Preseason Game 4 AfterThoughts: Looming Decisions

And penalty-killing

This game was a pretty similar one to Game 2 of the preseason in Dallas, when the Stars played nearly all of their top six forwards and top-four defensemen, only to need a bit of extra time to finally seal the win against a less-veteran Minnesota group.

Except this time, the roles were reversed. The Stars brought none of their top-three defensemen to Colorado, and you could argue they didn’t bring a single member of their top-nine forward group, either. The Avalanche might not have played all of their big guys, but they played enough of them to make Dallas’s life difficult. And after 40 minutes of the Stars hanging around, the dam finally burst in the third period.

Again, these games aren’t about results, but more about the processes that underlie those results. Glen Gulutzan said on Saturday that he’s not married to any solution to fill Jamie Benn’s absence just yet, but with that said, these games are the times when players can change a coach’s mind a bit, for better or for worse.

This game was also big because now is the time of the preseason when the rosters usually start shrinking dramatically as cuts and loans and reassignments start happening in bulk, as I would expect we’ll see happen to Dallas’s training camp lineup late on Sunday morning. Keep an eye out for that, as Dallas will start looking to reduce their roster to a group featuring mostly players starting in the NHL, as well as some of the first call-ups—at least, if previous years are any indication, as I think they are.

So with that in mind, what players had a big chance to make a big impression in Game 4 of a rapidly dwindling preseason on Saturday night? Quite a few, actually. Let’s talk about those players, then we’ll watch some clips featuring them.

Some Noticeable Players from Saturday Night’s 4-1 Loss in Colorado

Adam Erne took a penalty and had a turnover that was less than ideal in the defensive zone that led to a scoring chance against. He also had a couple of smart plays and even created a good scoring chance.

Overall, this might have been Erne’s most uneven game so far, which is not ideal timing for a player on a PTO. Still, you know what you’re getting with him, and on a roster where he could be deployed on a deeper squad, you could see the Stars liking what he brings in a more limited role. But overall, I thought this was a bit of an underwhelming game for a player looking to earn a contract from Dallas or another NHL team.

Nils Lundkvist played next to Lian Bichsel on the top defense pairing, and he also led the team in ice time—as well as in shorthanded ice time, which is a role he’s never really had in the NHL. Saturday night was what you would generally call a ‘show-me’ sort of usage by the coaches, and I thought Lundkvist responed well. Both of his more recent games have been better than Game 1 was, and that was important for him, I think. Good progress from a player getting a big chance.

Arttu Hyry was solid on the penalty kill and became very familiar with the iron behind the Colorado goalies. He remains very high on the list of “next man ups” down in Texas, even if I don’t know that you can argue for him leapfrogging anyone else to start the year in the NHL just yet. Good piece to have in your system, though. And found money, too.

Justin Hryckowian also took a penalty, but he also led all forwards in ice time and generally looked like one of the few consistently dynamic forwards Dallas had to send over the boards against a deeper Colorado team. He’s not had a perfect camp, but there’s no denying the fact that he’s playing good hockey right now, even in games where the other team has had a deeper lineup.

Speaking of Hryckowian, here’s what Gulutzan said about him when asked on Saturday:

“It’s a young guy having a good camp,” Gulutzan said. “He’s done a really good job. I’m impressed with his work, and he’s got a frame that can play in this league. So he’s done everything to this point. He’s been impressive.”

Gulutzan also emphasized that Hryckowian needed to build on what he’d do so far, so there’s no need to get too carried away. But if you’re wondering whether the coaching staff has noticed Hryckowian, the answer is yes. (Also, they notice everything.)

Vladislav Kolyachonok also took a penalty (bit of a theme to this game, actually), but like Erne, this game felt like he might not have capitalized on one of his last big chances to really argue for a top-seven spot on the NHL blueline. He did have an assist on the Stars’ only goal, however, and there’s no denying he’s had flashes of good in camp, as Gulutzan said when asked about Kolyachonok on Saturday:

“I thought he’s gotten better in both games,” Gulutzan said before Game 4. “He got spun there [in Game 3] by a good player, but he’s still a young player that’s got some great NHL attributes.”

If the Stars can carry eight defensemen, Kolyachonok makes sense as an NHL option. But I’m not sure they can/will want to do that, as we’ll discuss later in camp.

