Game 82 AfterThoughts: Seven and 91
The Stars have not won a game since they beat Nashville 5-1, so this was only fair, I suppose
Tyler Seguin played a hockey game for the Stars. This is massive news, and it should have been the one big lineup discussion point for the game.
As far as Seguin goes, he looked great, playing 14:48 with an assist, and being the only player with a positive plus/minus on the team.
Plus/minus is a dumb stat, as Todd McClellan took some time to point out before the Detroit game on Monday. But in this one instance, I think it is telling us something very important: Tyler Seguin is a big positive. And his return was the lone bright spot of the game, as Seguin completed a six-month comeback from a serious hip surgery in just over four months.
That took a ton of grueling work, starting the day after his surgery in early December. Seguin will downplay it, I am sure, but make no mistake: he gave his comeback everything he had, and he’s made it back just in time.
One other thing we should say is that Pete DeBoer said the team has a flu bug running through it right now. Marchment was back after missing two games with it, but from how this game went, you wonder how many of the other guys on the ice were 100%.
Jason Robertson was not 100% after taking a weird Michael McCarron hip check in the second period.
Robertson left under his own power while favoring his right leg, and it was all but certain he would not return to a meaningless game if he had anything more than a light tickle. He did not return, and DeBoer didn’t have an update on him after the game, other than pointing out with some mild disgust that the Stars didn’t manage to avoid injuries despite resting some people down the stretch, and said they’d have to wait until they were back in Dallas before they could “see exactly what we’re dealing with.”
That’s not a positive update at all, but I would hesitate to say that Robertson is ruled out for Saturday or anything like that until we know more. Certainly it’s a tough, tough blow for the Stars to cap off a tough, tough final month of the season.
Update: per Emma Lingan, Robertson left the arena in a knee brace.
Let’s get philosophical, then: Adversity is what makes us stronger, isn’t it? The Stars have said a lot lately that this might end up being a good thing, that having to ask themselves hard questions and having to deal with disappointment might steel them for what lies ahead.
Well, what lies ahead is now at their doorstep. They can’t answer those questions in theory anymore, but only in practice. And they’ll have two days of practice before the big day on Saturday, when we’ll see how galvanized they look.
Oh, and speaking of less than full health, certainly when it came to defensive coverage, much of the team was a far cry from 100%, as Jake Oettinge was left out to dry on chance after chance, with passes getting through the highest of danger areas to open players for easy goals.
The Stars have clearly decided that they were not going to be embarrassed by anything that happened down the stretch, and boy, have they ever taken that mindset to its fullest extent. They were shutout in their last meaningful game against Winnipeg, and they treated third period leads like an elementary school child treats curious insects, hunching over and poking them until something interesting happens. Invariably, for the last seven games, interesting things happened.
But now, the Stars are hoping to perform a 2023 Texas Rangers Turnaround, shaking the dust of the last couple of weeks off their skates as they prepare for a team that will be more than happy to jump on one mistake, let alone a deluge of them.
Pete DeBoer was asked postgame if he’s ever been through something like this, and he took a second to think but couldn’t come up with anything to compare it to. This means he’ll either forge a new path in his coaching career, or else have to deal with the late-season.
“I don’t know what to say,” DeBoer said. “All I can say is we’re gonna be judged on the playoffs. I think the idea of resting people down the stretch was to try to avoid injuries, and unfortunately we didn’t do that either. Tough night.”
When asked if he was concerned about where things stand, DeBoer was also candid.
“Yeah, of course,” Deboer said. “You know, particularly with the injuries. But we’ve gotta figure it out. Saturday’s the first time in probably three weeks where we’re playing basically with our season back on the line again. So that desperation level has to be there. Our execution level has to be there. So we’ve gotta make sure we’re ready for that.
Seguin grinned after the game when asked whether he was relieved to see the chemistry return to his line: “That wasn’t a worry,” he said with a quick smile.
