Postgame Beats: Meltdowns, Waking Up, and a Gentleman's Sweep

Dallas scored five goals in four games, and they lost all of them.

This version of the Edmonton Oilers is very, very good.

Pete DeBoer said as much after the game, too. The Stars just didn’t have enough to beat them, and they played from behind in 14 of 15 periods in the series. That’ll make anything tough.

After Evander Kane's goal with 16:39 remaining, the Stars got one shot on goal for the rest of the game--by Colin Blackwell, 22 seconds later, with 16:17 remaining. And from there, the Stars didn't put a puck on Skinner in the final 16 minutes of the game.

There will be a lot of talk about goaltending, about pulled goalies, and about Skinner vs. Oettinger compared to Belfour vs. Roy, or whatever you want to say about it. But from where I was sitting in this series, it really wasn’t about the goaltending.

Jason Robertson’s second goal was a bad one, slipping through Skinner’s five-hole from 35 feet away. It’s a great shot by Robertson, who has looked like his old (young) self in recent games. Robertson scored four goals in the final three games of the series, which was four times as many goals as the rest of the Stars’ roster combined for in their four losses to Edmonton.

Stuart Skinner had his moments in this series, but the Stars didn’t force him to be anything more than Chris Osgood for long stretches, and that was more than enough for Edmonton, who won the race to three goals in every game in this series. Only a torrent of power play goals by Dallas in Game 1 made this series even somewhat competitive, just as Roope Hintz’s power play goal did in this game, when the Stars cut the lead to 3-2, and things seemed just barely possible again.

But bad bounces and bad breaks in the first two series were things the Stars did just enough to overcome. In this series, every bad break was cartoonishly disastrous, as the puck banked off Esa Lindell’s skate and into the net demonstrated.

And in the coach’s view, those bad breaks were things the goalie needed to assist with. Here’s what Pete DeBoer said tonight when asked about his rationale for pulling Oettinger after just two goals:

Anytime you pull a goalie, the reasoning’s always to try and spark your group, so that was the number one reason. We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with a lead, and obviously we’re in a 2-0 hole right away. And you know what, I didn’t take that lightly and I didn’t blame it all on Jake.

But the reality is, if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton and we gave up two shots on two goals [sic] in an elimination game. It was partly to spark our team and wake them up, and partly knowing that status quo had not been working. And that’s a pretty big sample size.

So, there you go. In the coach’s view, his team needed a save at a few points in this series (and last year's), and Oettinger wasn’t able to provide them. I suspect many people will Have Thoughts About This.

So when Dallas got into yet another two-goal hole, the coach didn’t hesitate: he switched the goalies to look for a spark, and to look for that extra save. I don’t think he got it, but we will never know if keeping Oettinger in the game would have made any difference.

One thing we do know: this summer suddenly feels a whole lot less enjoyable for the Stars’ franchise goaltender. But if anyone’s psyche is strong enough to handle this, it’s gotta be his, right?

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I’ll have AfterThoughts up tomorrow morning. And hey, thank you for supporting my work this year. I really have felt so lucky to have this community over the past decade of my life, especially when I ended up asking a lot of y’all when I needed it most.

I’ll be continuing to cover locker clean-out day, end-of-year pressers with Nill and DeBoer, and a whole lot of other stuff, including some larger reflections on my year covering Dallas, and what it’s been like personally.

I’m not going anywhere, so thank you for your support as I gear up for a summer where I’m writing about a whole lot of things—some of which you’ll get to decide about. Hopefully everyone doesn’t cancel their membership tomorrow, but if they do, at least I can write one last piece about how surprising that is.

Also, I have a couple of Founding Member pieces coming soon, too. One of them is super weird, and I still have to figure out how to write it in a way that won’t haunt me for the rest of my career. So, you know, look forward to that.

Cheers, folks. See you tomorrow, and after that.

Lineups

The Stars began with this lineup:

Granlund-Hintz-Rantanen
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Robertson-Johnston-Bourque
Benn-Steel-Blackwell

Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Ceci
Bichsel-Petrovic

Oettinger

Mavrik Bourque made his way back into the lineup, perhaps in a last-ditch attempt to create some offense for a Dallas team in an all-too-familiar offensive slump against Edmonton.

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The Oilers began with this lineup, which featured no Zach Hyman and the return of Mattias Ekholm:

Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Perry
Kane - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Skinner - Henrique - Frederic
Podkolzin - Janmark - Arvidsson

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Kulak
Walman - Klingberg

Skinner

First Period

Mavrik Bourque did not acquit himself well in his first shift back in the lineup, taking a high-sticking penalty on a rush into the zone, knocking Evan Bouchard’s chin with his stick.

That put a deadly Oilers power play on the job early, and they did what they’ve done in every game in this series: score.

Cody Ceci left the net to attack Connor McDavid with the puck after it got rimmed around down low, but the only problem with that plan was that Ceci left Corey Perry alone in front of the net to do it. And McDavid easily beat Ceci with a pass to someone who knows how to score goals from that spot, and he did, tipping it past Oettinger’s glove for a 1-0 lead.

It wouldn’t get any better six minutes later, as a bad Stars change and worse play at the blue line by Lindell allowed Mattias Janmark to get in all alone behind him for a feed from Viktor Arvidsson, where he summoned a heretofore unknown breakaway scoring ability, going five-hole on Oettinger.

This up just cannot beat as many players as it does, and Lindell’s push above the blue line allowed Janmark to get interior before Ceci was able to get there, and that was all she wrote for Jake Oettinger’s night, as DeBoer called a timeout and played his last card in an effort to shake things up, putting in Casey DeSmith.

