I'm sorry. I watched the game. What are they smoking, especially Jamie Benn? It's the usual, fans-can-see-we're-doomed look when they look slow and can't do anything. They played terrible the second half of the game. That 3rd goal was one of the lamest chances I've seen this club give up in years. Why does the culture never change? They lost 2 terrible games in front of the home fans. They always start series off poorly (except maybe they won game 1 with Edmonton last year I think). How does that poor culture stick around even when coaches change?
I wasn't keen on the hiring of Gulutzan, but as the season wore on I began to think he might have been exactly what this team needed. But his coaching during this playoff series has convinced me that my initial impulse was correct. Leaving Myers in the lineup and refusing to play Petrovic, who was outstanding during last year's playoffs, is insane. And bench penalties for too many men on the ice are always on the coaching staff, as far as I'm concerned. When you list the Dallas Stars who have under-performed during these playoffs, Gulutzan is at the top of the list.
mostly similar core, different coaching staff, similar results. it's mostly on the players like Rantanen, Johnston, Harley, and Otter. Those are the names fans should be pointing to becuase those are the names that have the huge contracts and dissappear. I'd say Hintz and Seguin too but they've been injured
I didn't buy Gulutzan saying this team could become more physical, by being 1% more physical at a time. Especially after they let their most physical forward - Marchment - walk. Then I had high hopes as it seemed to be working during the regular season. Sure enough, in the post season the Stars are back to being dominated physically by a more physical team.
Not sure what I can add to "not enough 5 on 5 scoring" and the soft Boldy goal only a few seconds before the end of the 2nd period. I did see a stat on the hellsite to the effect that expected goals for both teams at 5 v 5 has been about even for the series, but goals scored are 11-3 Wild. That's nuts.
Meyer was just awful tonight. No need to beat that dead horse any further, at least not by me.
If offense is the problem, why not borrow a page from the Wild book and pair Miro and Harley together and have them on the ice for about half the game? Not sure who to pair with Lindell, though.
And I know fans love Hryckowian, but he is a bottom 6 guy playing way too many Top 6 minutes. Have the Stars thought about loading up their top line by replacing him with Robo? Even Sam Steel might be a slight upgrade. The real problem, of course, is that they are missing two top 6 guys (Seguin and Hintz). Tyler isn't going to be available, and I promised not to keep asking if we should be concerned about Hintz.
Anyway, Game 6 is still winnable. Both Minnesota games required overtime. Elimination games are the hardest games to win. Playoff hockey momentum can and does change on a dime. Etc.
Yes, up to a point. Game 6 games tend to be very close and often low-scoring. But yes, the hardest game to win in any playoff series is the game in which you are trying to win the series.
Seems like GG was extremely shortsighted to keep the bottom 6 forwards the same. Without doubt, have to make changes now (i.e. put Bunting in the lineup).
The lack of scoring from the bottom 6 forwards and all defenseman outside of Miro has been the difference here. Zero goals is unacceptable. Harley has been an extreme disappointment.
Stars have won 31 playoff games the last 37 months. If one team was built to come back from a 3-2 deficit, it’s the Stars.
But if they don’t, think we can have conversations on how Jim Nill had a very bad season. His fingerprints are all over this underperformance and the underwhelming options on how to improve this offseason.
Harley has me serious wondering if the Stars "bought high" on him as he's basically been terrible for long stretches of this season and has rarely looked like the top level DMan he did the previous season.
A bad move by Nill. Harley wasn’t close to UFA status. He hasn’t played anywhere near a player worth $10.5M
At the same time, he has totally botched the Robo negotiations. Guaranteed he is going to have to pay at least $2m more per season than he would have if he signed him this past offseason.
a) trading valuable draft capital this year for two players that are total trash (Bunting and Myers)
b) signing two defenseman (Lyubushkin and Dumba) that are/were unplayable in the playoffs that required valuable draft capital to move off the roster (everyone but him knew this when the signings happened)
c) This is more rumor, but not trading a first round pick for Artemi Panarin this season
d) this one is still TBD, but are we sure we won the Rantanen/Stankoven and 2 first round draft picks trade?
a) I am absolutely down to hear criticism about those trades so long as it comes with an alternate plan of whom they should have acquired instead.
b) Dumba was worse, but yeah, neither really has panned out. Desperation after Toronto poached Tanev led to some rushed decisions in UFA, it sure looks like.
c) Ppsh. Panarin chose his destination. That's not on Dallas.
d) If Rantanen comes back healthy next year, the Stars could still have two or three runs left in his deal. But I think it's entirely reasonable to expect the last four years of that deal to be a little rough.
