Game 76 AfterThoughts: Chickens Come Home to Roost Looking Like Penguins

It was not a boring game on Saturday afternoon

One of my old friends told me that, when he was goofing off as a kid, his parents would always say this: “Once is funny, twice is silly, three times is a spanking.”

Today, the Dallas Stars crossed that “three times” line, and they got their backsides painfully tattooed on national television as a result.

Now, with that said, if you watched the game today, you got your money’s worth. But that doesn’t mean you were happy about how it went.

The Stars continued tempting fate all afternoon by coyly taking the lead only to make a big gaffe and hand it back, but it turns out that the Penguins are beyond the reach of hopelessness, pushing through the Stars’ fog of improbable victories over the last month in order to come back to beat Dallas in regulation, 5-3.

Shots on goal were 40-24, and that was quite indicative of the actual run of play, too. Dallas was asking DeSmith to bail them out, and he did so for all but their most egregious mistakes.

The Penguins made their own mistakes, but Dallas really has no excuse for how poorly they’ve been playing against weaker teams like Calgary and Anaheim and Pittsburgh lately. At some point, even a team with home ice all but guaranteed still needs to be able to flex their collective muscles, and the Stars haven’t been able to do that outside of the odd period or two lately.

Maybe they can turn it on when the season ends. Or maybe losing any hope of chasing down Winnipeg will make it easier for them to rest and rehab players in their lineup without worrying too much about an extra win or loss here and there. There are silver linings, is what I am saying here.

But after winning seven in a row, dropping this one felt needlessly disappointing. Dallas have raised the bar in the last couple of years, and even in the last few months. They had/have multiple franchise records and valuable goals to achieve with a win in this game. Instead, they put forth their latest incomplete effort against a struggling team 30 points below them in the standings.

This one loss is not a disaster in any grand sense, but it is pretty unacceptable in a vacuum. If you’re going to set your sights high, you can’t keep underachieving. Especially at home.

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Thomas Harley was particularly hard on himself after the game for the Penguins’ game-winning goal late in the final period, blaming himself in no uncertain terms for both losing the puck and failing to stop the pass on the subsequent two-on-one chance.

He bears some guilt for that final play, though he’s hardly the only one. In fact, you could argue that almost everyone outside one skater and the goaltender have some metaphorical blood on their hands after this one.

Casey DeSmith was outstanding for Dallas, particularly early in the game when the Stars, would you believe it, struggled to get going. But with only Evgenii Dadonov able to score on one of the worst goaltenders in the NHL, this outcome was thoroughly warranted.

Pittsburgh got to the choice scoring areas far more often than Dallas, who largely didn’t.

We’ve talked a lot—even marvelled at times—about how Dallas’s results have defied their process lately. But this game was the scene in the third act of a kids’ movie where the grumpy old school principal finally gets covered in gloopy cafeteria gravy after nefariously trying to shut down the school dance for the last 90 minutes.

The Stars got offense from one player, and it was a hat trick from a player recently healthy-scratched for two games, of all people.

It was delightful and joyful, in the moment. But the Stars failed to learn the lesson from Jason Robertson’s hat trick against Edmonton a little while ago: you do need someone else to score, eventually. And in this one, their mistakes far outnumbered their successes.

Mason Marchment and Roope Hintz took needless tripping penalties to put Dallas on the penalty kill, and Marchment’s penalty would turn into Pittsburgh’s first goal.

Cody Ceci and Ilya Lyubushkin turned pucks over behind their own goal that were immediately converted for the Penguins’ second and third tallies.

And finally, it was Thomas Harley and Ceci who combined for the calamity of errors that became the game-winning goal from Blake Lizotte.

It’s a shame, because Casey DeSmith was incredible in this game, with a number of highlight-reel saves that will be lost to time and annoyance after this humbling defeat.

