Game 79 AfterThoughts: Bad Timing for Bad Times

The Stars picked a pretty rotten time to start struggling

Apr 11, 2025

Dallas had not been shut out in their previous 78 games this year. And no, I didn’t say that beforehand, so don’t even try coming at me with your silly jinxing accusations. A team loses because the other team scores more goals than they do, and a team gets shut out because the other team prevents them from scoring goals at all.

Tonight, the Stars picked the absolute nadir of their season to post their first goalless game of the season. I suppose you have to give them credit for ~~doubling~~ ~~tripling~~ septupling down on the whole Process Over Results thing, because boy howdy, did they ever pick a rough time of the season to ask their fans to nevermind the smoke coming out from under the hood, we’re fine, thank you very much, move along.

“I would rather lose and have long periods of good, playoff-type hockey, which I think the last two games, I’ve seen some of that out of group,” said Pete DeBoer afterward, “Which we hadn’t had for probably two or three weeks before that. So we’re going to build on that.”

On the one hand, you get it. You have nothing to gain from dragging the group right before the playoffs, even if he has been critical in recent games, and rightly so. DeBoer would surely prefer to be winning rather than losing, but he also knows that playoff hockey really is A Thing Unto Itself.

DeBoer even shared an anecdote at the end of his postgame press conference about how Tyler Seguin reminded the rest of the team the other day about how Dallas finished last year’s regular season absolutely scorching with a 10-2 record (or even better, I think), only to drop two their first to games to Vegas right away, on home ice.

“So that tells you how important that is,” said DeBoer with a bit of a wry chuckle.

It’s natural to wish that you could somehow gain an edge in the playoffs by beating teams like Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Minnesota, or Winnipeg just a week or two beforehand, but the truth of the matter is that the Stars will win or lose Game 1 of the playoffs based on what they do in that game, not what they did in this game, or the three games prior, or really, the last two months, more or less.

And thank goodness for that.

After morning skate, Pete DeBoer had an interesting take on the loss to Vancouver:

“We can’t spend any time or energy on things we can’t control anymore. It is a shame, but I’m look at it though, maybe it’s the best thing that happened to us. Maybe we needed to go through this adversity to find our identity coming out of the trade deadline.”

The idea of going through the valley in order to summit the mountain is one of the oldest narratives there is, but that doesn’t make it any less true. And indeed, a valley is the exact metaphor Duchene used after this game.

“This is a little bit of a valley, and the nice thing about valleys is you know there’s a peak on the other side of it,” Duchene said. “I don’t mind it for us right now, to be honest with you. As long as we do what we need to do to get out of it.”

I think it’s natural for fans to want to see the team make a statement after last game’s historic collapse, to see the Stars muster that extra vim and vigor to prove that they aren’t that team. But at this point, it seems pretty clear that, whatever team they are, we’ll have to wait until the playoffs to find out. Because for four straight games now, the Stars have coupled an incomplete process with an unsatisfying result. And that means the coach and leadership team is left trying to both hold each other accountable without tearing each other apart.

In one sense, it’s a good thing, because it shows the resilience of the players and coaches during a tough time.

In another sense, of course, it’s been really darn frustrating to watch the Stars slowly turn into a pumpkin over the last few weeks. Because they are simply too good, even without Miro Heiskanen, to keep playing the way they have been.

“It makes us really reflect on what our game is, and what we do well,” Duchene said. “We were winning games when we weren’t playing well, and eventually that catches up to you in this league.”

And in a very, very quiet voice, I think you can probably agree with what DeBoer said after the Vancouver loss: at least it wasn’t in the playoffs.

Truly, that is the only thing to be happy about, after this game. The Stars have taken the optimism built over 50 wins and promptly run a whole lot of cynical experiments about just how much their fans can take before Game 1.

If there is a reason for optimism, though, it’s about whom they have on the team: a mix of excellent young talent and veteran leaders who have seen a thing or two.

“We’re a humble group in here, we’re a driven group,” said Duchene. “When we win, we don’t sit in it, and when we lose we can’t sit in it. You can’t just have lows. You gotta be even-keeled on both sides.”