For the first point, I think it’s absolutely fair to criticize those trades without having to offer an alternative trade. I’m not the GM of the Stars nor do I have his resources / insight into the discussions he had with other teams.
But I could also suggest doing nothing and keeping the draft capital would have been better.
For Panarin, there were rumors that he was willing to come to Dallas as a rental but Nill didn’t want to surrender a 1st rd pick. It’s quite possible he chose LA based on his options.
That's fair. Criticism doesn't have to be conditional. But at the time, I think everyone agreed that the Stars needed to do something at the deadline, so I'd prefer to talk about alternative moves rather than saying they should've just stood pat.
That was a terrible effort, I'm sorry. If you're name doesn't being with "Jason" you were outplayed by your counterpart. NONE of the Stars other supposedly best players are showing up.
The blue paint tells us a lot. Every time there's a puck battle in the blue paint the Wild seem to win it. They score when the puck in the Dallas blue paint and they prevent scores when the puck is in the Wild blue paint.
Don't know why the Stars can't shoot but it's ridiculous at this point. I cannot count how many times I've seen players get into prime scoring position, without a stick on them, with a controlled puck...and "the shot is wide" and often not remotely close. Look, if you're aiming for a corner, make sure if you miss it's ON NET. Because this team simply cannot shoot straight right now.
And you can defend Tyler Myers but he's a black hole of ineptitude. The basic numbers say it and the advanced numbers say it. Which just illustrates that yet again Jim Nill has completely whiffed at the trade deadline. He forward he traded for can't break the lineup despite Roope Hintze sitting out and the DMan is by far the worst the player on the ice every game and is clearly being targeted by the Wild.
So spread the blame around...from GM to the coaching staff to pretty much every player on the roster. No one seems to be living up to the moment and that's a sad commentary on a team this accomplished.
I said it in a previous article you wrote, but this roster of players doesn't care or take winning seriously. so I won't take them seriously and I'll just save my time and money. I'm officially done with the Stars organization after over 15 years of fandom. good riddance
Your fandom is your choice, my man. Playoffs bring the most painful losses or the most glorious victories. This series isn't over, but it has been a tough one.
Robert, seriously...how do you put up with such "fan" negativity when things don't go our way? I guess they pay the bills so you have to.
This series isn't over, and our team isn't trash that doesn't care and isn't trying. Only 1 team will win the Cup, and it could still be us. Enjoy the ride, this team has what it takes and I'm looking forward to pulling for them to the end, whenever that may be. Go Stars!
Something that helps me is to remember that venting is a pretty common sports reaction to disappointment. I try to view things more clinically when tensions are high, because emotions make for more fiery responses. As long as no one’s being a jerk to each other on here, it’s all good. Game 6 on Thursday!
Maybe I’m biased simply because I follow the Stars the closest out of all the other teams, but I get the sense that Stars fans (or “fans,” as you say) are really quick to doomsaying, like really quick. They’re like that hyper-critical sports dad that makes you feel like you’re absolute trash at your sport 😂
I think the Stars could have played better, yes, but I also think the Wild just played really well.
Matt Boldy and Brock Faber have been incredible in this series, and they might wind up being the difference. There's no shame in admitting that, for sure.
Watching the skate around during warmups the last few months, it's been obvious that our guys have a shot accuracy problem. With no goalie and no one pursuing them, they miss the net maybe a quarter of the time. Almost every shot on goal in the game last night reflected that.
Is this not the issue I believe it is? (No, really, I'm asking.)
Fair question. You don't beat NHL goalies by going towards the middle of the net, you pick the small open areas around the edges. Hitting those targets at game speed is very challenging.
Please please please DO NOT play Meyers in Game 6. Please don't!. Capo for his offensive capabilities or Petro for his physicality and familiarity playing with Bischel would be better than the "grand stick reacher". Bunting up and Ricksy down...what is there to lose.
To me, a large part of the lack of shots on net in the first two periods, was a function of face offs. To that point, Wild were winning face offs by roughly a 2-1 ratio. This somewhat correlated to shots. It is tough, when we start so many times without puck possession. Yes, other metrics shown by Robert, showed us that things were closer. But at the end of the day, you can’t score if you don’t get a shot on net.