DeSmith bailed out his team on a couple of other mistakes and failed clearances, but as the Stars kept handing the puck to Pittsburgh with unforced errors, they finally took this recent defensive bit they’ve been performing past an unsustainable threshold, jumping the shark with their defensive zone play in a way even the actual San Jose Sharks aren’t doing right now.

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Here are some numbers for you:

• Dallas didn’t allow 40 shots on goal to their opponent once through their first 59 games. But since March 2nd against St. Louis, Dallas has allowed 40 shots on goal four times in just 17 games.

• Since March 2nd, the Stars are among the worst teams in the league in shots allowed, scoring chances allowed, and expected goals allowed per game at 5-on-5.

• And yet, they’ve gotten away with it for almost all of that time, going 12-3-2 in their last 17 games. Why?

• They’ve have the second-best save percentage at 5-on-5 in the NHL since March 1. They’ve scored the sixth-most goals per game at 5-on-5, too.

• Their special teams have been 8th and 9th in the NHL in that period, which has helped.

But really, it’s been some hot goal-scoring from their top guys and some otherworldly goaltending from Casey DeSmith and Jake Oettinger. That’s it. Elite performances from the most important positions in the lineup have papered over an increasingly leaky defense and an inconsistent neutral zone game that has forced Dallas to do more with less.

They’ve done so, and that’s an admirable thing. But in a world where Winnipeg are rolling just as much by actually playing at a level that matches their results, a single loss like this might be enough to submarine any hopes of avoiding the white-hold Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs.

And if the Stars bring an effort like this one in the third week of April, this loss might seem like a pinprick in comparison to the pain they could incur.

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Some miscellaneous notes here I scrawled down:

• Sidney Crosby is amazing. So amazing that he was able to equal Evgenii Dadonov—though Dadonov didn’t need an empty-net goal to get his, so we know which player’s hat trick was superior.

• By the way, Dadonov’s goals all came on open looks against Tristan Jarry. That’s what NHL scorers can do when they get to the prime areas without defensemen on them, and you have to give Dadonov all the credit in the world for what he’s done this year. It’s easy to write him off after going without a goal for the last month or two, but he’s scored some important tallies for Dallas this season. It’s just a shame his three today couldn’t find a friend.

• Matt Duchene’s assist on Dadonov’s second goal was incredible, by the way. We’ll talk about it down in the Game Beats, but man, that initial shoulder check to find Dadonov high on the weak side, then the perfect backhand feed without really looking to hit his tape? That’s just unreal. Great fun, that.

• Mikko Rantanen began double-shifting in the second half of the game, playing right wing with both Robertson and Hintz as well as Johnston and Dadonov. Rantanen played a Coloradoesque 23:15, which amounted to no points and a team-worst -3 on the day (though plus/minus in this game should really be assigned to specific individuals rather than entire skater groups, given the mistakes that were made).

• Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have both struggled for Pittsburgh (and Erik Karlsson’s issues are well-documented) this year. Letang took two penalties, but he and Malkin also assisted on the opening goal for Pittsburgh, and that ended up being enough.

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Today’s game was on ABC (and ESPN+), called for television by Bob Wischusen and Ryan Callahan, with Leah Hextall between the benches. Wischusen is one of the best play-by-play guys that ESPN has, I believe, and it’s a pleasure to hear him call a game. Callahan is a former player who is still refining his color commentary, but whose work is steadily improving each time I hear him.

Since we’re all-but-certain to continue getting former players as the default options for analyst positions in the NHL, it’s good to see some of the really good ones making the most of it.

Also, the ESPN intermission reports properly lauded Alex Ovechkin, who is and should be the biggest story in the hockey world right now. But both intermissions were light on actual game analysis or discussion, other than some shallow praise for the Penguins’ resilience.

If you adjust your expectations and view the intermissions more as a SportsCenter segment than an actual game commentary, I think it makes a lot more sense. ESPN/ABC goes for national narratives for a national audience, and it turns out Evgenii Dadonov and Casey DeSmith are less ideal for that purpose than Sidney Crosby. Hard to blame them for that decision, really.

