Hyry said after the game that he saw Drysdale struggling with the puck, and so he made a guess about what he would try to do with it. Of course, he was right, and he picked the pass off. And from there?
“Shoot as hard as you can, and hope for the best,” Hyry said.
In a lot of ways, Hyry is beginning to remind me of what Radek Faksa was in 2016, when the then-rookie Faksa became an integral part of the Stars’ bottom six as they finished atop the Western Conference. Of course, Faksa ended up playing on a really fun line with Antoine Roussel and Aleš Hemský, while Hyry is more likely to stick on the fourth line. Wherever he plays, the Stars will be glad to have him.
As far as other injuries, Gulutzan said this morning that Hintz has begun skating and will hopefully return before the playoffs. Faksa was slated to start skating today, but his availability for Game 1 of the postseason is still not certain. So Hyry will almost certainly be needed in some capacity when the games get even more important—filling Faksa’s role in more ways than one. most likely.
The other injury news we got today was that Sam Steel will likely only be out for “a week or so,” which Gulutzan said today was a better prognosis than they’d initially feared. The Stars will take any good news they can get on the injury front, right now. Nate Bastian’s hand is still being evaluated after he took a puck to it yesterday in Pittsburgh.
Overall, this game was not great hockey, but the Stars got something out of it. Maybe Jamie Benn was right, in the sense that nobody deserved to be rewarded for what we watched tonight. But the league requires a winner to be crowned, so a deflected shot from a sharp angle was as good a way as any to put this one in the books.
Yes, the Stars lost another player to injury, and Tyler Myers also wasn’t 100% after returning to the game. They are certainly leaking a bit of oil as a team right now, but you can work with this from game to game. Getting points of any kind makes Minnesota’s job nigh-impossible, and even one point out of a game like this is an honest day’s work.
Certainly the Stars will be playing far more important and more exciting contests in the near future, and you could see it tonight. Right now, it’s just about taking care of business, and three out of four points in two games feels about right.
Highlights and the Lowdown
Philadelphia came into this game with 84 points, which was just four back of the Penguins for a playoff spot. They had everything to play for in this one, even if the play itself didn’t always look like it, by Rick Tocchet’s design.
The Flyers are a stingy team, with 5-on-5 defensive metrics right behind Colorado (they’re 5th and 4th-best, respectively). Their problem, of course, is that their offense is about as effective as all the teams they face. That’s the big reason they came into this one with just 23 regulation wins all year: the same number as Toronto, and one fewer than Calgary. Boring is the name of the game for Rick Tocchet’s bunch, though their 1-1-3 setup was a bit more friendly to Dallas’s neutral zone traversal than it probably should be.
Dallas gave the Flyers some offensive life when Johnston took an offensive-zone tripping penalty (after getting accidentally kicked in the helmet), but the Flyers’ power play sits last in the league for a reason. Dallas killed it despite the fact that Denver Barkey was able to dance into the slot and put a puck off the post, which is a sentence I wrote mostly just as an excuse to inform you of the existence of someone named “Denver Barkey.”
It wasn’t the best poke check from Myers, and Barkey nearly punished him for it. Jason Robertson nearly punished Philly as well a few minutes later, when the Stars got a 3-on-2 that Robertson put on Ersson with some pace from the faceoff dot:
An extended offensive-zone shift from the Bunting-Johnston-Rantanen line created a couple of scoring chances later (including a Grade-A look from the netfront for Rantanen that he couldn’t put into the net), and it ended with Dallas drawing a power play when Michael Bunting’s vigorous efforts to get his stick back from Sean Couturier’s arm-clamp drew a penalty. (Bunting draws penalties.)
The top unit created a couple of great looks, but neither one got finished despite good movement, including a Duchene chance on the doorstep that went off the heel of his stick and wide, and Dallas was 0-for-1 on the power play.
Philly then got a 45-second bit of pressure themselves, as the fourth line got hemmed in their zone after a puck rolled off Bichsel’s stick on a clearance attempt, but the Stars only bent, and the tie stayed unbroken. That was also the case at the other end, when Michael Bunting nearly scored this accidental pass from Rantanen, only for Sam Ersson to remind everyone why he’s an NHL goaltender by snagging the shot with his glove:
Bunting would leave the first period after taking a hit along the boards and appearing to be testing a leg or hip out on his way back to the bench. He was listed as Questionable by Stars PR during the first intermission, and he didn’t come out to start the second. Jamie Benn moved up to take his spot with Johnston and Rantanen.