OK, so now is Gully's chance to show that he was the right pick to lead this squad. There is no sugarcoating how bad this team looked in Game 1 and, just when you thought that embarrassment got them to challenge themselves, step up, and play like a cohesive playoff team, they lay this egg in game 5. Inexcusable. We've seen what Rantanen is capable of from the Avs series last year but if he can only raise his level of play for "revenge games" then that's a huge problem. It is up to Gully to light that fire under him and all the other leaders on this team. Even Robo can and should be called out even though he's the only one scoring. He's capable of more. As more than one commenter below has stated, Boldy is clearly the best player on the ice right now and Gully needs to make the Stars' stars acknowledge that and respond on the road.
I recall an article you wrote last year after the playoffs when everyone and their mother wanted to blame Jake Oettinger for our loss that showed that over the last 3 playoffs (22-23 to 24-25) it was the offense, not the goaltending, that was letting us down. We scored something like 30 less goals than expected while actually saving a few more goals than expected.
Unsurprisingly, the offense has let us down again this series. At 5v5, we have an abysmal 93.2 PDO which is laughably bad, considering the save % for Otter has been .906. We are shooting 2.59% at evens! That is absolutely horrendous. We were shooting 13.2% in the regular season! How is more than a 10% drop even possible?!
Once again, a 0 goal 5v5 game, despite generating 2.31 xG and a 56% xG%. Something has got to give. I can't even be mad at Gulutzan, because I feel like he's done a great job managing the lines and deploying the right personnel. It's not his fault that our guys can't finish. Good grief.
Just a word of commendation to Mr. Tiffin. What a deal it is for a die-hard Stars fan to get reports and analysis like this. And sometimes, three times a day! The articles are so well-written and the level of expertise is amazing. If we are truly on the cusp of sending the players home for the summer, I just want to thank Robert for a job well done this year.
IMHO, the pressure is now squarely on MIN. They are the ones with no playoff success, and if Dallas can manage to bring it home for game 7, their fans will be the ones with the knee jerk fatalism.
I’ve watched this team since before the cup. I’m happy we have the ownership and management and roster that we have. We might be a little spoiled, having double digit playoff games over the past three postseasons.
I'm sorry. I watched the game. What are they smoking, especially Jamie Benn? It's the usual, fans-can-see-we're-doomed look when they look slow and can't do anything. They played terrible the second half of the game. That 3rd goal was one of the lamest chances I've seen this club give up in years. Why does the culture never change? They lost 2 terrible games in front of the home fans. They always start series off poorly (except maybe they won game 1 with Edmonton last year I think). How does that poor culture stick around even when coaches change?
I wasn't keen on the hiring of Gulutzan, but as the season wore on I began to think he might have been exactly what this team needed. But his coaching during this playoff series has convinced me that my initial impulse was correct. Leaving Myers in the lineup and refusing to play Petrovic, who was outstanding during last year's playoffs, is insane. And bench penalties for too many men on the ice are always on the coaching staff, as far as I'm concerned. When you list the Dallas Stars who have under-performed during these playoffs, Gulutzan is at the top of the list.
mostly similar core, different coaching staff, similar results. it's mostly on the players like Rantanen, Johnston, Harley, and Otter. Those are the names fans should be pointing to becuase those are the names that have the huge contracts and dissappear. I'd say Hintz and Seguin too but they've been injured
I didn't buy Gulutzan saying this team could become more physical, by being 1% more physical at a time. Especially after they let their most physical forward - Marchment - walk. Then I had high hopes as it seemed to be working during the regular season. Sure enough, in the post season the Stars are back to being dominated physically by a more physical team.
Not sure what I can add to "not enough 5 on 5 scoring" and the soft Boldy goal only a few seconds before the end of the 2nd period. I did see a stat on the hellsite to the effect that expected goals for both teams at 5 v 5 has been about even for the series, but goals scored are 11-3 Wild. That's nuts.
Meyer was just awful tonight. No need to beat that dead horse any further, at least not by me.
If offense is the problem, why not borrow a page from the Wild book and pair Miro and Harley together and have them on the ice for about half the game? Not sure who to pair with Lindell, though.
And I know fans love Hryckowian, but he is a bottom 6 guy playing way too many Top 6 minutes. Have the Stars thought about loading up their top line by replacing him with Robo? Even Sam Steel might be a slight upgrade. The real problem, of course, is that they are missing two top 6 guys (Seguin and Hintz). Tyler isn't going to be available, and I promised not to keep asking if we should be concerned about Hintz.
Anyway, Game 6 is still winnable. Both Minnesota games required overtime. Elimination games are the hardest games to win. Playoff hockey momentum can and does change on a dime. Etc.
The pressure is all on Minnesota, imho.
Yes, up to a point. Game 6 games tend to be very close and often low-scoring. But yes, the hardest game to win in any playoff series is the game in which you are trying to win the series.
