Game 23 AfterThoughts: American Goaltending Battle Royale, Round 2
In talking about the Stars’ win over Winnipeg tonight, Pete DeBoer mentioned how the Chicago loss was perhaps the low point of the season for the Stars. So to respond to that loss with two close wins against two division rivals is about as effective a way of hitting the RESET button as you could ask for.
For Jake Oettinger, this win was important individually, too. With the Four Nations Faceoff rosters about to be announced on Wednesday, this was a big statement game after Oettinger’s last appearance against the presumptive USA starter Connor Hellebuyck, when Oettinger was pulled after the Stars as a team failed to make a game of it in a bad loss. This time around, Oettinger let in the first goal he faced on a tricky deflection, then stopped everything else for the rest of the game en route to a big win.
“It would be one of the coolest things of my career to make that team,” said Oettinger of Team USA. “Hopefully I’ve done enough up to this point to do that, and I feel like I have, so we’ll see what happens.”
The whole team looked better in this one right alongside Oettinger, with Dallas having the better of play through the first period, jumping out to big leads in shots on goal, and being just one converted power play away from a multi-goal lead. It was an encouraging sign that these Stars are not the same team who got their goaltender subjected to crowd taunts in Winnipeg.
“We forechecked them better, we kind of slowed them up in the neutral zone a little bit better, and we defended better,” said Thomas Harley after the game when asked about this game compared to the one in Winnipeg last month. “Do those three things pretty well, you’re gonna have a good chance to win.”
It was even more impressive for Dallas to do those three things well, given it was the Stars’ second game in a row without Logan Stankoven, and with Alex Petrovic stepping in for Matt Dumba, who has effectively played himself out of the lineup for the time being. Nikolaj Ehlers also missed the game for Winnipeg, and they looked like they could’ve used one more forward in this game. Either he’s the catalyst for Winnipeg’s entire game, or they’re just not in the form they were three weeks ago. One suspects the latter, but one should always be suspicious of Winnipeg when it comes to sustained success of any kind, really.
***
When power plays are 5-1 to the home side through 40 minutes, you probably shouldn’t be tied at one goal apiece. When I asked DeBoer if the Stars had been resilient to come out with a win despite going 0-for-5 on the man advantage, he pushed back a little. “Hellebuyck had a lot to say about that,” said DeBoer. “I mean, we got some really good looks including a breakaway by Roope, so sometimes you have to tip your hat to the goalie on the other team. I thought despite the fact we didn’t score on it, I think it felt more dangerous than it did a week ago, and we gotta continue to build on that.”
DeBoer also mentioned before the game that the Stars’ 5-on-5 scoring has been really good lately, and he’s right. The struggles of the Stars’ power play have overshadowed some really excellent 5-on-5 play over the past month, and even the season as a whole. Since November 1st, Dallas has the third-most 5v5 goals in the NHL. And over the season as a whole, the Stars had the fifth-best 5v5 goals differential in the league. That improved a couple of ticks tonight, as well.
Still, things started with some disappoint early, when the Stars’ great start failed to get a puck past Hellebuyck, and Haydn Fleury then found Adam Lowry for a great tip to make it 1-0. It was an odd tip where Oettinger’s pad couldn’t get to the post in time, and it’s probably not one he will enjoy watching back later. But his ability to stay calm and stop everything else he saw from that point onward was vital.
Oettinger matched his USA counterpart as the game progressed, eventually exceeding him. Lowry had another shot on Oettinger off the rush where the Stars’ goalie was able to flash a blocker to keep things level. He made an even bigger save on Morgan Barron when the power play hiccuped late in the first period and Heiskanen fell on the backcheck, avoiding what would have been a really demoralizing shorthanded goal against. Oettinger also appeared to have a massive stop on Mark Scheifele when the Jets were getting desperate late in the third period, which is when great goaltending has the most to prove. Upon further inspection, the shot may have gone wide on its own, though. Nevertheless, given Oettinger’s much-improved start to this season over last year, it’s an encouraging sign of what Dallas will hope to see in the spring.
