What I Saw and Heard on the Morning of Game 7

Here's what it feels like before the biggest game of the season for both teams, so far

Jason Robertson joined the team at an optional morning skate on Saturday before Game 7

For what hopefully won’t be the final morning skate story of the season, I wanted to give y’all as much of a window as I possibly can into what the teams are feeling, thinking, saying, and doing. Prepare for an onslaught of bullet points.

Prepared? Okay, good.

• Tonight is the win-or-go-home game for both teams. It’s an impossible amount of pressure, but then, these are professional athletes who routinely play in front of 18,000 screaming fans and many times more than that on television. They have been there before. You or I might not be able to bear the stress, but it’s clear to me that both coaches are very deliberately managing how each team is experiencing things today.

• Jared Bednar said the excitement level for his team is “high” right now. “It’s similar to the other night,” said Bednar. “I think there’s some nervous energy around this morning, but like I said the other day, I think our guys are as relaxed as you can possibly be at this point.”

• Pete DeBoer had a similar answer: “Game seven, it doesn’t get any better than this,” DeBoer said. “ These are the game you’ve played for your whole life.”

  • If you want to make something of the fact that Bednar used the word “nervous” and DeBoer did not, go right ahead. I went into both locker rooms this morning, and the Stars’ room was as relaxed as could be, from what the media saw.

  • I also wouldn’t discount the way DeBoer preemptively confirmed both Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson would not play in Game 7 on Friday, after the team plane arrived back from Colorado. That’s a calculated decision, I am guessing, to reinforce the team’s confidence by showing they don’t need to stoop to lineup gamesmanship the way Colorado did with Gabriel Landeskog before Game 2.

  • Further to that point: DeBoer said something yesterday that might have been clever wordplay, or might have been a coincidence: “We have to go and show, like we have all series, that we're bigger than two players." The immediate context of DeBoer’s answer was about the absence of Heiskanen and Robertson, but one can’t help but look across at Colorado, who also has two pretty famous players. Who knows?

• Mavrik Bourque came into the dressing room after leaving the ice and got into a mock disagreement with Jake Oettinger, whose stall is right by the door. Somehow I don’t think Connor Hellebuyck is feeling loose and confident enough to be joking around with teammates in front of the media right now the way Oettinger is.

• A reporter asked Oettinger today what it is that keeps him so calm on game days, as many goalies don’t even speak to the media on a day when they’re starting, let alone the morning before a Game 7. Oettinger’s response was a bit of dry humor: “I was just sittin’ here and you guys came over, so…it wasn’t my call.”

  

  After some laughter, Oettinger said, “Doesn’t really bother me. I mean, the game’s not for ten hours, so just try to be laid back, and when the puck drops, it’s go time.”

• There’s less space with emergency goalie Ben Kraws also using a stall in the dressing room, so Casey DeSmith has moved over a spot to make room for him. When DeSmith got off the ice today, He moved over another spot to give both goalies more room, sitting in Robertson’s stall to begin taking off his leg pads (perhaps out of habit, with Robertson not having skated at the last few morning skates with the full team). Jason Robertson then came back from skating and saw DeSmith sitting in his stall. Robertson took it in stride, giving a slight “okay” before he happily sat in DeSmith’s stall between the two goalies to start taking off his gear. Somehow I think Roberton is more than happy to be dealing with being in a crowded dressing room again.

• Oh right, Jason Robertson was on the ice (see above photo) today for his first morning skate since being injury over two weeks ago, which was a mild surprise to those of us watching.