Seems like GG was extremely shortsighted to keep the bottom 6 forwards the same. Without doubt, have to make changes now (i.e. put Bunting in the lineup).
The lack of scoring from the bottom 6 forwards and all defenseman outside of Miro has been the difference here. Zero goals is unacceptable. Harley has been an extreme disappointment.
Stars have won 31 playoff games the last 37 months. If one team was built to come back from a 3-2 deficit, it’s the Stars.
But if they don’t, think we can have conversations on how Jim Nill had a very bad season. His fingerprints are all over this underperformance and the underwhelming options on how to improve this offseason.
Harley has me serious wondering if the Stars "bought high" on him as he's basically been terrible for long stretches of this season and has rarely looked like the top level DMan he did the previous season.
A bad move by Nill. Harley wasn’t close to UFA status. He hasn’t played anywhere near a player worth $10.5M
At the same time, he has totally botched the Robo negotiations. Guaranteed he is going to have to pay at least $2m more per season than he would have if he signed him this past offseason.
Other Nill mistakes include:
a) trading valuable draft capital this year for two players that are total trash (Bunting and Myers)
b) signing two defenseman (Lyubushkin and Dumba) that are/were unplayable in the playoffs that required valuable draft capital to move off the roster (everyone but him knew this when the signings happened)
c) This is more rumor, but not trading a first round pick for Artemi Panarin this season
d) this one is still TBD, but are we sure we won the Rantanen/Stankoven and 2 first round draft picks trade?
a) I am absolutely down to hear criticism about those trades so long as it comes with an alternate plan of whom they should have acquired instead.
b) Dumba was worse, but yeah, neither really has panned out. Desperation after Toronto poached Tanev led to some rushed decisions in UFA, it sure looks like.
c) Ppsh. Panarin chose his destination. That's not on Dallas.
d) If Rantanen comes back healthy next year, the Stars could still have two or three runs left in his deal. But I think it's entirely reasonable to expect the last four years of that deal to be a little rough.
For the first point, I think it’s absolutely fair to criticize those trades without having to offer an alternative trade. I’m not the GM of the Stars nor do I have his resources / insight into the discussions he had with other teams.
But I could also suggest doing nothing and keeping the draft capital would have been better.
For Panarin, there were rumors that he was willing to come to Dallas as a rental but Nill didn’t want to surrender a 1st rd pick. It’s quite possible he chose LA based on his options.
That's fair. Criticism doesn't have to be conditional. But at the time, I think everyone agreed that the Stars needed to do something at the deadline, so I'd prefer to talk about alternative moves rather than saying they should've just stood pat.
a) fixed what wasn’t broken…and could have used the picks more.
No disagreements on b) and c).
That was a terrible effort, I'm sorry. If you're name doesn't being with "Jason" you were outplayed by your counterpart. NONE of the Stars other supposedly best players are showing up.
The blue paint tells us a lot. Every time there's a puck battle in the blue paint the Wild seem to win it. They score when the puck in the Dallas blue paint and they prevent scores when the puck is in the Wild blue paint.
Don't know why the Stars can't shoot but it's ridiculous at this point. I cannot count how many times I've seen players get into prime scoring position, without a stick on them, with a controlled puck...and "the shot is wide" and often not remotely close. Look, if you're aiming for a corner, make sure if you miss it's ON NET. Because this team simply cannot shoot straight right now.
And you can defend Tyler Myers but he's a black hole of ineptitude. The basic numbers say it and the advanced numbers say it. Which just illustrates that yet again Jim Nill has completely whiffed at the trade deadline. He forward he traded for can't break the lineup despite Roope Hintze sitting out and the DMan is by far the worst the player on the ice every game and is clearly being targeted by the Wild.
So spread the blame around...from GM to the coaching staff to pretty much every player on the roster. No one seems to be living up to the moment and that's a sad commentary on a team this accomplished.
I said it in a previous article you wrote, but this roster of players doesn't care or take winning seriously. so I won't take them seriously and I'll just save my time and money. I'm officially done with the Stars organization after over 15 years of fandom. good riddance
lol
"Enjoy the ride" to nowhere. Your name is fitting since you sound like a Cowboys fan, and look at that franchise
Your fandom is your choice, my man. Playoffs bring the most painful losses or the most glorious victories. This series isn't over, but it has been a tough one.
I appreciate the diligent work, Tiffin. I capped off the night with this article and it didn't disappoint even if game five did-
Robert, seriously...how do you put up with such "fan" negativity when things don't go our way? I guess they pay the bills so you have to.