Seguin went on to point out that coming back in the same season he started is a lot different from missing the entire season before returning (which he did in 2020-21), and that makes a lot of sense. Every team is different no matter how many players return, but having played for this team for a quarter of the season (or at least a good chunk of it, before the trades happened) certainly makes for an easier acclimation process.
When asked whether the team can flip the switch for the playoffs, Seguin was candid: “We’re gonna have to.”
Inveniet viam, aut faciet, as they say.
The power play could’ve given the Stars some control in this game early and some life in it late, but ended up doing neither.
The Stars kept Mikael Granlund quarterbacking the top power play in this game even after Thomas Harley re-entered the lineup. Instead, Harley came back on the second power play in place of Matt Dumba.
When DeBoer was asked about this decision on Monday, he said that Granlund played 20 games on the point for San Jose’s power play this year. He also went on to say this:
“If Miro’s out, we have a lot more depth up front than we do on the back end. So it makes sense to maybe look at that. So we’ll see. I liked how it looked last game [against Utah]. I want a couple more looks at it here before we make any final decisions.”
DeBoer also went on to say that he would only ever use that five-forward setup on the first power play unit, not the second, which held true on Wednesday, with Harley running the second unit. The early double-minor would have been a great chance to capitalize with either group and make it 2-0, but they did not do that, and the first period ended up 3-1 for Nashville before getting worse in the second.
If there was any consolation in this one for the team as a whole, it’s that a lot of the damage by Nashville was done against the fourth line rather than the entire lineup. Sam Steel was on the ice for three of four even-strength goals, so at least it’s not like Wyatt Johnston suddenly forgot how to defend or anything. This is called grasping at straws.
Mason Marchment finally got back to wearing only a regular visor after using additional facial protection since taking a puck to the face four months ago.
Clearly the lack of a Mason Marchment Mandible Guard (MMMG, or M3G) helped him see the puck better on his opening goal, right?
The last time the Dallas Stars won a game, they defeated Nashville 5-1. The Predators went up 1-0 early, then the Stars scored five unanswered goals en route to victory.
Tonight, after six straight games without a win from Dallas, the Predators flipped the script to an eerie degree. Mason Marchment scored on the opening shift, then Nashville scored five straight goals. Symmetry isn’t always pleasant.
Game 1 has finally been officially scheduled: 7:30pm Central on Saturday, April 19.
The first round will continue to be aired locally on Victory+ for people in the Stars’ television market until things go completely to national television in the second round.
And while there might still be a slight delay to the start time, a 7:30pm beginning is a massive improvement over the Vegas series start times from the last couple of years.
At this point, the Stars would love to have some West Coast start times to deal with, because it would mean they’ve reached the Western Conference Final.
Lineup
The Stars began the game with this lineup:
Robertson-Hintz-Granlund
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Rantanen
Dadonov-Steel-Bourque
Lindell-Ceci
Harley-Lyubushkin
Smith-Dumba
Jake Oettinger started in goal for Dallas. He did not finish the game in goal for Dallas.
Juuse Saros started in goal for Nashville. Saros was the only goalie in the NHL this year under six feet tall, by the way.
Game Beats
Tyler Seguin won a face-off to start the game, and the trio that was the best line in hockey for a quarter of the season promptly got to work: bingo bango bongo, 1-0 Dallas.
It was an impossibly effortless sequence of passing, as Seguin found Duchene below the goal line, and Duchene immediately found Marchment above it, as the big forward went down to one knee and powered the puck past Juuse Saros.
DeBoer was also delighted on the bench, because what else can you do but chuckle when Seguin makes his dramatic return that perfectly? It was the last time DeBoer smiled in this one, I suspect.
Someone who was less delighted was Brendan Smith, who got nailed with a pretty borderline hit by the pretty borderline Zachary L’Heureux, whose stick also came up and whacked Smith in the face with force, sending Smith down the tunnel and the Stars to a four-minute power play (after a delayed bit of work from the referees, who didn’t call it immediately, but eventually did in order to review the penalty, which was upheld.
