WCSF Game 6 AfterThoughts: Wearing Down and Bearing Up
Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear
Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend
While they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land
***
There are some hockey games you forget. So many hockey games just live in a big morass of hockey events, becoming entangled with one another across a season, then an era, then a franchise. You might happen to remember when Philippe Boucher was an All-Star, or when Ivan Vishnevskiy scored an own-goal, or when Jason Arnott first let you down (he was better than you remember, though). But you probably can’t quite place which season it was when Kari Lehtonen sat on the net, or when Eddie Belfour offered a bribe, or when Jussi Jokinen scored four goals. These things all become part of our fan memories, but they don’t necessarily have a date stamped on them.
Playoff games are different, though. Every playoff moment is imbued with the story of how you got there, and that only becomes truer the deeper into the postseason a team goes. You might not remember every game in the Calgary series in 2020, but you remember a Jamie Oleksiak goal, probably. And you certainly remember Joel Kiviranta, Alex Radulov, Corey Perry, and Denis Gurianov.
And you remember Brenden Morrow.
There are bigger goals, of course. We’re not here to compare a second-round victory to a Cup-winner. But that Morrow goal came after a good few years of playoff heartbreak, and it really did end up being the apex of a fun era for Morrow and Marty Turco. That goal is special, and you remember times and places attached to it.
It’s too early to tell how special Matt Duchene’s goal will be. For one, it was only two overtimes in, rather than four. And for another thing, Duchene doesn’t mean what Morrow meant to the franchise. But that’s not completely true, in a broader sense. Duchene was the sort of player who, 20 years ago, would have just signed with the Red Wings, like all great players over 30 did. But DeBoer and Jim Nill have built a team that people admire, and you can see why. Players want to be here.
Two other such players were involved in that goal. Joe Pavelski had the primary assist on Duchene’s overtime winner, with Mason Marchment also battling in front of the net. These are all players that chose to be in Dallas, who came here after having success elsewhere. An entire line of recruits, refugees, whatever you want to call them. They brought this team past Colorado.
It was fitting that Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin scored the first Dallas goal, and it was fitting that the team they’ve spent a decade or more pouring themselves into was able to pull them into the third round. You give, but sometimes other people give back. Benn really did look fantastic in this game, and Seguin as well. You may vaguely recall something about the Stars’ number one center of the last few years not being available for most of this series, after a pretty nasty cross-check by Nate MacKinnon. Well, the Stars rallied, and the leaders led, and the saviors saved. Stepping up looks like this: a whole lot of work, and very rare moments of glory.
Once overtime got rolling, it really did feel like Dallas’s game to lose. The Stars weathered the best that Colorado could bring against them in this game, and all it amounted to was one power play goal. That’s a testament to the Stars, certainly; but it’s also a sobering commentary on how much less firepower the Avs seemed to have in this series. Either they aren’t quite as good as they used to be, or Dallas is a lot better at controlling games than they’ve sometimes gotten credit for.
Joe Pavelski scored a goal in Game 5, and while he didn’t look Totally Fixed or anything in Game 6, I do think he looked like a more confident player. And for him to be the one to dig the puck over to Duchene for the winner is a very special thing. When you get older, you don’t need the same glory, the same attention that kids crave. But you do want it, or at least a little of it. It’s nice to have people appreciate how amazing your steering wheel drumming patterns are, or how efficiently you can get in and out of the grocery store. Please admire these things about me! But when your body starts to fail you, the first thing I’ve seen such people do is to look for something they can still take pride in, and lean into that. Pavelski is very, very smart when it comes to what the right play is in a given context. He is quick to see, and quick to act, even if his body isn’t 22 anymore. I have a hunch he’s gonna sleep very well, with visions of that crucial assist sticking in his mind. He earned it.
Mason Marchment also earned something good, but we were told that the officials in Toronto were not going to overrule the on-ice officials in Colorado to change the call from “no goal, goaltender contact” to “sure, let’s end an amazing hockey series by asking a bunch of Toronto nerds playing video games what they think should happen to players who could eat them up like a giant snacking on a jelly bean.”
The league, rather, wanted to avoid making a tough call (as they seemed to think it was, based on the time used for review), and that means upholding the on-ice officials is always going to be their default. If they can justify it, they’ll do it. That’s it. No, I don’t think Georgiev was totally set or anything, but it’s clear that Makar bumps Duchene into Georgiev, and I wish that meant more. But given the stakes at play, the league was always going to prefer that things get “decided on the ice,” as though applying the rule book subverts what has happened in the game supposedly governed by said rule book.
After Vegas wiped Dallas two games in a row, I was worried about DeBoer being out-coached. But I’m not worried about that anymore, because DeBoer has handled two very good coaches, cup-winning ones, in fact. The Stars’ neutral zone strategy was stronger than Colorado’s, or at least better-executed for large portions of a very tight game. The Stars never faced the challenge of Vegas’s airtight blue line, but they still solved for what Colorado was doing to them, and with time to spare! So, great job by the coaches for figuring out how to get to Colorado, and great job for figuring out which player levers to pull before the third period.
