Game 76 AfterThoughts: It Pays to Be Thorough

Dallas won this game, in every sense

SotG

Now so much I know that things just don't grow
If you don't blessed them with your patience
And I've been there before, I held up the door
For every stranger with a promise

---

When Glen Gulutzan decided to go with an 11 forwards/7 defensemen lineup before tonight’s game, did he expect depth forwards Adam Erne and Arttu Hyry to combine for four points without even having a regular third linemate?

“I was looking there after the second, and they had six minutes of ice time, Arty did, and he had one [goal] and one [assist],” Gulutzan said. “So I said, ‘I’d better get ‘em out there more.’”

Gulutzan would indeed get them out there more, as Hyry and Erne both finished the night with a goal and an assist apiece, as well as 11ish minutes of ice time. Considering that the Stars entered this game with their coach roundly professing that he hadn’t liked their play from top to bottom in recent games, getting a 3-0 shutout led by two forwards who weren’t part of the plan at the beginning of the year is quite an accomplishment.

“We had some chemistry with me and Arty tonight,” Erne said. “Hopefully we get to keep building on it.”

That chemistry was aided by whichever third forward happened to be on Erne and Hyry’s line at any given point—but the duo was certainly not complaining.

“You get out there with guys that you haven’t been out there with a lot,” Erne said, “Some guys that are high-end guys. They’re fun to play with. We had a couple shifts with Mikko, and I think we scored on that shift. It is what it is. We’re happy to be out there with whoever we can be out there with.”

The way that Gulutzan went about the 11/7 lineup was emblematic of his approach all year. It wasn’t just about giving his top scorers more shifts, but about getting the entire lineup going.

“Sometimes at 11 and [seven], it just creates a little bit of a buzz for the forwards,” Gulutzan said. “They know if they’re having a good run, you can get some extra minutes. And it’s not always you’re using Robo or Rants there. Sometimes your bottom guys get a little juice from it too, and it creates some energy.”

Rantanen was the first to double-shift with the two forwards. And on their next shift, it was Jamie Benn—a shift which ended in a pretty passing play, with Hyry finishing into a net Connor Hellebuyck was helpless to defend.

It wasn’t entirely clear whether Benn had intended to bump the puck back to Hyry or if it had just exploded off his stick. And if Hyry’s dry sense of humor is any indication, neither was he. But the most important thing, for Hyry, was how well the team started.

“For the team I think it’s really good,” Hyry said. “It’s the only thing we talked about before the game, just be ready, be heavy, play like we played in those 15 or whatever games we won. I think we did that. And the goal, I saw Chubbs [Jamie Benn] at the back post, then I saw the puck bounced back to me, so I guess he passed it to me, and it was in the net.”

Robertson and Rantanen also got time up there, including the second period, when Erne would pass to Rantanen at the back post for a chance that nearly turned into a goal, only for Hyry to retrieve the puck and pass it to Lian Bichsel up high for shot that Erne would deflect into the net himself.

“It’s always good playing with [Hyry],” Erne said. “It’s simple, we put the puck into the triangle, go get it. We were able to make a couple plays there, which is nice. Always nice to get on the scoresheet.”

But down the stretch, other players got that extra forward shift with Hyry and Erne, including Mavrik Bourque (who had a whale of a game himself), Oskar Bäck, and even defenseman Kyle Capobianco.

“I used Capo at forward for a few shifts,” Gulutzan said. “And he made a heck of a wall play, if you guys were watching. So it creates some buzz.”

The vibes were good, is the point here. Dallas came back from a pretty disappointing road trip late in the season, and they were facing a hungry Winnipeg team that has crawled within reach of a playoff spot. Getting off to a good start was important, and Dallas finally did that, scoring the first goal of the game for the first time in nine tries tonight when Matt Duchene put his own rebound through Connor Hellebuyck on an early power play.

For a team needing to respond to some recent struggles, this game was that, absolutely.

“Like I said to you guys this morning, our game wasn’t good enough, in all areas,” Gulutzan said, “From number 1 to 96, all the way through. So I liked the response. You guys could all see it. It was a great response.”

That response also included standing up to a Jets team that made the game chippy, especially when Neal Pionk laid a low hit on Jason Robertson in the third. Pionk continued to goad Robertson after the play, and it all culminated in Pionk getting dragged to the ice by Colin Blackwell, and Jamie Benn squaring off for a fight with Jets’ captain Adam Lowry at center ice.

Jake Oettinger said that meant a lot to the group. And the way he said it was typical of this team: a compliment with a nice little dig right in the middle of it.

