Game 6 WCF AfterThoughts: Going Home for Good

There’s old music playing, I can hear my friends saying
“You know it’s time to go, go, go, go, go”
Can you jump off the cliff? I know that you can handle it
And time’s got a way of letting you know

***

A decade ago, I sent a silly e-mail to Brandon Worley, asking if I could write for DefendingBigD. He said yes, and the curse was set in stone.

As it happened, that season (2014-15) was a roller coaster ride that both presaged the next ten years of Stars fandom and cemented my love of Aleš Hemský and his ridiculous hockey stick. Hockey is so ludicrous, requiring so much outlay by so many people just to make it possible (unless you’re in the shrinking regions of the frozen north). It’s absurd that I, a person born in Texas and raised in California, should find it so wonderful. But at its best, hockey enraptures everyone.

At its worst, hockey devastates someone. That was Devon Toews (physically) in the second round, and Zach Parise (emotionally) alongside him. And now, despite their best efforts, that someone is Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin, et al.

"It's why this is the hardest damn trophy to win."

Tyler Seguin speaks on how hard it is to actually win Lord Stanley. pic.twitter.com/m8pMtKYxaP

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) June 3, 2024

Seguin said it best: “We knew we had something special, and we lost to a team we thought we could beat.” That’s about the size of it.

This particular game was such an aberration from every other of the 18 games Dallas played this postseason. Vegas had some games where they went up by a couple of goals and locked things down, but not to this degree. Edmonton, in Game 6, popped in two goals on the power play, which was always going to be their path to victory in this series. Then they sat back and dared Dallas to score while playing the equivalent of half-court basketball. Impossibly, that plan worked.

This series is a testament to how much the fan experience can differ from the numbers. You really have to drill into each game to get a sense of what this series was like. Yes, it ended in six games, just like last year’s Conference Final, and just like 2020’s Stanley Cup Final, and just like 2008’s Conference Final. But this one felt so enormously different, and I can’t decide whether that makes the pain better or worse.

For the first three games of the series, Dallas had weathered the best that Edmonton’s top lines could throw at them, and they came out the other side on top. But the series would end the way Edmonton’s first win of the series came: sitting back and surviving until one of Edmonton’s superstars poached the game. It’s not a strategy that can win you four games, but the Oilers didn’t need to, thanks to Games 4 and 5.

In fact, that Game 1 was a preview of Game 6 in more ways than one: not only did Dallas squander far too many chances to count while never really asking Stuart Skinner to be more than adequate; they also frittered away key power plays in key moments, refusing to grab the game the Oilers seemed to be begging them to take.

At 5v5, the Stars scored more goals, and had more chances. But only barely, and only because of an uproariously silly Game 6 that evened all the lopsided metrics back out. Well, almost all of them, presuming goals don’t count as a metric for you.

If it’s any consolation, Jake Oettinger was good, again. This is one playoff run that he can be proud of, I don’t mind saying. There are things to improve on, sure. But he was never the problem, no matter how much you might want to play Blame the Goalie, like every bitter fan does after a loss. The Stars have no excuse for their failure to beat Stuart Skinner more than once this game. None. Oettinger had to face two Grade-A chances on the power play from world-class players, and he only had anything like a real shot at the second one.

That second one was tough for a lot of reasons none of us want to break down, but I suppose you could talk about Harley getting caught in between McDavid and Hyman. Given what McDavid had just done from that same spot, you can hardly fault Harley for leaning towards one of Edmonton’s 24 first-round draft picks instead of their Alex Radulov-esque free-agent signing.

NHL DataCast powered by AWS provided a unique look at the @EdmontonOilers' second goal, superimposing the shot zones on the ice just before Zach Hyman scored from mid-range. #StanleyCup

Catch NHL DataCast on @truTV and @SportsonMax during every game of the Western Conference… pic.twitter.com/Xlsn36zHhs

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 3, 2024

The real dagger, for me, was that Roope Hintz shot off the post later on, when Dallas was pushing (when were they not?) and Pavelski turned the puck over for Dallas. Hintz ended up staring at a glorious chance to use his glorious shot, only to rip it off the far post instead of beating Skinner.

Hey, have I mentioned that Skinner did not have to be fantastic? He basically just channelled Chris Osgood for long stretches while the Stars channeled (checks notes) the Stars, and that was good enough.

This chance was the prime example of how little Dallas tested him, but I think this might be more frustrating than facing a world-class goalie and just getting flummoxed by his skill. Instead, it felt like the broadcast was bending over backwards to praise players like Darnell Nurse and Stu Skinner despite neither of them really doing anything other than “often not totally screwing up.” Dallas only have themselves to blame for the bar being set so low, though.