***
Dallas had two great rush chances right after going down 1-0, but neither of them was converted. Robertson got a 2-on-1 thanks to smart work by Miro Heiskanen and Ilya Lyubsuhkin just after the first TV timeout, but Robertson ripped a shot just wide of the far post, which was a theme for the offense on a number of their best chances tonight. Then Evgenii Dadonov got a breakaway from a great Thomas Harley feed a minute later, during which he drew a slashing penalty on Logan Stanley. Only a great Connor Hellebuyck poke check foiled Dadonov on the chance, and only a less-great power play from Dallas foiled any further chances on a power play that couldn’t really get into the shot retrieval mode DeBoer has talked about. Benn had the best chance from the guts of the slot, but he likewise missed the net.
Connor Hellebuyck equalled Oettinger in the opening portion of the game, including a stop off Hintz just after the buzzer with his right toe. It woudn’t have counted, but it was still a sign that the best goalie in the NHL wasn’t going anywhere. And appropriately enough, Hellebuyck then stopped Hintz in ithe second period on the final portion of the same power play, as a great Finnish Breakout sent Hintz in alone, but Hellebuyck’s right arm was equal to the task. And Hellebuyck would complete his trio of frustration off the rush in the third, when he got a giant breakaway of his very own, only to make a move to his backhand and put the puck over the crossbar.
Of course, Hintz would get a breakaway without Hellebuyck in net in the final seconds of the game, so at least Roope Hintz vs. The Breakaway had a happy ending.
Dadonov was active all over the ice in this one, drawing two penalties in the first half of the game, as well as dealing two big hits in the first period. The first one was on Nino Niederreiter (who was an antagonist throughout the night for Dallas, as Jamie Benn also experienced), and the second one was a collision with Mason Marchment. Marchment got up slowly, and skated to the bench cradling his right arm. However, Marchment would come right back out to finish his next shift, because he is probably tougher than you are. Right now, in the NHL as a whole, he appears to be tougher (and better) than most other people, NHLers or otherwise.
Despite the early miscues, Dallas would end up getting back to level in the period, which they fully deserved to do.
You have to give Wyatt Johnston a ton of credit on this play. It’s his work on the wall that helps the puck to get out of the zone, and his pursuit of the puck allows Hintz’s good work to get the puck moving north, where Robertson was waiting, and where Harley was busting up the ice to join the attack. It’s fitting that Johnston’s great shot into the upper reaches of the net finished off the play, given all he invested into its creation.
As for the top six, the Duchene trio created a lethal chance early in the second where Seguin missed the net, but it might have been the top line that actually looked like The Top Line for much of Sunday afternoon, as Hintz and Robertson combined for ten shots on goal and a good deal of puck possession. It didn’t result in anything for the first 59 minutes of the game, but you can’t say they weren’t trying.
Jason Robertson drew a big hooking penalty early in the Stars’ third power play of the game to give them 1:31 of 5-on-3 time, and it was nearly Robertson himself who converted it, firing all of the Stars’ shots on the two-man advantage before a not-sly-enough Hintz stick-hold was caught by the officials, wiping out the remaining time on the 5-on-3 to frustrate the Stars’ power play on its fourth chance of the day.
The Stars’ fifth chance of the day wouldn’t look much better, with an aggressive Winnipeg kill preventing Dallas from even testing Hellebuyck at all. Here’s what the Stars’ shots looked like on their five power play opportunities in the first two periods:
It’s not absolutely awful, but it’s not great, either. I’m inclined to agree with DeBoer and give Hellebuyck some credit, but I’m also inclined to say the Stars’ best players need to test the opposing goalie more than the back glass with those chances, too.
Jame Benn played a lot of minutes in this game, and the power plays were a big part of it. He also looked to have set up a goal right off the bat in the third period, only for the whistle to be blown after Benn’s stick-lift ended up catching Neal Pionk up high, sending the Jets to a power play of their own. But all power plays in this game seemed destined to fail, and the Jets woudn’t seriously threaten for the next two minutes.
The third period had a real playoff feel to it, including a long stretch of 5:28 without a whistle. But Dallas seemed to be looking for that one extra pass to really beat Hellebuyck, and the Winnipeg defense (which includes all five skaters, usually) was able to largely prevent the highest-grade looks from happening.