Fans don’t have to be even-keeled, though. You surely weren’t even keeled, watching Kyle Connor hit 40 goals in the same year his fellow 2014 first-round picks Denis Gurianov scored 22 goals for CSKA Moscow, and in the same game where Mikko Rantanen nearly scored, but didn’t.

Somebody has been ordering up hockey meals from the most hellacious DoorDash service you’ve seen all season. You can forgive fans if they’re hesitant to keep answering the doorbell.

I’m sure folks will want to see a radical change after this game, somebody benched, somebody called out, your least-favorite player personally insulted on your behalf, etcetera. But by this point, you know better than to expect to see that happen.

Yes, the Stars had a mistake from Wyatt Johnston Tuesday night in turning a puck over against Vancouver, and he had another one in this one turning a puck over in the offensive-zone slot. Both mistakes turned into goals against.

And yes, Lian Bichsel got walked for a goal, Matt Dumba was caught up ice a couple times, and Cody Ceci didn’t quite cover the goal-scorer on the opening goal. All of those things are true.

Every goal is either a great play by your guys or a horrible mistake by your guys, depending on which net it goes in. We tend to watch hockey from one team’s perspective, and that’s what makes it so fun when the result turns out well. But it’s worth remembering that the Stars were playing the best team in the NHL, with the best goalie in the league in net. And this is all they managed to get for most of the game:

That’s a fabulous defensive job by Winnipeg against one of the highest-scoring teams in the league, which Dallas is. And while this game shifted radically in the third once Dallas had to start pressing for offense to get back in the game, it’s not entirely false to point out that the Jets just got better looks than Dallas did, and cashed them in more effectively, too.

This wasn’t a blowout in the way the Stars torched the Penguins earlier this year, but does it really matter? The playoffs are all about finding a way to win a game, sixteen times. The Jets took three of four from Dallas this year, and I wouldn’t expect a playoff series to look drastically better than tonight even if the Stars make it to the second round and get Miro Heiskanen back. The Jets are that good.

But Dallas has beaten good teams before, and goodness, remember them taking Calgary to seven games in 2022? Weird stuff happens in the playoffs, just like it does during the regular season. You have the glorious, wonderful privilege of tossing this game on the garbage heap and showing up to check out the sweet stuff they’re giving away on Saturday against Utah. That’s not a bad gig, really.

Of course, watching the Stars is more of a gamble right now than it’s been for most of the last three years. So the other privilege you can exercise, if you really want to, is just to check out and come back on April 19, or whenever Dallas starts this year’s run.

Personally, though, I think these games are good things, because they are part of the fabric of the season’s story. Whatever happens this year, fans who hang in there to see the result get to remember every chapter of that process. And every once in a while, if you’re lucky, those memories end up being really treasured ones. Even if you couldn’t possible imagine them being so at the time.

So forget, remember, or delude yourself entirely and pretend that hockey is just a made-up Finnish word for that disgust you feel when your shoelaces get wet. The choice is yours.

Good things in this game:

Sam Steel giving the crowd something to cheer for by fighting Nikolaj Ehlers
The fact that “Nikolaj” ends in a “J” and we all just decide to be okay with that
The fact that we just continue pronouncing “colonel” the way we do (there’s a dumb reason for it)
Lian Bichsel hit some guys hard
Pete DeBoer showed that he’s willing to try Rantanen with Duchene and Johnston back with Hintz and Robertson (not that there was really any doubt about that)
In Finland, I got to eat this really, really great bread at this one coffee shop where they always have a pot of lohikeitto simmering and you just get to take some bread, that’s what they say, “take some bread,” and everyone is cool about it and nobody goes back through the bread line to take a bunch of extra bread they don’t need just because it’s there to be taken, because we live in a society, people.
Jake Oettinger does not let the result or experience of one game flow into another, whenever that game happens. Goldfish memory can be a great thing.
I got to drink coffee at 8:30pm and not feel guilty.
We all got to watch it together, and isn’t being sad in a group what sports is all about? (It is, but I can’t find the original tweet that said that, because Twitter is Much Better Now.)
Mikko Rantanen’s goal-saving block was pretty cool.

