Game 48 AfterThoughts: National Noetteriety

It’s been a pretty cold January in Dallas. But for a couple of hours tonight, you would’ve sworn it was May, because this one felt like a playoff game in all the best ways.

You had a hotly-debated icing call that Matt Duchene still coulldn’t believe the officials didn’t see correctly in real time. The palpable momentum swung for each team at different times, and every mistake was getting punished early, as Vegas’s top-five power play diced up the Stars’ allegedly elite penalty kill on both of their first two chances.

And despite Dallas scoring three goals in a second period they largely controlled, they still needed a world-class save from Jake Oettinger in the final minute to seal the win. It was dramatic, heart-stopping, infuriating, glorious, and unbelievable. It was the sort of performance that almost seems like it deserves more than one win in the playoffs, let alone midway through the regular season, if only for the years it seemed to take off your life.

Honestly, you could spend ten minutes just waxing poetic about that Jake Oettinger absurdity at the end of this game, and I won’t tell you not to do that. Heck, his family is probably clipping that last save and sending 500 DVDs of it to Bill Guerin’s office before the 4 Nations lineup is finalized for Game 1, or at least that’s what people would have done 15 years ago, when burning DVDs was something anybody still did. Maybe now they just send Reels or something, but whatever. When you’re done screaming out in delirious joy after watching this clip in whatever way you can, you should also pause for a moment to celebrate Colin Blackwell’s diving block in the 6-on-5 defensive formation at the end of the game, or Logan Stankoven’s critical block, massive takeaway, and his beautiful secondary assist on the first Dallas goal. Because the thing about winning a playoff-type game is that it usually takes heroism up and down the lineup.

That heroism took the form of nostalgia early on, because not only did the Stars score on a couple of great deflections to suitably honor Joe Pavelski’s attendance at the game, but two of their top-line players also stepped up, as Vintage Jason Robertson led the charge by also being Current Jason Robertson, scoring two huge goals of his own, while Roope Hintz’s tip-in was one to rival even number 16’s old office work.

“It’s always a tough game when you play against Vegas,” said Jason Robertson afterwards, with a wry chuckle. “I mean, we’re gonna play them [again] in less than a week, in their building…it’s not so much playoff mentality, but it’s just, you gotta win.”

That’s it, of course. You gotta win. And in a game that probably means a tad more to Pete DeBoer than other ones, given how Vegas dismissed him in the not-too-distant past, he chose a few interesting tactics in [successful] pursuit of said win.

For instance, Brendan Smith played a game at forward, because why not see if a 6’2″, 200 lb. veteran can give you ten minutes of brute-force wisdom on the fourth line? And that’s exactly what Smith did, dealing out two hits and even coming close to what would have been an impossibly wonderful moment when he put on a shot on goal that just didn’t quite navigate though a flabbergasted Adin Hill.

“I thought Brenden did a good job,” said DeBoer. “I thought that line gave us some minutes. They had a little bit of an identity, were hard to play against, and finished some checks. I thought [Smith] did a good job.”

The Stars also recalled Lian Bichsel before this game and deployed him alongside Matt Dumba on a third pairing, while Nils Lundkvist got his first healthy scratch in a long while after a rough game against Carolina. And with DeBoer having previously spread his three top centers onto three different lines for avowed playoff possibilities, it was hard not to see the defensive arrangement as a similar experiment. Dumba and Bichsel are a pair equal parts mobile and physical when they’re at their best. And in Bichsel’s case, a second stint in Dallas sure does seem like a chance for everyone to decide just how playoff-ready the rookie is; and, based on his crushing hits and responsible play tonight, the answer is: probably pretty darn close:

“I thought [Bichsel] was great,” said DeBoer. “He jumped right in. Big hit early in the game to get himself and our group kind of engaged physically. I thought he was really really solid with the puck. He’s a hard guy to play against. And against a big, heavy team like that, you need bodies like that in the lineup, and I thought he did a really good job.”

That’s a pretty telling quote at the end, isn’t it? DeBoer, like most human beings and also NHL coaches, prefers having size to combat size. We already kind of knew that after the Nils Lundkvist cameos last spring, but this sort of clinches the Stars’ approach toward big, playoff teams, I think. And what that means for players like Lundkvist is a question that’s been hanging over his head all season long, even with long stretches in the lineup. Because when crunch time comes, coaches tend to revert to their most deeply-held beliefs. As do all humans.

Maybe that means Brendan Smith isn’t just making a one-night appearance at forward, though that seems more like a result of Marchment’s being unavailable than it does a primary strategy. But then again, one never knows, does one? And with the Stars heading to Vegas next week (after playing in St. Louis tomorrow), it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see a similar lineup to tonight’s deployed in one of the toughest buildings in the league.