Lineup

The Stars began the game with this lineup:

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

Lindell-Ceci
Harley-Lyubushkin
Bichsel-Dumba

DeSmith

Jamie Benn missed his second game in a row with what Pete DeBoer called the “same situation” as Thursday, when Benn was scratched. At that time, DeBoer termed it a “little lower-body thing,” and said Benn was out for “maintenance.”

However, DeBoer told the media before Saturday’s game that Benn is traveling with the team to Minnesota this weekend, and he called Benn “probable” for the game. So whatever the reason for Benn’s absence, it sounds like it’s not something that is going to jeopardize his health in any significant way down the stretch.

Tristan Jarry started in goal for Pittsburgh against his former backup, DeSmith, who was facing the Penguins for the first time in his NHL career.

That goaltending decision also allows Jake Oettinger to face his home state’s Minnesota Wild tomorrow. Oettinger has a 7-0-2 record against Minnesota in his regular-season career.

Evgeni Malkin is 38 years old, and man, that is crazy. He returned to the lineup for Pittsburgh Saturday after dealing with an upper-body issue, but something else kind of odd for Malkin this year is that he also got into a collision with Chandler Stephenson Seattle and suffered a lower-body injury, much like Sam Steel did for Dallas in Seattle last week.

Personally, I think Seattle owes everyone an apology for all lower-body injuries sustained there in 2025. Perhaps they should just give everyone who hurt themselves in Seattle like, ten grand. Just to be nice. This is a suggestion!

Game Beats

DeBoer started his fourth line against Pittsburgh, and it immediately drew a hooking penalty on Kris Letang, when Colin Blackwell caught him reaching.

Wyatt Johnston nearly scored another sweet breakaway goal after Roope Hintz found him cutting into the offensive zone, but Ryan Shea’s desperate reach and Jarry’s left pad conspired to foil Johnston’s shot.

The rest of the power play didn’t generate much, and Mason Marchment took his customary opening penalty when Letgan knocked him down after coming out of the box, and Marchment’s stick caught Letgan’s skates to bring him down, putting Dallas’s other side of special teams to work.

DeSmith had much more to do than Jarry did, with his own left pad save on Richard Rakell before a glove save on Bryan Rust stopped play a minute into the power play.

But both of those players are not the player, and the Stars got burned when Malkin found Sidney Crosby all alone int he slot after a puck went through Rutger McGroarty’s legs and perfectly to Crosby, who ripped it over DeSmith’s right shoulder to put Pittsburgh up 1-0.

A scary moment came a bit later when Jason Robertson took a shoulder from Ryan Graves to the face and went down, drawing a whistle. Robertson appeared to be checking his jaw on the bench, but no penalty was called. As best I could tell, the hit seemed to be accidental, but I’m not sure that made it feel any better. Robertson would stay out, however.

Johnston and Hintz both got stretch pass chances after that, but they weren’t quite able to test Jarry as severely as they needed to, with Johnston running out of room, and Hintz not quite catching a ridiculous Mikko Rantanen saucer pass at the far blue line all alone.

Someone who would get a puck at that blue line and take it in was Evgenii Dadonov, who showed that it doesn’t really matter what line or what wing he plays—he’ll just keep scoring goals for the Stars’ bottom-six group.

It was a smart play in the neutral zone from Oskar Bäck to feed Dadonov, after Lian Bichsel successfully exited the zone. But Dadonov had to get a step on Erik Karlsson and keep it, and he did that perfectly, sticking out his right leg to keep Karlsson’s stick away from the puck before lifting it over Jarry’s right arm and into the net to tie the game.

I mentioned it on Twitter, but I love how you can see Dadonov’s skate work here. His right leg is jutting out to guard the puck from Karlsson’s (not good enough) stick check, while he turns his torso back and drags his left toe to slow down and get under the puck.