Kole Lind drew in for Emil Hemming after initially looking like he would miss the trip with illness. Lind joined the PIM Club, and he also mixed it up after whistles a bit (as he is wont to do). But as he doesn’t kill penalties, he didn’t see the ice as often as a lot of other forwards. I don’t think he’s moved the needle on where he’s at on the depth chart so far, but he’s probably somewhere around where Matěj Blümel was over the last couple of years—and he got a few call-ups over that time. We’ll see what happens, but even if Lind only plays in the AHL, he’s still a valuable piece for the organization.

Antoine Bibeau played a perfect first period in which he was largely steady against a superior Colorado side. He did allow a goal in the second on a chance almost no goalie would stop, but he also made some solid stops on the power play, including a nice double save after Nathan MacKinnon fed a beautiful “I’m better than anyone else on the ice” backhand pass that found Victor Olofsson in the slot.

I am beginning to wonder if Bibeau might get a shot backing up Poirier in Texas to start the year, given that we didn’t see Tiefensee or Kraws play after the two prospect games. It’s always possible one of Kraws or Tiefensee features in St. Louis next week for the Stars’ final road preseason game (before Oettinger presumably gets the final tune-up game back home in Dallas), but with only two warm-up games remaining, and with DeSmith and Oettinger probably both hoping to get more more apiece, that doesn’t really leave much room for Goalie Trials anymore. It’s time to get ready for the games that do matter.

With Bibeau playing two preseason games on a tandem with Poirier, I think he’s put himself in as good a position as he could have done to win that Texas backup job, all things considered.

It’ll be fascinating to see how things shake out, and it’s always wise not to read too much into preseason games. But I would pay more than a penny for Jeff Reese’s thoughts on all the goalies right now.

Lines

The Stars began the game with this lineup:

Bäck-Hryckowian-Blackwell
Erne-Hyry-Bastian
Stranges-Becker-Lind
Martino-Scott-Ertel

Bichsel-Lundkvist
Capobianco-Petrovic
Taylor-Kolyachonok

Bibeau
Poirier

The Avalanche dressed a bit more top NHL talent than Dallas did, at least in terms of ceiling:

PC: @BaileyCurtis on Twitter

But hey, enough of this boring stuff.

Let’s Watch Some Video Clips

The first Grade-A chance of the game was stopped by Scott Wedgewood and shot by Trey Taylor, who once again demonstrated his vision and speed by jumping up into the rush to create a 2-on-1 for what ended up being the Stars’ best chance of the period:

Vladislav Kolyachonok took the first penalty of the game on an interference call that probably doesn’t get made in Game 7 of the playoffs. But I don’t really think I’d ever tell a defenseman not to make it tough to get to the front of your net, generally speaking. You gotta find that fine line, and a whole lot of Stars got on the wrong side of that line tonight:

Lian Bichsel is very large, and he also fired a couple of heavy shots tonight that didn’t go into the net. But size can come in handy in a lot of ways, such as when you stumble and fall and need to occupy space without being penalized for it, as happened in this instance:

Justin Hryckowian then took a slashing minor, and the Stars went back on the PK in the first period. But that gave us an opportunity to see Nathan MacKinnon not shoot at an open net, as well as Colin Blackwell dive to block a cross. This was how the Stars survived the power play, which is to say entertainingly:

If you’re Antoine Bibeau, stopping MacKinnon-to-Lehkonen one-timers on the doorstep is a good way to make your case for a job, as he did here:

The Stars would get their first power play of the game with four minutes to go in the first period. Their top unit featured Antonio Stranges, Arttu Hyry, Colin Blackwell, Justin Hryckowian, and Nils Lundkvist. They did not score a power play goal.