***

The sour grapes are hard to avoid this time of year, so let’s just get it all out of the way and move on, shall we? No, the Stars didn’t lose this series because of penalty calls, they had to be better in all areas of the ice, you have to work through the challenges, etc. etc. etc. We know that, and we accept that. But we also have to process a few things, so…

*deep breath*

***SOUR GRAPES TIME, PLEASE IGNORE***

Penalties were 3-2 for Dallas in a game that Edmonton barely showed up to play. Sure, Dallas wet the bed on their own power plays and penalty kill, but it beggars belief that in every game but Game 1, the penalties just so happened to wind up either even or within one. The NHL officials absolutely have to get tougher, and that starts with them being asked to do what other officials do, and give quotes to a pool reporter after a game. It’s just ridiculous that Connor McDavid can grab a puck out of midair next to one Stars player, hold it, turn around, then take a step and toss it past another Stars player without drawing a call from anyone.

The rule book is pretty clear on this:

67.2 Minor Penalty – Player – A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice. If he catches it and skates with it, either to avoid a check or to gain a territorial advantage over his opponent, a minor penalty shall be assessed for “closing his hand on the puck”.

This rule is always applied a bit liberally, but man, this is absolutely against the spirit of it no matter how you look at it. Beating two players by catching a puck, turning, and stepping and tossing it like you’re turning a double play is nowhere near a legitimate play, unless you’re Connor McDavid and your coach began working the officials for penalty calls the minute the series was even after Game 2.

If you’re not Connor McDavid—say, Logan Stankoven instead—then this happens:

Another brutal miss. Ever since Edmonton cried about it things have seemed quite lopsided. pic.twitter.com/XJES1M3mx0

— Tyson (@mortarmag53) June 3, 2024

Dallas earned so, so much more than they were given this game. They got a goal ripped away against Colorado that could’ve haunted them and the league for years, if they hadn’t fixed it all themselves. But it’s really disheartening to see them fail to get the benefit of the doubt in a game they outright dominated, when they work so hard not to take penalties.

Oh, and for one more vent: Ryan Suter.

That’s all. Just needed to say it. Wow, didn’t expect one name to contain so much, but apparently it did, and now it’s all processed and down with. Phew, what a relief.

***Sour Grapes Time Over***

Post-mortem stuff: Robertson tied for the team-lead in points, but half his six goals came in one game, if you care about that. Heiskanen and Johnston also tied for the team-lead in points, with 16. Johnston scored 10 goals to lead the squad, as you know. Can’t say enough about how good Wyatt Johnston was, constantly, in every regard.

Benn and Seguin both had a playoff run to be proud of, coming in at 13 and 15 points to round out the top-five in points on the team. On the one hand, you hate to feel like they may not have a lot of big contributions left for future playoff runs, but then again, people were saying this four years ago. I’m going to reserve judgment until they tell us what they’ve got left. They had quite a bit this time around.

Roope Hintz was injured, both while he was out and back in the lineup, but he only scored two goals in 15 games, which is not enough. Some players just struggle to stay healthy for long periods of time, and I fear for Hintz’s playoff runs in the future if he can’t shake that reputation. He’s a special player who makes the Stars enormously better, and they need him to be available at something close to 100% in the future.

Matt Duchene had two goals (albeit one massive one) and four assists in 19 games, which places him among the fearsome ranks of Esa Lindell and Sam Steel. Tough to see him struggling down the stretch after such a great start to the season.

Logan Stankoven, for all his great work, didn’t end up being a difference-maker in this series on the scoresheet. He scored thrice against Colorado, but he was still pushing play in the right direction a lot of the time. Any contributions from him in this playoff run were going to be something of a bonus, but I look forward to seeing how he deals with the intensity of the playoffs with a full NHL season under his belt. I suspect he’ll only get better.

Chris Tanev is made of something either impossibly strong or so malleable that you can repair it instantly. The Stars need him, or someone made in the same factory as him, to bolster the right side of their defense next season. Everyone knows it, most of all, Chris Tanev’s agent.

Joe Pavelski had a great game, for 2024 Joe Pavelski. I loved seeing the top line put back together, just because it gave the players less to think about, but it’s a shame how incapable they were of really pinning the Oilers in for anything like extended stretches, for the most part. That was the line that needed to come up big, and they were one post away from making this game interesting, which is to say from enabling the Stars to lose to a Cody Ceci overtime goal or something equally stupid. Anyway, I loved watching Dallas Star Joe Pavelski, and it’s just too bad that…well, yeah. It’s just too bad.