Lineup

The Stars began the game with this lineup:

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

Lindell-Ceci
Harley-Lyubushkin
Bichsel-Dumba

Oettinger in goal

Winnipeg went without the recently injured Gabe Vilardi, but they got reinforcements in the form of Neal Pionk, who played his first game since March 11.

Connor Hellebuyck was in goal for the Jets.

Game Beats

The first period started out much better for Dallas than recent contests against Winnipeg, Colorado, and their ilk, with pressure in both directions, albeit more shots getting to Oettinger than were getting through to Hellebuyck.

There was a five-minute stretch without a whistle early, and that included highlights such as Mikko Rantanen going down after taking something up high four minutes in, and Lian Bichsel giving a hit on Jaret Anderson-Dolan much better than the one he took. Bichsel and Morgan Barron went at it after a whistle finally did come, but despite the disputatious conglomerate that sprouted as a result, no penalties were assessed.

Luke Schenn was also a part of the friendly jostling, and he and Jamie Benn got into it on a great chance that tested Hellebuyck at the Jets’ end of the ice, but alas, number 400 eluded the captain.

The Johnston line generated some further extended zone time for Dallas, including a couple of dangerous chances on a bouncing puck with bodies in front. It was, overall, an encouraging opening period through 17 minutes, with Dallas getting through the neutral zone with some speeded, and grabbing some Winnipeg entries and turning them the other way for useful counterattacks.

That all changed with 1:23 to go, when Winnipeg got the puck after intercepting a Mason Marchment pass in the neutral zone, and they turned around and performed a beautiful zone entry that they couldn’t possible have planned.

Mason Appleton got to the blue line and saw Nino Niederreiter, and he tossed a hot, waist-high puck that Niederreiter perfectly drew back to Adam Lowry on the far side.

With Stars forwards still caught in the neutral zone after the earlier turnover, Lowry took the puck down low and fed it back to the point, where Josh Morrissey stepped up to a wide-open slot and sent another waist-high puck that Niederreiter once again drew back perfectly to beat Oettinger.

It was a painful reminder for Dallas of how costly any turnover can be, and how closely connected bad luck and great plays can be. Cody Ceci got a bit caught in between covering Lowry and Niederreiter on the play, and he ended up taking neither. But quick turnovers tend to cause confusion, which is why they are bad to do (hockey term).

Jason Robertson would test Hellebuyck with a quick snap shot from the left circle in the final seconds, but Robertson ended up putting it right into the glove, and the Jets took a 1-0 lead to the intermission.

Second Period

After some good work in the Jets’ zone by the Stars’ top line, they got punished by Winnipeg’s fourth-line center, of all people. Morgan Barron caught Bichsel a little in-between in the neutral zone, and Bichsel backed off and guessed outside when Barron went inside, and the rookie defenseman was left grabbing air at his own blue line.

From there, Barron went in all alone and made a great backhand-to-forehand move, dishing the puck perfectly over Oettinger’s pad and inside the far post to make it 2-0.

It was nearly 3-0 shortly after that when Morrissey made a sneaky deflection off the rush, but Oettinger stretched out his right toe for a gorgeous skate-lace save to keep the game in reach.

From there, the Stars had work to do, and you could tell they were frustrated. Low-percentage passes started creeping into their game, and players started trying some things that the Jets were only too happy to intercept. It was, in short, exactly how you lose control of a hard-fought playoff game.

That frustration showed up in other places, too. Like in Mikko Rantanen’s slamming his stick against the boards at the end of a good shift from the top line that ended in what could have a too many men on the ice penalty on Winnipeg.

Mavrik Bourque took a beautiful Johnston pass in the slot, but he took just a half-second too long to unload it, and Hellebuyck kept the five-hole closed to refute Bourque’s attempt.

Marchment chose a more cathartic outlet for his frustration, laying out Anderson-Dolan in the defensive zone after lining up the hit and timing it perfectly.