“Yeah, it’s great,” said Jake Oettinger of his teammates’ standing up for one another. “It’s been like that all year. It’s something that guys in here have worked on, not getting pushed around. Obviously, Chubbs is 40 years old, pretty much, and still invested emotionally and leads by example. I don’t think this group could ask for a better guy leading the charge. When he does stuff like that, no one’s surprised just how much he cares about the group.”

All of that energetic work shouldn’t overshadow the hockey side of this game, which the Stars excelled at, starting with Jake Oettinger. The franchise goaltender was far better than his Team USA counterpart at the other end of the ice, making difficult saves with arm, blocker, glove, and pad. Oettinger was aggressive when he had to be, and quietly fundamental when the Jets had chances. It was a shutout that thoroughly represented all the best qualities that Oettinger’s game has, at its best.

And one of the biggest qualities, in Oettinger’s eyes, was his focus.

“Lately, I think I’ve been trying to work on staying in it the whole game,” Oettinger said. “It’s pretty easy to doze off, and then the next thing you know, it’s in the back of your net. So I’m trying to stay focused. If I’m not getting shots, trying to simulate things in my head, and trying to kind of stay in it. I thought I did a good job of that.”

Oettinger will almost certainly play on Saturday afternoon when the Avalanche come to town, so we’ll see if his form continues. But whatever happens in their next game, Oettinger and the Stars have done what they haven’t been able to do for too many of their recent games: play a complete one.

Artty Hyry, saying he had a lot of fun playing with Mikko Rantanen and Jamie Benn tonight.

The Stars won the special teams battle thanks to Duchene’s smart goal, and they won the even-strength battle thanks to their depth and tenacity. They won the goaltending battle thanks to Oettinger’s stronger composure and tighter defense in his end, and the Stars won the actual battle thanks to Jamie Benn being Jamie Benn.

Highlights and the Lowdown

Esa Lindell got the first chance of the game, and he came down low to force Hellebuyck to squeeze his arm to keep a puck out. But the Stars would be back in their own end for a bit shortly afterward, when Heiskanen got tagged for tripping Mark Scheifele.

To the Stars’ credit, they killed the penalty without allowing a shot on goal, and Heiskanen returned to a scoreless game. It wasn’t a boring one, however, as Winnipeg gave up a couple of rush chances that Dallas couldn’t quite turn into dangerous shots.

Dallas would get its first power play after Haydn Fleury got locked up for cross-checking, and they would make theirs count, when Matt Duchene caught Connor Hellebuyck resetting at his post:

The momentum continued shortly thereafter, as the Stars continued to dice up the Jets’ zone. And 90 seconds later, Arttu Hyry would benefit from some beautiful passing.

Momentum was on Dallas’s side, and Jake Oettinger would contribute to that when Morgan Barron got loose down the right wing, but Oettinger’s blocker arm flashed out confidently, and the puck went off it and out.

Mavrik Bourque nearly made it 3-0 when he set up Miro Heiskanen from the corner with a beautiful pass, but Heiskanen’s shot rang off the crossbar and stayed out. Oettinger then had to come up with another important save on a Kyle Connor one-timer, moving from his right to his left.

Hellebuyck came up with a critical stop of his own right before the intermission when Robertson sent Johnston in 1-on-1 against Elias Salomonsson, who couldn’t quite shut down the shooting lane. But Hellebuyck got enough of the shot to keep it out, and then he made a lunging stop on the rebound with Jason Robertson smelling blood:

It was Dallas’s best period in a while, and they finished it with a 2-0 lead.

Esa Lindell won a puck battle up high and found himself with space in the middle of the ice, which he took. His backhand wasn’t a hard one, and it went wide anyway, but it was another period with Lindell activating to good effect early.

Rantanen got double-shifted with Hyry and Erne a couple minutes later, and while he couldn’t finish a chance at the back door, a Lian Bichsel point shot would do the trick moments later, which Erne tipped home to make it 3-0.

It was the Erne-Hyry duo’s second goal with a double-shifting linemate, but what can you say? Elite chemistry is elite chemistry.

Robertson put Dallas on the kill when he put his stick in a bad spot at the other end of the ice and took the Stars’ second tripping penalty of the game. Kyle Connor would get the best chance, testing the post with a heavy shot that pinged out the other side, and the Stars once again got back to 5v5 unblemished.

Something that was not unblemished was Elias Salomonsson, who was staggered a bit after taking a huge reversal hit from Jason Robertson in the corner:

(Update: Salomonsson did not return to the game, and the Jets said after the game that he was in concussion protocol.)