Miro Heiskanen was fantastic. He’s probably neck-and-neck with Johnston for a certain trophy, if the Stars had advanced. But they didn’t, so he won’t be. But Manalive, Heiskanen played 30 minutes in a 60-minute game, and the Stars were in complete command for the vast majority of it. This wasn’t someone being ground into a powder because Dallas had nobody left to play; this was a team asking its best defenseman to give them everything he had, that meant he played every other shift. That’s Niedermayer stuff from a player not infrequently compared to Niedermayer. Let’s hope some similar hardware starts to come his way in the coming years, if he hasn’t been skated into the ground by then.

Esa Lindell deserves a lot of credit for how steady he was after a shaky postseason last year. It turns out that when you have better players, your good players don’t have to do more than they should, and everyone can thrive! This is also how a healthy family operates, I am told.

Thomas Harley started playing more aggressively in this game, which I wish he’d’ve done for most of the playoffs. His rushes up the ice looked more dangerous, and his pinches were quicker. Pairing him back with Tanev was an interesting move a couple games ago, and it’s only going to help Harley to play with high-quality partners of different ilks. So far in the last couple of postseasons, he’s gotten to play with Heiskanen, Tanev, and Joel Hanley. That’s some kind of sampler platter.

(I think Dallas made the collective decision to shoot the puck more before this game, and you saw the result: tons more shots, more chances, and one goal. Hard to feel good about that, unless you were betting money on the shots or something, which, don’t.)

Alex Petrovic is a cool story. Would’ve been interesting to see what happened if he’d replaced Nils Lundkvist earlier, but you have to think there were some Serious Organizational Talks happening behind the scenes leading up to that swap. One would suspect that Lundkvist would be moving on this summer, for his sake as much as the Stars’, but I suppose Jim Nill is always more patient than the rest of us.

Mason Marchment had his moments. I don’t know how to calibrate my expectations for him anymore, since those bigger, slower players tend to be feast or famine. He lost his spot on the power play, by the way, in case you hadn’t noticed. But he’ll probably be back on it to start the season next year. Man, it would’ve been cool to see him facing his old club in the Cup Final. Ah, well.

Mavrik Bourque wasn’t overwhelmed, just whelmed. Cool that he got the opoprtunity, but there just wasn’t a lot of space out there for him. He did what he could, but so did a lot of other Stars, and it wasn’t enough.

Evgenii Dadonov…did you know his first name is the Russian equivalent of our “Eugene”? That’s a fun fact about Evgenii Dadonov, who scored more goals than Matt Duchene or Joe Pavelski.

Peter DeBoer will be back, and so will his coaching staff. Folks trying to lay the blame for the power play outage at Steve Spott’s feet are misguided, I think, insofar as the Stars are obviously focusing on everything as a group. They all wear that one, and they’ll wear it for a while. They had to navigate three very different teams in three very tough series, and they came close to threading the needle each time, only to stumble halfway through this one.

It’s interesting how much less flak the Penalty Kill has gotten than the Power Play, by the way. Edmonton went 80% on the power play in their final two games of the series, which is embarrassing no matter who’s shooting the puck. The Stars weren’t holding the blue line well at all, particularly tonight, and Edmonotn came in with far too much speeed and created far too much space, and well, Bob’s your uncle. Or at least, I am to nine people, none of whom is (I hope) reading this.

Painful losses (are there any other kind?) beget probing questions, but Dallas are a bit unique in that they either have the big questions answered for a long time in one way (tons of young talent) or another (contract terms and conditions). They have their goaltender, and they have the same strengths and moderate weaknesses on defense, with another reinforcement on the doorstep in Lian Bichsel. They have plenty of high-quality forwards to complement the veterans still here, so Jim Nill’s work is far less daunting than almost any other contender’s will be next month. There is lots to be hopeful for.

But talking about hope right after the season ends too soon isn’t what anyone wants. We can’t have the thing we all want, because it has been taken from us, slowly and methodically, by a bunch of Albertans named after petroleum, led by players drafted atop the list because of how very bad Edmonton was for so very long. This organization has embarrassed itself in a variety of ways during Connor McDavid’s career, but I suppose he deserves to at least compete for one championship before he gets run out of town for being a selfish superstar or whatever Toronto is about to do. Again, Edmonton got some solid breaks this year—not least of which was Dallas having to face Vegas instead of the Oilers—but they’ve won the series they were dealt, and that’s all that matters. Good luck to that team, except for the twelve players and three coaches I heavily dislike. You know who you are, or you will, if you ever check your Tumblr DMs.

Note: To everyone who’s hopped on this train, thank you so much for reading! It’s been a delight to see how many people have enjoyed finding this weird space, and I have every intention of keeping it rolling until somebody stops me. They say you should write the stuff you wish you could read, and I apply that same principle to “the weirdness you wish you could encounter more.” We’re all a little crazy, but it’s fun to be crazy together about stuff that doesn’t matter. Because when you find those other crazy people, it turns out that those people that do matter, because people are always more important than ideas, or even sports. I think.