This series isn't over, and our team isn't trash that doesn't care and isn't trying. Only 1 team will win the Cup, and it could still be us. Enjoy the ride, this team has what it takes and I'm looking forward to pulling for them to the end, whenever that may be. Go Stars!
Something that helps me is to remember that venting is a pretty common sports reaction to disappointment. I try to view things more clinically when tensions are high, because emotions make for more fiery responses. As long as no one’s being a jerk to each other on here, it’s all good. Game 6 on Thursday!
Maybe I’m biased simply because I follow the Stars the closest out of all the other teams, but I get the sense that Stars fans (or “fans,” as you say) are really quick to doomsaying, like really quick. They’re like that hyper-critical sports dad that makes you feel like you’re absolute trash at your sport 😂
I think the Stars could have played better, yes, but I also think the Wild just played really well.
Matt Boldy and Brock Faber have been incredible in this series, and they might wind up being the difference. There's no shame in admitting that, for sure.
Watching the skate around during warmups the last few months, it's been obvious that our guys have a shot accuracy problem. With no goalie and no one pursuing them, they miss the net maybe a quarter of the time. Almost every shot on goal in the game last night reflected that.
Is this not the issue I believe it is? (No, really, I'm asking.)
Fair question. You don't beat NHL goalies by going towards the middle of the net, you pick the small open areas around the edges. Hitting those targets at game speed is very challenging.
A STH near us calls those middle-of-the-net ones Shots on Goalie.
Boldy is a dude and has made our dudes look like guys.
I would accept this as a complete series recap if game 6 goes like a vast majority of the series has gone to this point. Take notes Robert
Please please please DO NOT play Meyers in Game 6. Please don't!. Capo for his offensive capabilities or Petro for his physicality and familiarity playing with Bischel would be better than the "grand stick reacher". Bunting up and Ricksy down...what is there to lose.
To me, a large part of the lack of shots on net in the first two periods, was a function of face offs. To that point, Wild were winning face offs by roughly a 2-1 ratio. This somewhat correlated to shots. It is tough, when we start so many times without puck possession. Yes, other metrics shown by Robert, showed us that things were closer. But at the end of the day, you can’t score if you don’t get a shot on net.
OK, so now is Gully's chance to show that he was the right pick to lead this squad. There is no sugarcoating how bad this team looked in Game 1 and, just when you thought that embarrassment got them to challenge themselves, step up, and play like a cohesive playoff team, they lay this egg in game 5. Inexcusable. We've seen what Rantanen is capable of from the Avs series last year but if he can only raise his level of play for "revenge games" then that's a huge problem. It is up to Gully to light that fire under him and all the other leaders on this team. Even Robo can and should be called out even though he's the only one scoring. He's capable of more. As more than one commenter below has stated, Boldy is clearly the best player on the ice right now and Gully needs to make the Stars' stars acknowledge that and respond on the road.
I recall an article you wrote last year after the playoffs when everyone and their mother wanted to blame Jake Oettinger for our loss that showed that over the last 3 playoffs (22-23 to 24-25) it was the offense, not the goaltending, that was letting us down. We scored something like 30 less goals than expected while actually saving a few more goals than expected.
Unsurprisingly, the offense has let us down again this series. At 5v5, we have an abysmal 93.2 PDO which is laughably bad, considering the save % for Otter has been .906. We are shooting 2.59% at evens! That is absolutely horrendous. We were shooting 13.2% in the regular season! How is more than a 10% drop even possible?!
Once again, a 0 goal 5v5 game, despite generating 2.31 xG and a 56% xG%. Something has got to give. I can't even be mad at Gulutzan, because I feel like he's done a great job managing the lines and deploying the right personnel. It's not his fault that our guys can't finish. Good grief.
Just a word of commendation to Mr. Tiffin. What a deal it is for a die-hard Stars fan to get reports and analysis like this. And sometimes, three times a day! The articles are so well-written and the level of expertise is amazing. If we are truly on the cusp of sending the players home for the summer, I just want to thank Robert for a job well done this year.
You are far too kind, Timothy. Thank you for reading!
Seconded
I had to wait >24 hours to post.
Thanks for the incredible work, Robert.
IMHO, the pressure is now squarely on MIN. They are the ones with no playoff success, and if Dallas can manage to bring it home for game 7, their fans will be the ones with the knee jerk fatalism.
I’ve watched this team since before the cup. I’m happy we have the ownership and management and roster that we have. We might be a little spoiled, having double digit playoff games over the past three postseasons.
I remember the bankruptcy days.