Matt Dumba went over to L’Heureux to express his displeasure afterward, and it would not be the last time those two exchanged pleasantries in the game. Smith would return later in the first.
The Stars didn’t get anything on the double-double set, and Thomas Harley even had to make a crucial block on a late 2-on-1 after Jamie Benn appeared to have been tripped high in the Nashville zone and lost the puck without a call. But the pass attempt got deflected by Harley into the corner, and the game continued.
Nashville then decided to remind everyone why their season has been so miserable when Jakub Vrana was asked to serve an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after he appeared to fill the linesman’s ear for a reason I couldn’t figure out. But the penalty would get evened out shortly afterwards when a Roope Hintz pick on Nick Blankenburg was rightly whistled down to make it 4-on-4 for 1:19.
Seguin had a shot from the doorstep during the open ice session, while Jake Oettinger had to make a really nice blocker save on Steven Stamkos at the other end. But the first Nashville goal of the game would come at 5-on-5, right off a face-off.
Mavrik Bourque lost the face-off cleanly to Ryan O’Reilly, which is hardly a crime, given O’Reilly prowess. But the insult to insult came after, when a Jordan Oesterle (Jordan Westerly?) shot deflected off Bourque (I think) and went back against the grain perfectly to beat a helpless Oettinger by his left toe.
The deflection party continued less than a minute later, when the Stars’ fourth line lost a board battle along the wall, and Vrana found himself wide open in front of the net to deflect a quick Westerly (I’m going with it) shot under Oettinger’s arm.
As you can see, the defensive coverage just wasn’t quick enough to beat a too-easy play for Nashville, and it was 2-1.
Jamie Benn got a beautiful chance to score from almost the same spot as Mason Marchment on a similar feed, but Saros was able to get a piece of his chance to stymie Benn’s efforts at 400.
A test for Seguin came late in the first when he put a backhand on Saros off a 1-on-1 chance, and ended up taking a pretty heavy hit from Andreas Englund afterward. But Seguin got up and rejoined the play without any apparent issues, which was an encouraging sign.
Less encouraging was the third Nashville goal that came with 15 seconds to go. It also came on just another of the too-frequent passes that Dallas has been allowing through its royal road.
After a Marchment clearance/pass attempt that ended up as a turnover along the near boards, the Predators quickly cycled it up and down leading to Luke Evangelista (pictured above in far corner) having a very, very easy pass to make to Justin Barron, who was…all alone in front of the net:
Oettinger got a piece of the shot, miraculously, but like the Vrana tip, it wasn’t enough to stop the Grade-A chance that shouldn’t have been allowed, and Nashville took a 3-1 lead to the intermission.
Second Period
Jason Robertson took a late knock 90 seconds into the second when Michael McCarron appeared to clip Robertson’s right leg with a hip check after Robertson had passed the puck a half-second prior.
Robertson favored the leg as he skated off, tossing a few of his thoughts Nashville’s way as he went. He did not return for a power play soon after, and the Stars would later announce that Robertson was done for the night in what was hopefully a precationary decision.
Oettinger then had to face most of a breakaway from Cole Smith after another bit of lackluster marking by Dallas, but the shot was sent wide, and the Stars survived.
Dallas got another power play look after Esa Lindell pulled some tricks out of his bag to catch Vrana a step behind to draw the tripping call, but again, the Stars’ power play couldn’t find a way to capitalize, with the exclamation point coming after Marchment couldn’t quite catch a hot pass in his skates to dunk it into the open net.
The fourth Nashville soon followed, starting with a mistake by Oettinger when he tried to stop a hot puck behind his net, only to deflect it into a 50/50 area where Filip Forgberg won it from Matt Dumba.
From there, Forsberg got it out front to Stamkos, who wisely sent it back door to Jonathan Marchessault for an easier tap-in than the one Stars had just missed.
It was another goal on a killer pass that made for an easy goal, but this one did have some of Oettinger’s fingerprints on it thanks to original deflection of his.
When he had a chance on the play, Oettinger was quite good, as evidenced by his save on Zach L’Heureux on a 2-on-1 shortly after.