***

Credit the Stars for some tactical adjustments too, by the way. Logan Stankoven put it this way: “I think the message from our team was to try and play down low and try and put some pressure on their defensemen, and I thought we created some good chances tonight from that.”

That’s a fairly unremarkable statement by itself, but when you couple that with Vegas’s own coach and his always-candid assessment of their play, the comments really begin to shed more light on what happened tonight.

“They outcompeted us in the second period,” said Brue Cassidy. “I thought the first was a fairly even game, not a lot going on, both power plays get a goal and the second period they turned it up a notch. We weren’t able to handle it. Breaking out below the goal line was an issue. It cost us a penalty. First period they score on some other opportunities and then again later in the second another goal that starts with that. They were good putting pressure on us, they do it well, they forecheck well.

When the Stars are at their best, they’re pressuring methodical teams and forcing them out of their comfort zone. For Vegas, that starts down low. And tonight, the Stars made a couple of adjustments after twenty minutes to ensure they could do that.

“I thought we started a little slow trying to feel the game out,” said DeBoer. “I thought at the end of the first period we talked about trying to dictate instead of waiting to see what happens, and I thought we did that for the big middle-chunk of that game and I thought we really took it over, but then [Vegas] got that third goal and those are the momentum swings when you have two really good teams playing. That changes the whole feel of the game down the stretch.”

Miro Heiskanen played the first period next to Esa Lindell, but then in the second period, Thomas Harley was moved up alongside him, and that’s where things stayed. DeBoer said after the game that after the first period, Dallas switched up the defense pairings, and that they would have switched up the forward lines soon after, if the Stars hadn’t taken control of the game the way they did. I suppose it’s always good to know there’s a plan B.

And finally, let me say one more time that Logan Stankoven had one of the best games without a goal you’re ever going to see, winning multiple tough battles all night long, including an incredible shift late in the third period after which he finally knocked the puck out of the zone at the blue line, then pursued it down the ice with ferocity, drawing another roar from the crowd.

He could’ve had a goal, too, on Hintz’s feed earlier, but as my press box neighbor Sam Nestler said during the game, a fully confident Stankoven probably catches the pass and holds it, then scores on the backhand. Intead, Stankoven tried for the immediate tip, and got it on goal but not into it. But if a game like this is what Stankoven can bring without scoring a goal, he genuinely will continue to be a crucial piece for these Stars for a while to come.

And one suspects, like with Robertson, the goals will come, eventually.

***

William Karlsson was out for Vegas, and the Golden Knights also played last night in St. Louis, where the Stars are headed now. So in theory, the Stars were the more rested team. And in the second period, with the long change, it looked like it. But in the third period, Vegas mashed their foot down on the gas, and the Stars’ inability to get a fifth goal (which is hardly cause for complaint) meant that their goaltender would be called upon in the final minute. The convenient thing, however, is that the Stars have a really good goaltender.

Anyway, the full lines in warmup looked like this:

Robertson-Johnston-Dadonov
Benn-Duchene-Bourque
Steel-Hintz-Stankoven
Smith-Bäck-Blackwell

Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lyubushkin
Bichsel-Dumba

Oettinger in goal

Brendan Smith at forward was a surprising choice, though when you look at Matěj Blümel’s lack of third-period ice time against Carolina, the writing was probably on the wall in terms of how much DeBoer was willing to trust yet another average-sized rookie on the fourth line. Instead, the Stars rolled out Smith with a bigger center and a speedy winger in Blackwell, with the third defense pairing often backing them up. If you want to talk about Setting a Tone (and coaches always do seem to love talking about that), then that’s a five-man group what can set a tone heard round the metroplex.

Colin Blackwell had five hits, and Brendan Smith had two (while also looking pretty at-home offensively, which is a pretty remarkable thing for a veteran defenseman who’s only played at wing in spurts of his career). Lian Bichsel had another four hits as well, and given how often that pair and the fourth line played together tonight, I have to think Vegas experienced the group as a package deal.

***

All right, onto the game action.

Lian Bichsel laid a huge hit on Tanner Perason on his first shift of the game, and that came after Brendan Smith laid a decent hit on the forecheck, too. Jamie Benn took a hooking penalty three minutes into the game to put Vegas’s 4th-ranked power play on the job, and they didn’t waste time. Jack Eichel pounded home a one-timer just 31 seconds in after a Mark Stone feed. It all came after Dallas lost their shape on the penalty kill, but then, that’s what good power plays do, isn’t it?

However, Dallas punched right back after a Nic Hague hooking penalty. After a minute of the top unit not generating much, the second group came out and took care of business. Logan Stankoven made a sharp pass at the blue line on the entry, and Evgenii Dadonov took it and tossed a knee-high feed to Roope Hintz at the crease, where Hintz whacked the puck past Adin Hill like he was playing pesäpallo back in the schoolyard. Tie game, 1-1, six minutes in.