Travis Konecny laid a big hit on Rantanen late in the period, but both players appeared to be okay afterward. The same couldn’t be said for Konecny’s skate blade, however, which popped out after the impact, resulting in some one-legged skating back to the bench:
Dallas was probably the better team through 20 minutes, but the score had yet to reflect that fact.
Christian Dvorak got in on DeSmith early in the second period after beating Lundkvist to the net, but DeSmith kept the five-hole closed, and Dallas was let off the hook.
Hryckowian moved up and got a shift in his old spot alongside Johnston and Rantanen five minutes in, and the chemistry was as apparent as ever, as they got a couple of good looks immediately.
The infirmary continued to fill up for Dallas when Tyler Myers took some contact from Luke Glendening, and he then went to the bench in some distress before limping down the tunnel early in the second period, meaning Dallas lost both its trade deadline acquisitions in as many periods.
Philly continued the rough stuff, as Rasmus Ristolainen retaliated on a prone Esa Lindell after drawing a Flyers power play from a high stick by Rantanen, and that late hit drew the ire of his countrymen Rantanen and Lindell, as well as Jamie Benn:
No other penalties were called, however, and Dallas had another penalty to kill. DeSmith started it off with a big save, and then another one later in the set. But after 1:48 of pretty constant pressure by the Flyers power play, a couple of friendly bounces worked out for the home side, including a final one off Blackwell’s skate that not only went right to Philly, but caught Heiskanen leaning the other way.
Thus, Travis Konecny had room in front, and he tucked a puck around DeSmith to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
Down to just 11 forwards and 5 defensemen, pairs and lines were getting mixed up pretty thoroughly, as the coaches tried to find a way to give Dallas some energy. But it was Philly on the front foot, and Trevor Zegras nearly doubled the lead on a rebound, only to find the post rather than the gaping net after DeSmith made the initial save off a rush:
Tyler Myers returned to play with about 6:00 to play in the second period, which was a rare bit of positive injury news for Dallas.
Samuel Ersson had to make some important stops as the second period ticked away. Jason Robertson nearly tied it up with a slick bit of head-faking to set up a backhand effort, but Ersson’s glove was there. Adam Erne then had a deflection and a rebound chance, but once again, the Flyers’ goaltender did the job.
Wyatt Johnston had a case to be annoyed with the officiating when he got pulled off-balance by Travis Konecny to create a turnover, and Johnston then hooked him in return to prevent him from escaping outright. In a perfect world, the first penalty would have been called, and that would have been it. It is not a perfect world, however, and Johnston sat.
But I suspect Johnston might have said “puck don’t lie” shortly afterward, because Arttu Hyry got his first NHL goal as a result of the nonsense. The Flyers caused their own problems with some pretty comically bad puck management, and Jamie Drysdale would turn the puck over to the diligent Hyry, who put it in the top corner before Ersson’s glove could catch up:
Hyry’s always had a sneaky-good release, and it’s felt like his first goal was coming for a while now. To get it in this game, at that time? Well, there’s a whole lot to love about it.
The game opened up a bit as the second period wrapped up, with Mikko Rantanen nearly putting Dallas in front on a chance, er, in front. But both teams ended up with a chance to regroup for the final 20 minutes with the score tied.
It was a cagey third period to start, as the Stars prioritized clean breakouts even more than usual, which gave the Flyers ample time to stack their blue line and deny clean entries. In other words, it turned into every bit of what you’d expect from a tied, cross-conference game in the third period.
Philly started piling up the shot counter, and while none of them were of the most dangerous variety, it was a steady workload for DeSmith, who was sharp as ever in refuting them, including a good look from Sanheim after the defenseman joined a rush and forced a blocker save out of the Stars goaltender.
Highlights were few and far between, but here’s a nice play made by Mavrik Bourque that happened in the third period, in which he smartly carried it out and up the ice, then won it back with a strong, aggressive forechecking play.
(Look, we’re doing our best here.)
With three minutes to play, shots on goal in the period were 9-2 for Philly, but Dallas looked comfortable nonetheless. You got the feeling that if they were to ever get a second power play in the game, they could very easily pull a smash & grab job.
And that’s exactly what happened, when Adam Erne’s skate got impaled by Trevor Zegras’s stick, giving Dallas a gift-wrapped chance to grab a late lead on the power play.
Gulutzan called his timeout before the power play started, presumably more to gameplan than to rest anyone.