Brendan Smith evened out his penalty meter with a cross check on Michael Bunting soon after, however, and guess what, it was another slam-dunk goal on an easy pass to a wide-open man on the back door to make it 5-1.
Here’s the zone entry on the power play:
Lindell and Hintz then both go to Marchessault on the wall, opening up an easy pass inside to Forsberg, who now has only one man back (Lyubushkin) with O’Reilly come down the weak side.
Forsberg goes in close enough to draw both Lyubushkin and Oettinger on a fake shot, then he feeds it back to O’Reilly, who is going to score on this chance every time.
Look, when you look at almost all these goals, there’s a common theme: A coverage mistake early, leading to an easy pass to an open man for the shot. If you think that’s a Jake Oettinger problem more than a Team Problem, I don’t know what to tell you. The problems are plentiful, and you can’t pin them entirely on Oettinger just because he’s the last guy to see the puck before it goes in.
The flickers of light were there, even so. Sam Steel got a one-timer in tight with space on the far side that Saros got, and Seguin got a chance for a goal himself on another great bit of creation from his line. Seguin then tried to summon the most beautiful of consolation prizes the day could offer, as he set up Jamie Benn for a one-timer to hit 400 goals in his final game of the regular season. But the dour mood had infected even the puck, as none of the shots found the net.
Roope Hintz then went on a trademark rush, turning the corner and getting to the net right before taking a wicked slash on the hands from Brady Skjei for his trouble. The Stars got a power play with a minute left in the second period in a 5-1 game as a result, and those are kinda must-do sorts of power play, you would say. The Stars, however, could not.
In Robertson’s absence Matt Duchene moved up to the top unit, with Mikael Granlund still on the point. Dallas had some space and time, but they couldn’t quite connect, and a frustrated few whacks at the puck would end the period without conversion.
Third Period
The Dallas Stars did not score on the remainder of their fifth power to start the third period.
During his 85th game of the regular season (two short of the record, I believe), Cody Ceci took a hooking penalty that was probably as much an excuse to balance the ledger as it was an actual penalty, as Forsberg bent over the stick like it was seat belt to draw the call.
Brendan Smith then drew a penalty when he and Marchessault raced for a puck, and the latter pulled the former’s shoulder pad under his sweater enough to turn him off his skates and send him to the ice.
Marchessault scoffed and slammed the puck away in anger well after the whistle, but the officials opted not to tack on another penalty to the scofflaw, and it would be 4-on-4 before the Stars’ sixth power play began, and 5-on-5 after it ended, which it did without much ado.
The Predators promptly got another glorious scoring chance on a 2-on-1 opportunity from Evangelista to Bunting, but this time, a flailing DeSmith blocker saved their bacon, as the Bunting shot ticked off the right implement and went through the crease, just wide of the left post.
Still, those chances just can’t be created as frequently as they were in this game.
The Predators got into the spirit of things themselves, giving Granlund a beautiful look from the slot that he load up and bazooka’d into the end boards with 12 minutes to go.
It’s not like the Stars didn’t have any chances in this one. It’s just that the chances they allowed to Nashville were can’t-miss ones, whereas the Stars turned theirs into can-miss and did-miss far too often.
Tyler Seguin took a late hooking penalty that he accepted with the detached air of a superhero getting a parking ticket, and the Predators halfheartedly attempted to make it 6-1, but failed to do so.
Roope Hintz had a late breakaway, but he fired an early shot low that Saros dealt with, and 5-1 would be the final score.
Now, at least, the Stars can get down to business. If there is another level they can muster (and there surely is, for every team in the playoffs), the time has arrived to show it.
On Saturday at 7:30pm, Colorado will test the Stars in Game 1.
You can win two tickets to be there, three rows from the glass, if you donate to charity and send over the receipt, by the way. More details here:
I lack confidence.
was really hoping for a sign of life tonight, I know none of these last few games have really mattered but could have used some optimism heading into the playoffs