DeSmith would save his first shot, but not his second, as the Oilers once again overwhelmed the Stars at the net front just a minute later after Petrovic failed to clear a puck along the boards. So Jeff Skinner, in just his second career playoff game, poke a poke that rattled through DeSmith’s five-hole and went in.

It was 3-0, the building was dead, and the vibes were about as bad as they could be.

But some excitement was rescued when Wyatt Johnston knocked down a clearing attempt on a great forecheck, then poked a puck to the only goal-scorer on Dallas over the past week: Jason Robertson.

Robertson ripped the puck over Skinner’s pad and off the far post and in to get Dallas on the board with a much-needed goal. 3-1, Oilers.

From there, Dallas finally woke up. Lian Bichsel delivered some big hits behind the net (including a huge one to Viktor Arvidsson), and Jamie Benn even got Mattias Ekholm along the boards with a pretty rough hit (that may have included a bit of head contact after Ekholm was crouching down low to play a puck).

The Stars twice thought they had drawn a penalty, with Granlund being wiped out by a sliding Oilers player I’m not going back to check the number of, and then again when Edmonton looked to have played the puck with six skaters on the ice, drawing gesticulations from Rantanen, but to no avail.

The Stars ended the period down 3-1. They had a lot of work to do.

Second Period

Dallas would draw a power play when Brett Kulak hooked Tyler Seguin on a chance in the slot, and Dallas badly needed to convert it. But they only mustered a couple of chances from distance that didn’t get through, and Dallas had to fall back and regroup. They wouldn’t get a shot on goal in the second period for a good long while, as it would turn out.

Edmonton very nearly made it 4-1 on a wraparound chance from Evander Kane after that, but the puck slid through the crease and rattled off the inside of both of DeSmith’s pads. DeSmith would make a couple more crucial stops in the first seven minutes of the period, including getting over for a Draisaitl one-timer after a Duchene turnover get Edmonton a great chance that a broken Bouchard stick somehow didn’t sabotage for them.

Harley was looking to go north at every chance, and he and Heiskanen were reunited frequently, as you’d expect. He cut to the middle and put a backhand chance just high and wide that could have halved the lead, but as the Stars have done so often this series, he missed the net.

Then the Stars did something they haven’t done nearly enough in this series: string two great shifts together. First, the Duchene line kept the puck in the zone and generated a great look for Duchene that he tried to turn into an automatic look for Marchment with an extra pass, but Marchment wasn’t able to get the shot off with an empty net looming, and play went on.

But the Johnston line came on and continued the pressure, hemming Edmonton in their zone as Mavrik Bourque got multiple looks at the net front, and Mattias Ekholm finally decided enough was enough, and he hauled down Bourque well ahead of another pass to the crease, putting Dallas on the power play.

The Stars would need nearly 90 seconds, but they finally got the Edmonton penalty kill out of sorts. Stuart Skinner lunged over to make a fantastic save on Rantanen, but the Starts persisted, and some tic-tac-toe passing from Harley to Johnston to Hintz set up a goal from the center whose first name I share, when translated a couple of levels.

Hintz’s shot ticked off Kulak’s stick and fluttered up high over Skinner’s pad, drawing Dallas within a goal. Hope was starting to live once again.

But then a Harley one-timer was blocked at one end by Ekholm on a pretty routine little play that went horribly wrong, and McDavid immediately set out for the other end of the zone, getting the puck en route.

Despite Hintz closing on him, McDavid expertly worked the puck back and forth to avoid Hintz’s stick checks, and he deked around DeSmith at lightning speed for a crushing goal.

Dallas had increasingly few looks after that, and the ones they did get came with a whole lot of work and a whole lot of bodies fronting the shot.

As a result, Dallas never put another puck on net after Hintz’s goal with 7:33 remaining. All the work remained to be done in the third period, and it was hard to feel terribly optimistic about its getting done.

Third Period

But if you’re looking for optimism, Stuart Skinner’s five hole was there to offer it. Rantanen came in on a rush and snapped the puck across to Robertson on the far side, and Robertson stepped up and fired a shot low and hard, and it somehow slipped in before everyone had returned from the beer lines.

But once again, fate turned its nose up at the Stars’ efforts, and calamity resumed its railroading of every Stars effort. Evander Kane got a rush down the ice, and he fed a puck back into the crease without anyone really there. Or at least, without anyone on Edmonton there.

The puck would bank off Esa Lindell’s skate and tumble over DeSmith’s glove like a perfectly executed bank shot in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

It was 5-3. And you know, that was when it began to feel like it just wasn’t going to be Dallas’s night. Also, in the first period when they gave up three goals. Those two times were when it felt like that. Also, every part of this series after Game 1.

Dallas got some pressure, as you’d expect for a team playing for its life. But pressure is not the same as shots on goal. Because after Evander Kane's goal with 16:39 remaining, the Stars got one shot on goal for the rest of the game--by Colin Blackwell, 22 seconds later, with 16:17 remaining.

The Stars wouldn’t put a puck on Skinner in the final 16 minutes of the game, and Edmonton would score an empty-netter from Kasperi Kapanen in the final moments to make it official. 6-3 Edmoton, who ripped off four straight wins following Dallas’s Game 1 comeback.

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There will be time to break down more about this game and series, but for tonight, go eat some ice cream, or linger over a cup of tea before bed. There are wounds to lick, but picking at them when they’re fresh won’t make them heal any faster.