Dallas got a couple looks, but Wyatt Johnston had the best one from the back door, and who else would you want to get this chance, this year?
Due to pace and proximity, Johnston couldn’t quite elevate the puck enough, and the power play finished without result. Thus, overtime arrived, as expected.
Also as expected, overtime was pretty uneventful, and it ended in a way this game deserved, when Trevor Zegras walked in and got a shot off that Heiskanen looked like he was shutting down, only to get just a piece of it, causing the puck to change course on its way in to DeSmith, and it went in.
The Stars have collected three points in three road games, with a tilt in Boston on Tuesday before they come home. They sit at 100 points, six ahead of Minnesota with eight games to play.
Lineups
Dallas brought this heat:
Bunting-Johnston-Rantanen
Robertson-Duchene-Bourque
Benn-Hryckowian-Blackwell
Bäck-Hyry-Erne
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Myers
DeSmith
Philadelphia expressed this grouping of amor fraternus:
Barkey - Zegras - Tippett
Grundstrom - Dvorak - Konecny
Bump - Cates - Michkov
Couturier - Glendening - Hathaway
Sanheim - Ristolainen
York - Drysdale
Seeler - Andrae
Ersson in goal
After-AfterThoughts
I missed it during the game yesterday, but Lian Bichsel’s taking Erik Karlsson’s stick moments before his goal was pretty outstanding comedy. Karlsson, to his credit, declined to talk about the play when asked after the game, though his final answer does imply that the referee who was near the play in this one is known for being less prone to explain his calls than perhaps some others:
On the other hand, imagine you’re the Penguins here. You’ve just seen a 2-1 lead swing to a 4-2 deficit in mere minutes, and you’ve been whistled for five straight penalties. To see a blatant penalty like that one go uncalled right before a goal would be pretty infuriating, certainly. Bichsel got away with one there.
Philadelphia signed the big winger Porter Martone over the weekend, their first-round pick from last year’s draft. Martone didn’t make it into the lineup for this one, but it sounds like he should play in their next game.
This graphic from the Victory+ broadcast surprised me. If you’d asked me to guess, I think I would’ve said Dallas had done well in Pennsylvania this decade, but maybe not quite this well:
Victory+ This wasn’t the default broadcast angle, but I was mildly surprised to see Victory+ stick with this high-angle shot during the Flyers’ first rush into the Dallas zone early:
Screencap from Victory+ Feels a little EA Sportsy, but I don’t mind switching things up sometimes.
Mikko Rantanen continues to do things that nobody else can do, but I equally love how he’ll try tactics that look like they’re from another sport altogether, such as this effort on the power play to, I think, make his shinpad available for the bank shot:
Bunting left the game early in his final shift of the first period, and while it’s tough to see on that unique broadcast angle (again), Bunting appeared to be testing his leg out after some hard work along the boards before heading off 15 seconds into his shift:
Once again, the Stars’ Twitter account has a great ice-level shot of a goal—this time, Hyry’s. It’s worth your time to watch this one.
You can clearly see the new scar Jamie Benn is sporting this year after hitting his head on the ice earlier this year. The dude is probably tougher than most of us.
Screencap from Victory+ Finally, here’s a reason to breathe, from Mr. Birthday himself, Michael Dixon:
With eight games remaining for both Minnesota and Dallas, the Stars have home-ice advantage very much within their control.
I know the the NHL wants to have its Four Nations and Olympics and all that, but I'm not a fan of the compressed schedule and I am definitely not a fan of back to back games in different cities. This game was low energy on both sides for much of the game. Lots of mistakes were made of the type that come with mental and physical fatigue. Only the goalies were high quality in this game, and they were the ones who didn't play yesterday. And more players are starting to get the kind of injuries you get when you don't have adequate rest between games. I don't care how good a professional athlete you are, the body needs so many hours of recovery after intense physical work.
That was a depressingly low energy NHL game. Frankly, one the NHL should be ashamed. I agree with Kenneth that if you're going to participate in the Olympics then you can't just compress the same number of games into 3 fewer weeks on the calendar.
All the teams have basically been playing every other night since October. Three games in 3 cities in 4 nights? It's ridiculous. And you're seeing it across the league; exhausted players LOOKING exhausted and the quality is just not there.
Karlsson made no effort to hold onto his stick, immediately started politicking for a call, turned his back on the play and basically looks like an entitled prima donna in that video. Hold onto your stick dude!