Monday Dallas Stars Roundup: Talking with Arttu Hyry, Jason Robertson, Tyler Myers, and Lian Bichsel
It's not a must-win game, technically speaking
Welcome to a Monday Roundup, which is replacing the usual Monday Rundown. Today’s piece is open for all, since the playoffs preempted the usual Rundown. Also, because I’m just a nice guy.
The big news from today is that Arttu Hyry will be drawing into the lineup, with Adam Erne coming out. The defense pairings were the same, but new lines at morning skate looked a lot like we speculated they might yesterday, too:
Hryckowian-Johnston-Rantanen
Robertson-Duchene-Bourque
Steel-Hyry-Benn
Bäck-Faksa-Blackwell
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Myers
Oettinger in goal
Glen Gulutzan confirmed that Michael Bunting is healthy, and said they expect he will factor into a long playoff series at some point—not tonight, however.
“Today, we’re addressing some needs on specialty teams,” Gulutzan said. “And we’ll go from there.”
When asked about Hyry, Gulutzan pointed to how he’s been a big part of their penalty kill lately, as well as a dominant faceoff force. Hyry is a dominant 58% on the dot, which is second on the team to only the injured Roope Hintz (whom Gulutzan also ruled out for Game 3 today, by the way).
You can read more about Hyry’s faceoff prowess here:
In talking with Hyry this morning, he said it’s hard to compare playoff games to regular season games, especially when you “watch from the top” as he did in Game 1. But a couple things did jump out at him, even so.
“It’s just all about battles,” Hyry said. “You win battles, you control the game. Lose battles, and they do.”
Hyry was a key part of the Texas Stars’ run to the Western Conference final in the AHL last year, and he said the intensity always ramps up in the playoffs, as you’d expect.
“That’s what it is,” Hyry said. “Everyone kind of locks in, in every single situation on the ice. In the regular season, some of the opposition might be a little looser with the puck, and I’m sure that’s not the case in the playoffs.”
I heard something similar from Justin Hryckowian today as well, who played in his own first Stanley Cup Playoff game on Saturday. The key phrase?
“No business decisions out there,” Hryckowian said. Instead, the intensity and battle level goes up in every situation.
But if last year’s Calder Cup playoffs (and this year’s season) are any indication, the Stars will be in good hands with Hyry and Hryckowian in the lineup tonight.
Tyler Myers: Quotes and Elbows
After practice on Sunday (yesterday), I had a chance to talk with Tyler Myers about his elbowing penalty in Game 1. Myers, of course, wasn’t trying to elbow the 5-foot-8 Mats Zuccarello in the face, but was just instinctively trying to keep Zuccarello from getting by him with what is a standard move for most players. Usually, the forearm gets the chest or shoulder, but an entire foot of difference in height made for a perfect storm, and Myers ended up taking a costly penalty.
Myers said he knows that, as a “longer” player (his term), he tends to get called for things other players usually wouldn’t. It’s something he’s dealt with his whole career, but every now and then, it still ends up biting him. It’s the downside of the gift of great size, but he’ll be looking to exhibit the upsides of his big frame tonight in Game 2.
Incidentally, Myers is also close with Wild forward Marcus Foligno, as the two played together in Buffalo from 2011 to 2015. I asked Foligno today what some people might not know about Myers, and the answer surprised me a bit.
“He’s a great guy. I mean, honestly, he’s a really good person, a great family man,” Foligno said. “People don’t understand how big of a movie freak he is with quotes and stuff. Big movie guy. We used to have conversations just in movie quotes during the day.”
Foligno said that former Sabres forward Tyler Ennis would also be a big part of those quote-based conversations with Foligno and Myers, too, with movies like That’s My Boy being favorite source material. But the biggest thing that sticks with Foligno about Myers is what you’ll hear from a lot of folks who know Tyler Myers: his character.
“He was an awesome teammate,” Foligno continued. “We’ve been in touch ever since [Buffalo] with our families and stuff. I would say that’s the biggest thing is, you know, big guy. I think you see it on the ice, a physical guy. But one of the most laid back human beings out there. Just wants to have a good time, just enjoys hanging out.”
One suspects that goodwill will take a backseat to proceedings tonight, starting at 8:30pm.