Mikko Rantanen saved his buddy’s bacon after Ilya Lyubushkin went for a hit and didn’t quite stop the play. Rantanen was left to defend a deadly 2-on-1, but he found a way to get in

It was a great example of how much the Stars cared about the game, and the hockey really was quite good in the middle frame, scoreboard aside.

Shots were even, for once, though you’d be forgiven if you looked at the hits total and did a spit-take when you saw 36-16 for Winnipeg. But the Stars really did have the bulk of the possession as the period went on, as you can see reflected by the shots in the period.

Nikolaj Ehlers took the game’s first penalty with 15 seconds left, whacking Lyubushkin’s stick out of his hand as it trailed behind him. It was a mildly surprising call for the first penalty of a playoff-style game, but it meant Dallas would start the third period with a chance to do exactly what Vancouver did two nights before: get back into the game.

Third Period

Roope Hintz started off the third period by testing Hellebuyck from in tight, but there wasn’t really enough room to beat him. The top unit got another shot on the job when Johnston put one off Hellebuyck’s left pad, but that was all Dallas got out of the advantage, and Ehlers escaped without any remorse.

Mason Marchment had a really interesting game, but he nearly had an even more interesting one when he got a Grade-A chance from the slot, only for Hellebuyck to come up huge.

A small mistake would kill Dallas shortly afterward, when the Stars gave the Jets’ leading scorer a breakaway after an unfortunate bounce off a turnover. Bäck led a rush into the zone with Dumba joining, and Bäck sent a pass into the middle of the ice that was easily picked off.

The puck was sent north, and Bichsel tried to smother the developing 2-on-1, but he couldn’t quite get to Scheifele in time, and the puck was returned to Connor with space and time and opportunity.

It really should’ve been 3-1 right after that when Dallas got a quick look with the new second line, but Rantanen’s shot off a beautiful Duchene feed at the open back post somehow slipped wide. You could see the disbelief from the elite scorer after the chance, but it was that kind of night for Dallas.

What kind of night, exaclty? Well, whatever “that kind” was, it got even moreso shortly after another rush. DeBoer had just put Johnston back with Hintz and Robertson in an effort to get some kind of life, and because it is the 2024-25 Winnipeg Jets, they immediately scored another goal when Johnston tried to carry the puck to the slot and got it taken away and sent north. Matt Dumba executed a perfect stick lift off a centering pass as he was backchecking, but that stick lift allowed the puck to slip perfectly to (guess who) Kyle Connor on the back door, who easily put it away.

It was definitely One Of Those Nights.

Sam Steel decided that Thursday nights are fight nights, and after he took a delayed holding penalty on Nik Ehlers, the pair mixed it up some more, and Steel threw a gloved punch that led to the bareknuckled sort right after.

It probably wasn’t what the Jets wanted to see from Ehlers right after returning from injury, but then again, standing up for yourself is a virtue in the NHL, and also sort of the world (I AM NOT ADVOCATING PUNCHING YOUR NEIGBOR OVER PARKING DISPUTES).

It was a rare bit of energy for the local boys, as the Jets and Hellebuyck (who is also part of the Jets) looked entirely comfortable defending a big lead in the third period.

Winnipeg went to the power play, and Oettinger was sharp on a couple of one-timers, with Dallas killing things off summarily after that.

A “FIRE NICO” chant broke out around the five-minute mark, which at least gave the crowd something to do other than groan. And at the final TV timeout with 2:53 remaining, the crowd began heading for the exits. You could not blame them, even after what happened in the final minute of the Canucks game. And in the end, they were entirely justified in their lack of faith on this night, as the Jets shut out the Stars for the first time all year.

The Stars were booed off the ice at the final horn, and you can’t really blame anyone, can you? Some of those were probably amplified by residual boos that didn’t get to be booed after half the fans left before the meltdown in the final minute the other night, too.

With three games left to go, the Stars are all but certain to finish second in the Central Division and face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round. That should be fun, but then again, will it feel much different from facing a healthy Vegas team last year? Not if the Stars end up winning the series, it won’t. But you could be forgiven for forgetting what it feels like to watch the Stars win, as they haven’t done it in a little while.