There’s a lot more to say, but I’ll save it for later this weekend. For now, celebrate. Rest. That Duchene goal had finality to it, and seeing MacKinnon collapse onto the ice after it went in tells you just how much these players care. You also care, probably, but there will be days yet where this is still the most recent series to think about. There will be more challenges. Whichever Canadian team draws Dallas will be in for a battle, but after watching Dallas systematically shore up their defense against Colorado’s attack in this game, I have every confidence that they’re up for it.
Dallas has faced adversity in two straight series. Each time, they’ve gotten stronger as the series has worn on. Personally, I pity whoever comes up against them next. I don’t know how anyone can be prepared for them. Clearly Colorado didn’t, either.
***
First of all, let’s clear up something about the result of Nathan MacKinnon’s shoulder to Chris Tanev’s face last game:
Chris Tanev told the TNT broadcast that he did not lose a tooth during Game 5 at the AAC. He had his lip driven into a tooth, so he had to have his lip pulled off his tooth and then stitched up. And then he returned to playing shortly thereafter.
— Owen Newkirk (@OwenNewkirk) May 18, 2024
Oh, that’s cool, okay, great, I am going to go sit in a dark room and never think about teeth or mouths again.
The biggest lineup news aside from Tanev’s teeth was that Alex Petrovic was coming in for Nils Lundkvist. It was a move long overdue, given how little Lundkvist had been playing this postseason, and Petrovic’s heavy usage for Texas down the stretch probably meant that the organization was comfortable with throwing him into the intensity of a playoff series rather than something like Derrick Pouliot, who’s been off for much longer.
Well, as we all know now, Petrovic ended up being a crucial presence in a prolonged game. Good timing, eh?
***
The First Period was a preview of this game, in that both teams played extremely tight defensively, with Dallas holding Colorado shotless at one point for over ten minutes straight, and Colorado returning the favor for the final ten minutes of Dallas’s purported offense in the first period. Both teams were playing very carefully, keeping players high and keeping shifts short. It felt like the sort of game where a power play could end up deciding everything, and where said power plays were likely to be in short supply.
Cale Makar narrowly avoided a Delay of Game penalty when a refs’ conclave after he sent it out of play determined the puck was deflected, or something. But that’s fine with me, since that penalty is stupid, and about to get more stupid next year when the officials are going to put the burden of getting it right onto the coaches, rather than even trying to begin with.)
Dadonov had a wide-open backhand chance after a shot off the end boards bounced right to him, but the puck slipped off the toe of his stick blade, and the puck went off the outside of the net.
THE DALLAS STARS WERE SO CLOSE TO SCORING A GOAL pic.twitter.com/2Z7iXbIPVh
— Dallas Nation (@TheDallasNation) May 18, 2024
For those worried about Jake Oettinger, he was rigorously tested three times in the last couple minutes of the first period and passed each one. First, after Thomas Harley got passed by Nathan MacKinnon, who did some beautiful crossover work to throw Harley completely off balance and open up a lane to the net. Thankfully, Oettinger stood strong and made the save. And second, when Casey Mittelstadt found himself wide open on the doorstep, but his quick shot likewise couldn’t beat Oettinger. And finally, on Artturi Lehkonen, after MacKinnon found himself being defended by the brave but unfortunate Evgenii Dadonov.
— z – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 18, 2024
Still, it was a good first period on the road, all things considered. 0-0 is never bad when the other team makes a push.
The second period started ominously, with Esa Lindell trying a stretch pass that went right to Cale Makar, who rushed in and nearly wrapped the puck around for an easy assist to the back door. But once again, Oettinger found a way to make the stop.
Things got worse when the officials’ egg timer went off with Matt Duchene being the nearest Stars player to the puck. Duchene was given a penalty for cross checking that probably was a sort of cross check on Samuel “Sam” Girard, but it was tough to see it called when you know other stuff is gonna be let go. Regardless, the Stars had a job to do, and after Wyatt Johnston danced around in the Avs’ zone for a solid 20 seconds before Makar got sick of it and knocked him off the puck, Colorado was in business. Mikko Rantanen found himself alone in the low circles, and he was able to beat Oettinger short side high with a great shot. It was Colorado’s first time scoring first in the series, which is far less preferable than the status quo, in my book.
There was a weird moment of editing later in the period where DeBoer’s reaction to the penalty call was inserted after the Rantanen goal. It may just have been a fun little juxtaposition, but my old media professor would have flunked me for dishonest editing if I’d tried something like this:
To dispel those thinking it's a conspiracy theory. Here's the feed of the penalty a while before on the exact same TNT broadcast.
I don't have enough 'actuals' for my WTAF pic.twitter.com/SKgUZcDQIq— Scapper (@realscapper) May 18, 2024
Anyway, halfway through the game, shots on goal stood 12-9, Colorado. True to form, the game had been tight, and Dallas’s great goaltending had kept things even until the Avalanche got a power play.