Lian Bichsel on his second NHL playoff run
Lian Bichsel said this playoff run has begun much the same as last year’s for him. And that includes some key lessons they’ve learned after Game 1 defeats like Saturday’s.
“The games matter more,” Bichsel said today. “So regrouping is really important. You think about the game after the game, maybe watch some clips. But then the next day, you’re focusing on the next day. It’s also in the regular season, kind of like that. Like, we have so many games, and thinking too much about unnecessary stuff that’s unimportant, it’s just gonna kill you. It was the first game, and we know we have to get better.”
One other thing Bichsel has learned is that the ramped-up physicality of the playoffs is something he personally has learned to love.
“It was heavy,” Bichsel said. “Both sides, I mean, it was over 60 or 70 hits in the game, and you could feel it the next day, for sure. But it’s a part of it, and you have to like it. Playoffs are really intense, and you have to really enjoy getting hit, and smiling about it. It’s a playoff grind, and that’s what it’s the hardest cup to win. It’s a lot of fun.”
I clarified: Getting hit is fun? But the big Swiss defenseman doubled down.
“Yeah, I love it,” Bichsel said. “I mean, it’s my game. It’s what I’m thriving off of, the physicality, Getting under people’s skin. It’s a fun time, for sure.”
Jason Robertson on playoff adjustments
It is not a surprise that the only player to score a goal in Game 1 for Dallas was Jason Robertson. After all, this is his fifth playoff run in the last five years with the Stars, and he’s learned a lesson or two along the way.
I asked Robertson today about his 2022 playoff debut against Calgary, and he humored me with some reflections about what he remembers being the biggest adjustment, for him, during his first playoff run.
“Just understanding how the environment is,” Robertson said of that Stars/Flames series. “I mean, it’s all context, too, who you’re playing against. We played a tough team in Calgary, right? And we were the wildcard team against a powerhouse team, so it was definitely intimidating, but that was also my second year in the league. As you get older and your team gets better, it’s different. It’s all context. It’s all different.”
One element of those differences is scoring chances, which can be at a premium in the playoffs. So does that mean Robertson has to go about creating chances differently, come playoff time?
“Yeah, I think so,” Robertson said. “It’s a little harder to get inside. Guys are reloading harder. They’re making sure-fire plays. They’re not turning the puck over. Yeah, it’s tough, but there’s still plays to be made out there, right? It’s still hockey, but definitely a little tougher.”
My last question for Robertson today was about missing last year’s first round series against Colorado after injuring his knee on a hit from Michael McCarron. How did a hockey nerd like Robertson stay sane during a rare stretch where he couldn’t play hockey?
Robertson acknowledged that it was tough, given how few games he’s missed to injury in his career. But for now, he’s focused on the good things right now, rather than what happened last year.
“I don’t like to remember it,” Robertson answered. “But I’m happy I’m playing now.”
Final thoughts
Radek Faksa said there’s no comparison, for him, between playoff hockey and the regular season. Perhaps we’ll hear one day about all the details involving just what Faksa had to overcome in order to turn what initially looked like a season-ending injury after the Olympics into something he got back into playoff-readiness for. But when you love the playoffs as much as Faksa does, it’s little surprise he found a way to get back on the ice.
Keep an eye on the penalty killers tonight. With Hyry in the lineup alongside Bäck, Faksa, Steel, Blackwell, and Hryckowian, it’ll be interesting to see who gets the bulk of the minutes. But make no mistake: the Stars are laser-focused on improving their work against the Wild’s power play, so I’d expect to see Alain Nasreddine changing something.
Two quotes from Gulutzan today were telling, I thought.
When discussing the breakdowns on the goals against: “You start pointing your finger at certain areas without kind of looking individually at what’s going on, then you can get yourself into trouble as a coach.”
On whether he’ll be making adjustments after the Wild prevented Dallas from forechecking as well as they wanted to in Game 1: “We did make an adjustment today. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but certainly we looked at that exact same thing. We just didn’t have enough forecheck time. And when you have defensemen like they do, who can control play with their legs, if you’re not hemming them in their zone or creating a forecheck and getting pucks stopped, you’re gonna be on the other side of taking in water.”
Further to the above: “The only thing I can say, [the change] is not completely related to just the forecheck. There are other pieces that have to be in place so that you can create those kind of things. So we wanted to tidy up those pieces this morning and yesterday.”