Dadonov is the Stars’ oldest forward (and second-oldest player after Brendan Smith), but he now has 17 goals while playing all over the lineup all year and with only sparing power play time. What a luxury he is for Dallas.

Ilya Lyubushkin took a hooking penalty to put Dallas back on the kill when he reached in and McGroarty grabbed his stick pretty blatantly in front of the corner referee, but only Lyubushkin got sent to the box. I personally wish officials would be more liberal with holding the stick calls in those situations, but I suppose they’re tough to see on the other side of the body.

In any case, Dallas got the best chance of the power play when Mikael Granlund rushed in on a 2-on-1 with Bäck shorthanded, only for Granlund to wisely assess that his was probably the smarter bet on the rush, ripping a shot that Jarry just barely squeezed and held.

Matt Duchene got an odd-man rush of his own with Mavrik Bourque late in the first period, but Duchene took the shot Karlsson allowed, only for Jarry to stand tall this time, hanging onto the follow-up attempt from Duchene as well.

After 20 minutes, Pittsburgh had a 12-8 edge in shots on goal, continuing Dallas’s recent (though increasingly common) trend of ceding 10+ shots on goal in the first period while not really being punished for doing so.

Second Period

Matt Dumba had a rough play two minutes into the middle frame when he got the puck knocked away from him by Danton Heinen when Dumba attempted to make a move along the wall to exit the zone, leading to a sustained offensive-zone sequence for Pittsburgh over the next minute.

That turnover led to a couple of dangerous shots for Pittsburgh, and it looked a little too much like the sort of play Dumba was making in the early part of the season when he lost the confidence of the coaching staff. I think that sixth defenseman spot is his until Miro Heiskanen comes back, but plays like this one show why Lian Bichsel (or Cody Ceci, or Lyubushkin) is probably not in danger of leaving the lineup any time soon.

After DeSmith made a great, aggressive save on a Crosby dish to Rust on the doorstep, the Stars got numbers going the other way, with Esa Lindell leading a rush with Cody Ceci carrying it wide. Ceci fed it back to Lindell in the middle of the ice, but Lindell put the chance just wide.

The Stars got a couple more looks off the chaos that ensued, but Jarry eventually swallowed up a shot after losing his stick to stop play.

DeSmith made an incredible save with 11:30 remaining, but it was a costly one, as Roope Hintz clocked his own goaltender when he cut through the crease and caught DeSmith’s head with his hip.

It was a suboptimal sequence from Hintz in multiple ways, as he took a clear tripping penalty right afterward to put the Stars under siege. But DeSmith shook off the hit and proceeded to make a series of excellent-to-incredible saves on the Penguins’ third power play, including one puck sent in when he was off-balance, forcing DeSmith to alertly put his paddle behind the puck and prevent himself from accidentally knocking the puck into his own net.

Hintz got out of the box right afterward, taking the puck in deep and turning the corner on Kris Letang, who put a free hand out on Hintz to take his second penalty for Pittsburgh of the day.

Dallas got two quick looks on the advantage, with Wyatt Johnston taking the puck to the net immeidately, but a good rebound chance was put just wide of a flailing Jarry.

It was the second power play unit (so-called) that would capitalize for Dallas, though, thanks to an all-world assist from Matt Duchene, who did something with the backhand from the corner that deserves another look:

Duchene had done a shoulder check just prior to the pass, so he knew Dadonov was crashing the far post, and Duchene put it on a tee for the Stars’ suddenly hottest scorer, who buried it.

Ryan Callahan mentioned it on the broadcast, but you can see here how Dadonov went from the strong side and circled all the way up high and down the weak side, where Dadonov spies him here before sending a backhand Pittsburgh’s low guy on the kill expects to go up into the slot, not the back post. Whoops.