That ended when Mason Marchment spent an extra moment to harass Nino Niederreiter in the neutral zone, after which Marchment waited for Harley to find him after curling out from behind the Stars net, and that is what happened. Marchment was caught by Josh Morrissey, but he then used his frame to shield the puck and turn his back to the net, after which he sent a blind backhand high past Hellebuck’s glove hand and into the net.
It was a beautiful goal, even if the moral of it is something like, “cause trouble away from the puck, then wait for someone else to give you a great pass.” I suppose every goal can’t be a fable, but Marchment did all the important work that too many of his teammates couldn’t, and that’s a virtue all its own.
Despite Harley showing his excellent passing abilities when he assisted Johnston off the rush, as well as his long-distance passing prowess when he fed Dadonov for a slick breakaway earlier in the game, he confessed afterwards that he absolutely hadn’t made the latter pass on purpose.
“I didn’t see him at all,” said Harley. “Oetts kind of gave me a puck, and I just tried to flip it out into the neutral zone. I didn’t get anything on it.”
You can see from this shot how close the clearance came to getting blocked:
“I was also shocked that it got through,” said Harley. “Oetts kind of messed it up, I definitely messed it up, and then Mush didn’t, so it was good.”
Marchment and Jake Oettinger are good buddies, so it was only fitting that Oettinger got an assist for “messing it up,” as he even came out to the circles to give Marchment a first bump at the end of the bench line during the goal celebration. “I had to,” laughed Oettinger about the fist bump after the game.
Oettinger also gave his buddy a ribbing, which is absolutely what you do when a player scores a world-class game-winner like Marchment did. “I thought he fumbled it,” Oettinger said with a smile afterwards. “I fumbled it 200 feet away below our goal line, and it ended up as an assist. Give the puck to the hottest player in the league, and good stuff happens.”
“As one of my closest friends, from that standpoint, I’m just so happy and proud of [Marchment],” said Oettinger. “Everyone goes through ups and downs, like I’ve done and he’s done. He’s gone through a lot, so just to have him playing the way that he is, it’s awesome. He deserves all the recognition, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy.”
It was a giant catharsis for the whole crowd in Dallas, who filled a building on a Sunday afternoon during football season, which wouldn’t have been the case for a lot of past years. But this team has built something special in Dallas, as evidenced by consecutive Western Conference Finals appearances. And when you show up to watch a good team play hockey, good stuff often tends to happen.
Winnipeg pulled Hellebuyck with about 1:45 remaining in the period, but Dallas did what they did against Colorado, and weathered the storm as a group while their goaltender cleaned up the remnants of desperation the opponent threw at them. Hintz’s empty-netter was a nice punctuation mark (you choose which one) on the whole afternoon, and certainly it must have been nice for Hintz to come out of this game with something to show for it despite his fruitless chances at high speed.
***
Now Dallas hits the road again, with games against Utah on Monday, Los Angeles on Wednesday, and Vegas on Friday. Given that Seguin is said to be missing back-to-backs this year, it will be interesting to see who Dallas calls up if Stankoven still isn’t ready to play Monday night.
Finally, I wanted to point out that Nils Lundkvist had his second great game in a row after returning from injury. Playing well against Colorado in a fast-paced game with a big leads for most of it is one thing, but playing just as effectively and consistently against the Jets in a tight game for 60 minutes was perhaps more impressive.
It’s easy to get down on one player or another when they don’t meet expectations, but this is a great time in the season to point out how fantastically above expectations players like Lundkvist have been. It’s been a journey for him, and of course it’s far from over. But you can’t really ask any more of him than what he’s done so far, and it’s pretty rewarding to see it paying off for him right now.
Finally, whatever Seguin is dealing with this year, you have to be really impressed at how he’s battling through it. He is still doing every bit of the hard work you need to see from that line, and you could see DeBoer give him an atta boy on the bench right after the Marchment goal. Even on a night when the Duchene line wasn’t carrying play for most of the game, they still found a way to win the game. And if that’s not the definition of a top line, I don’t know what is.