The scariest moment of the first period for Dallas might have been this turnover on a bit too optimistic of a defensive-zone touch pass by Adam Erne that probably isn’t the best way to prove that veteran experience is more trustworthy than younger talent:

Colorado went back on the power play after Kole Lind got caught reaching with the stick in the neutral zone, but Oskar Back’s penalty-killing remains quite solid, as he demonstrated with a nice second-effort poke check here:

Lind nearly made up for his penalty with a 2-on-1 shot that whistled wide just a bit later, too:

Scott Wedgewood then got run over by Adam Erne, whose geometric course to the puck was deemed to have taken place at the expense of Wedgewood. A fourth power play for Colorado ensued:

Arttu Hyry got two shorthanded chances, the first thanks to some nice keep-away from Blackwell that saw him find a rebound, and the second after some good work by himself to read a bounce off the boards correctly, and get position to take the puck down himself. On balance, it felt like Alain Nasreddine’s Penalty Kill was picking up where it left off against Colorado in the first round last spring, as the Stars made it through yet another set without Bibeau having to perform any miracles:

Bibeau must have looked bored, though, because Kyle Capobianco decided to commit a pretty unnecessary turnover, after which Bibeau had to collect a hot shot, and did:

If you were still on the fence about whether Alex Petrovic has an NHL spot to lose, this clip of him calmly dealing with Nathan MacKinnon is a pretty convincing piece of evidence in favor of his remaining in the big leagues:

If, however, you wanted some evidence to the contrary, the Avalanche got their first goal after Petrovic couldn’t tie up Ivan² behind the net, and the forward found Gavin Brindley wide open (whither Kyle Capobianco?) for an easy dunk:

Colin Blackwell nearly set up Justin Hryckowian for a game-tying goal shortly afterward, too. This duo could have some chemistry:

Erne then cut in from the blue line and set up Nathan Bastian for a good chance that Wedgewood dealt with:

Lian Bichsel is a very competitive player, but that trait may have gotten the best of him after he took a two-minute holding minor that got another two minutes talked on for unsportsmanlike conduct, which Brien Rea described as “having some words” after the call. We are all of us guilty of having too many words, sometimes, he said, unaware of the irony.

Anyway, the Stars killed the first two of the four minutes, with Erne putting some good pressure on the oldest player in the NHL this year, Brent Burns, to generate a turnover:

I also personally enjoyed this bit of veteran work from Colin Blackwell, who pounced on an opportunity to grab and clear a puck. The Stars would kill all four minutes of the power play(s), making it 6-for-6 on the kill to that point. (Would you believe that Colorado was getting more calls than Dallas in a hockey game? Shocking, I know.)

But after 40 minutes, the score was tied, on account of Antonio Stranges getting a gift of a 2-on-1 (did every Colorado forward go for a change with five seconds left?) and beating Wedgewood glove side with a great shot:

Colin Blackwell almost capitalized on Nathan MacKinnon’s losing the puck in a bad spot here. Man, it’s never not fun to watch Blackwell take the puck north:

What was less fun for the Stars was when the Avalanche’s NHL scorers combined to finally score a second goal, as MacKinnon was able to feed a puck to Lehkonen on the doorstep, and he beat both Lundkvist and Bichsel in time to swat the puck past Rémi Poirier, who had come in for Bibeau after the second intermission.

Perhaps that was the point at which Alex Petrovic decided not to worry about the score anymore, as he threw an elbow that caught Ross Colton squarely enough to draw blood, and to send Petrovic to the box for the Stars’ seventh minor of the game (which they would once again kill successfully):

Vladislav Kolyachonok then had an adventurous shift that ended poorly, where he almost took a penalty, then got the puck, then almost fed it over to feed the breakout, only to turn it over for a quick-strike goal against. Ups and downs will happen, but some players can afford them more than others in Game 4 of the preseason:

Speaking of adventurous, Arttu Hyry had himself a bit of fun after grabbing a puck in the neutral zone and leading a rush, then finding it again and ringing the crossbar:

Kolyachonok had one more unfortunate sequence late in the third, when he took his eyes off the puck for a split second, which was also when the puck decided to jump over his stick:

Nils Lundkvist showed good poise to feed this keep over to Hryckowian, who got it down to Oskar Bäck for a great scoring chance:

Surprisingly, Blackwell’s getting trucked up there didn’t draw a penalty. But with power plays tilted 7-1 in Colorado’s favor, you knew some late-period balancing was going to happen eventually, and it did, when Bäck got high-sticked by Joel Kiviranta. But the Stars wouldn’t score, and Colorado would add an empty-netter to make the score more fittingly reflect the game’s overall feel than it had done through two periods.

The Stars have two preseason games remaining.