After some more pressure from Pittsburgh late in the second period (which was prolonged by a frustrated intentional offside from Mason Marchment, if you can believe he was frustrated with the officiating), the Stars survived to take their most recent undeserved lead into the third period. Would this third period be like many recent ones, when Dallas finally woke up and got their goaltender a win after he bailed them out early?

Third Period

The Stars would wake up, if a rude awakening counts as such. The Penguins threw out the Crosby line to start, and Cody Ceci won a race the puck behind the net, only to have his backhand pass go right to McGroarty, who passed it right past Dadonov to an open Sidney Crosby, who scored a goal Sidney Crosby will score against any goalie in the league.

The initial play by Ceci really was a rough one, though. He shovels this puck right off the boards, presumably attempting a pass to Lindell.

But he flubs it, and it goes right to McGroarty, whose stick you see here, and who immediately bumps it back into the slot. Brutal turnover.

Anyway, the Penguins nearly scored a third goal on a bouncing puck right after that Malkin couldn’t get past Thomas Harley, who casually saved a goal, as he does.

Meanwhile, Dallas has a player who casually scores goals, and you know who we’ve talking about.

Dadonov took a Harley pass in front of the net, and the Stars’ oldest forward made a quick move to his backhand, squeezing the puck between Jarry’s pad and glove for a hat trick at home.

Not for nothing, Philip Tomasino was off-balance on the back door after Wyatt Johnston gave him a bump, meaning Tomasino was on the ice as the puck trickled through Jarry rather than able to sweep it away. It’s the little things, you know.

From there, DeSmith stole the show right back, making a flurry of saves, including an incredible shoulder stop through traffic without his stick. It was just the latest iteration of DeSmith’s all-world goaltending of recent months, but even the best goaltending is still susceptible to defensive gaffes.

Lyubushkin lost an edge in the same spot where Ceci’s backhand went awry earlier, leading to a quick turnover as the puck kicked along the boards.

Lyubushkin did still manage to sweep the puck along, but Harley wasn’t able to get to the surprise rim-around before it got sent to Rust, who came out unmarked and was able to execute the NHL ‘94 move on a helpless DeSmith for the tying goal.

Things descended into chaos from there, with Dadonov getting a couple of looks at number four, and with DeSmith having to rob Rust off another great pass from Crosby from behind the goal line, and shots on goal climbed to 38-21 for Pittsburgh with five minutes to go.

Cody Ceci made a good pinch to sustain pressure in the Pittsburgh zone, but after Pittsburgh cleared it down the ice, Thomas Harley collected the puck and attempted to exit the zone by himself, only for heavy pressure from Blake Lizotte to jar the puck loose. Harley chased after it, and he would’ve gotten to it, except that Ceci, very late in his shift, tried to get to the puck himself, leading to a disastrous collision with the Stars’ top defenseman.

Ceci got knocked out of the play, and Harley desperately attempted to defend the resulting 2-on-1. But Heinen collected the puck and found the easy pass across to Lizotte, who sent the one-timer through DeSmith’s left arm from a spot you should absolutely score a wide-open one-timer from.

It was a stunning mishap for Dallas, but all told, it was no less than Dallas deserved, given how many chances Pittsburgh had been given.

And the last goal of the game would be a similar case of inevitability, though of a crueler sort than usual for Dallas.

Matt Duchene absolutely walked around Sidney Crosby with the Stars’ net empty, but after he crashed to the net with numbers, Crosby calmly picked up the loose puck and nailed the center of the net like he was playing in the Four Nations Face-Off all over again.

The (plentiful) number of Penguins fans in attendance in Dallas serenaded Crosby with hats, and the Stars were left with a stunning 5-3 defeat on home ice to snap their seven-game winning streak.

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It was a disappointing result for Dallas, but they don’t have time to dwell on it, as they play a reeling Minnesota team in St. Paul tomorrow.

Will that game cause Bill Guerin to actually fight somebody after his profane postgame tirade last night? Well, you’ll have to tune in to find out.