The Stars were controlling the majority of play, but the Jets still got their chances, including another Kyle Connor shot that Oettinger stopped from a deadly spot on the ice to keep things at 3-0. It was that kind of night for Oettinger through two periods, as he was reading the play well and taking care of the pucks that came his way.

Such was the case with 2:35 to go in the second, when a Thomas Harley turnover up the wall turned into a quality look for Parker Ford. But again, Oettinger found the puck as his glove calmed the waters.

After 40 minutes, the Stars looked much as they had after 20: dangerous, quick, and efficient. The 3-0 lead had 20 minutes left to hold up.

Mavrik Bourque nearly made it 4-0 early on another nice play by his line, but his hot shot got stopped by Hellebuyck’s stick after appearing to squeak through the arm.

Then the game turned into Another Sort of Game Altogether.

It all started when Jason Robertson and Neal Pionk got into it along the boards after Pionk went dangerously low to deliver a hit. For whatever reason, Pionk was barking at Robertson as they got up, and Colin Blackwell then came over to give Pionk a fight, but Pionk ignored him and skated away. Blackwell grabbed Pionk regardless, refusing to let the hit go, and taking both of them to the ice (while Dylan DeMelo took Blackwell’s loose stick and stomped it to pieces on the Jets bench).

Jamie Benn and Adam Lowry would put an exclamation mark on the whole sequence by opting to settle the dispute with honor, and the two captains squared off for a fight.

Benn had words for Pionk afterwards that I suspect may have been referencing his purported cowardice for the hit on Robertson, as well as the refusal to engage with Blackwell. But after all was said and done, Dallas had a penalty to kill, as Blackwell got the extra minor for dragging Pionk down. Blackwell and Pionk would get misconducts as well to end their nights.

That kill meant a bit more than average, I suspect, given how the Stars felt about the Jets’ actions. But Jake Oettinger made a big sprawling save on the power play on another Kyle Connor chance, and the Stars took care of business.

With three minutes to go, the “Otter’s better!” chants began. The Jets responded by pulling Hellebuyck at the next whistle, and Dallas had a 6-on-5 attack to defend. But Oettinger kept doing what he had been doing all night, and he made a couple more strong stops to seal a shutout win that he and his teammates had thoroughly earned.

Lineups

Dallas rolled 11F/7D tonight:

Robertson-Johnston-Rantanen
Benn-Duchene-Blackwell
Bäck-Hryckowian-Bourque
Hyry-Erne

Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Lyubushkin
Capobianco

Oettinger in goal

---

Winnipeg tried this on for size:

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Perfetti-Lowry-Vilardi
Koepke-Toews-Lambert
Rosén-Barron-Ford

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Fleury-Salomonsson

Hellebuyck

After-AfterThoughts

• Some interesting Stars news, according to Elliotte Friedman: Assistant General Manager Scott White may be a candidate for the open GM job in Nashville:

  

• Mavrik Bourque’s physicality has taken a big step this season, and you could see it after he broke his stick and laid a hit on Brad Lambert. Sometimes, the right answer is just to mash the “hit” button.

• Kyle Capobianco played a couple of shifts as a forward and a couple at defense tonight. Who needs Mark “Prius” Pysyk when you have Capobianco?

• FYI, Glen Gulutzan did not like the Pionk hit on Robertson any more than his players did:

  • “I didn’t love the hit,” Gulutzan said. “I thought it was low. I loved the response. It’s our building, and guys aren’t gonna come in here and push us around. We’ve got guys that can step up, and we had two of them do it tonight, and Jamie in a big way.”

• I asked Arttu Hyry about the challenge of playing with a different linemate on most of his shifts, but he responded by nodding towards the team’s whiteboard with their lineup, where players like Mikko Rantanen, Jamie Benn, and Jason Robertson were listed.

  

  Hyry at the aforementioned moment.

  • “If you look at the lineup,” Hyry said, “It’s a lot of fun. We’ve got so many good guys on the team. A lot of those guys, I’ve never shared the ice. So it’s fun to get Rants in a couple shifts. Obviously a Finn, too, so it’s a little special.”

• The QueBäck line’s night, per Natural Stat Trick: 6-1 in scoring chances, 87% in expected goals, and 4-0 in shots on goal. They saw a lot of Cole Perfetti, Gabe Vilardi, and Adam Lowry, and Gulutzan cited the difficulty of their matchups as an especially impressive part of their performance. The line, as he put it, basically picked up right where they left off from when they were leading the charge a few months ago. Impressive stuff.

• Finally, I had to share these photos of Adam Erne and his son, whom Erne brought with him for his postgame TV and radio interviews tonight:

  

  

Some things are more important than hockey.