But if there’s one kind of penalty officials do love to call in the playoffs, it’s a call that evens up the total calls for both teams. And thus, Josh Manson got called for interference on Logan Stankoven on a 1-on-2 forechecking hustle play that probably doesn’t get called if it’s the first shift of the game.
Dallas had some great pressure, with a wonderful fancy-Dan pass by Duchene back to Stankoven, but he couldn’t get it past Georgiev. It was the sort of power play that just never quite makes the goaltender work hard enough, and Colorado weathered it well enough to hang onto the lead, with a daunting 26 minutes left for the Stars to even the score. The rest of the second period settled into an even tighter defensive contest, and Dallas wound down without truly testing Georgiev again.
In the third period, Peter DeBoer juggled the lines, putting Johnston and Stankoven with Jason Robertson, as all three players had looked good so far.
Third period lines:
Benn-Seguin-Dadonov
Robertson-Johnston-Stankoven
Marchment-Duchene-Pavelski
Faksa-Steel-Smith— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) May 18, 2024
After a shift in which the Stars got a bit confused, playing with four skaters for a bit, Colorado earned an offensive zone faceoff. It burned them when all three forwards got caught, however, and Jamie Benn busted down the ice with Seguin and Evgenii Dadonov. Seguin made an area pass to Dadonov, who cut across the zone and made a blind backhand pass back to the slot for Jamie Benn, who had beaten everyone up the ice and deked deftly around a helpless Georgiev to tie the score.
WHAT AN ASSIST! WHAT A GOAL! WE'RE TIED! pic.twitter.com/jxdQFUkZhs
— z – Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) May 18, 2024
It’s hard to say enough about what it means to see Jamie Benn still scoring huge goals like that one. It’s a reminder of the stories we all love to hear, about the grizzled old men who give whatever they have in a final act of nobility. Also, Jamie Benn is 34. I loved being 34, that was very young and great! Sigh.
Jason Robertson (who is MUCH younger than 34) helped the Stars survived an onslaught from the MacKinnon line with a heroic netfront block on Jonathan Drouin, signalling that the game was moving into “just one big play” territory.
Heck of an effort by Jason Robertson to block Drouin's high-quality chance in tight#TexasHockey | #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/k8Wrkmyh6C
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) May 18, 2024
And that’s the memo MacKinnon read, too, as he looked to beat his man every time he had the puck. It felt like the Stars were playing two different teams based on whether or not he was on the ice. But thankfully, Jake Oettinger was enormous in this game, even with the first goal.
Benn, Seguin, Dadonov was the Stars’ best line in the 3rd. Dallas grew stronger as the period wore on, with both Georgiev and the Avalanche defense looking skittish, but Dallas never could capitalize before the overtime that always seemed destined to happen finally began. For example, Dallas ground five Avs into dust over a 2:10 shift, but Dallas never quite got a killer chance they earned.
Shortly after that, Oettinger came up huge on Artturi Lehkonen from almost the exact spot Joel Kiviranta scored four years ago, with a lot of help from Wyatt Johnston, because of course Johnston was there to help.
Dadonov made a huge shot block that made things dicey, with Dallas playing with only 4.5 skaters for an extended shift that ended in an icing. Thankfully, Dadonov was permitted to change on account of having only one leg, and the Stars survived.
Mason Marchment scored on a designed fake one-timer, but the play was washed out immediately for contact in the crease, triggering an automatic league review.
NO GOAL!! pic.twitter.com/oLslZGN3Rt
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) May 18, 2024
From there, all the momentum went to the Stars, though that doesn’t mean you weren’t gripping your couch, your phone, a pillow, or a bystander every time Colorado brought the puck into the Dallas zone.
Duchene got a partial breakaway immediately in the second overtime, but Georgiev was aggressive and Duchene never really got a shot off. Also, you know, he got slashed, but it had become clear by that point that the whistles were under lock and key unless a puck got flipped over the boards, unless it was sent out by Cale Makar. Ahem.
Then Oettinger miraculously kept the game alive with Parise on the doorstep for a rebound, and made an even bigger (if messy) save on Lehkonen after a Rantanen feed from behind the net. It was incredible goaltending to keep the game alive.
And then, after a Colorado icing, Joe Pavleksi dug in, Mason Marchment got out of the crease, and Matt Duchene took a half-second to make sure he had the puck cleanly before burying it in the back of the open net.
MATT DUCHENE IS THE DOUBLE OT HERO!
The Stars eliminate the Avalanche as Duchene scores the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner! pic.twitter.com/ZK8E9fx1xg— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 18, 2024
Jake Oettiner saved the day. Make no mistake, Oettinger was huge in this one, holding a desperate Colorado team to a single goal through five periods at home. But there’s another player who was equally invaluable, and that was Chris Tanev.
Chris Tanev Round 1:
46:34 vs. Eichel at 5v5
Stars up 3-0
Chris Tanev Round 2:
68:43 vs. MacKinnon at 5v5
Stars up 3-1— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) May 18, 2024
Good player. He can stay.