Perhaps I should have said that Hintz tipped the puck in like Joe Pavelski, given that the beloved former Star showed up in Dallas to give a paternal smile to all of his teammates. Good on Hintz to pay homage to the master.

Jack Eichel almost scored his second goal just nine minutes in, pulling Jake Oettinger out of position and nearly wrapping the puck around into an empty net. But Mavrik Bourque made a solid play at the far post to take Eichel’s stick, preventing the scoring chance from succeeding, which is the general idea in the defensive zone.

Eichel was a consistent threat during the first period, even rebuffing a hit attempt from Ilya Lyubushkin on a zone entry. But Dallas started generating some chances of their own, particularly from below the goal line, and both teams had better-than-average chances to do damage, though no further tallies were to be found. As expected, Vegas largely probed from distance, whereas Dallas was more selective in order to generate closer chances:

In the second period, Dallas started generating more consistent pressure, and it resulted in their second power play after Noah Hanifin got nailed for cross checking Sam Steel. It was a pretty borderline call, but Steel went into the boards, and that was violent enough to draw the call.

The power plays didn’t generate much at all, unless you count the breakaway Noah Hanifin got coming out of the box. But Oettinger made the save, and Lindell cleared the rebound, and when all was said and done, a Matt Duchene rush chance bounced off Adin Hill and right to Jason Robertson, who made a great catch on the hot rebound, then whipped the puck back along the ice and just inside the near post to make it 2-1.

But you watched the series last year, so you know what it’s like to play Vegas. Sam Steel took an avoidable tripping penalty 200 feet away from his net, and the Knights died up the Dallas penalty kill like so much mirepoix. Wyatt Johnston appeared to overplay a possible drop pass, allowing Shea Theodore to completely bypass both forwards on his way into the zone, creating a 3-on-2, after which it was 2 to 2 thanks to a Shea Theodore goal that came on a play with Tomáš Hertl that no goalie on earth was ever going to stop.

Mavrik Bourque fanned on a gorgeous one-timer setup from his linemates, and for a moment it looked like the shift would be a missed opportunity. But then Jamie Benn executed the exact tip play he practices every morning skate, taking a Matt Duchene shot from the point and perfectly drawing it past Hill to give the Stars back the lead. It was the simple sort of play that has so rarely gone in for Dallas this year, but they couldn’t have picked a better time to finally convert it.

Speaking of which, Jason Robertson may have waited to get his season going, but he’s caught fire like a house, uh, that’s really warm, and he potted his second goal of the game after Wyatt Johnston did a ton of heavy lifting to bring the puck in, and to beat Tanner Pearson and Brayden McNabb in order to kick the puck to Robertson, who then whipped it over Hill.

The final minutes of the period saw further chances for both teams, with Oettinger being tasked with a 30-foot shot from Mark Stone with three seconds remaining. It was a shot that was more dangerous than the Stars ought to have allowed any shot to be at that point of the game, but sometimes you just need your goalie to make a save, and Oettinger did.

The third period saw Dallas’s defensive structure come to the fore. Vegas created some scrambles around Oettinger, but Dallas consistently had players in the right spots, and the only real threat for Vegas in the first eight minutes was a fluttering puck that went over Oettinger’s glove before gently bouncing off the top of the net and away.

Roope Hintz looked to have created the Stars’ fifth goal with a feed to the front of the net off the rush, but it turns out that Hintz can’t feed the puck to himself from 20 feet away, and Logan Stankoven was the recipient. And despite getting a decent stick on the puck, it wasn’t enough to beat Hill.

From there, Vegas really started applying the pressure. And they got their third goal when Oettinger couldn’t stop a dump-in behind the net, and when Lian Bichsel lost a board battle, and Vegas eventually got a point shot to the net with traffic, as had been their M.O. all night long. This time, the puck bounced off Oettinger and traffic accumulated in his crease, and Jack Eichel beat Thomas Harley to the loose puck, slamming it home to halve the lead.

Things got even more tense a bit later, when Esa Lindell flipped a puck over the boards behind the Dallas bench (in spite of Mavrik Bourque and Brendan Smith’s effort to reach up and keep the puck in play, which would have been a hilarious turn of events, as I’m not sure if you can call the basketball version of goaltending in the NHL). That led to another power play for the 2-for-2 Vegas advantage—and with Esa Lindell in the box, no less.

But, irony of ironies, the first successful penalty kill of the day came with the Stars’ most important penalty-killer unavailable for comment, and Dallas escaped.

They almost got victimized late on a Jason Robertson icing call that the Stars universally opposed. Duchene had a pretty great quote about the blown call at the end of the game, when he diplomatically praised Jake Oettinger (you’ll see why in a moment) for ensuring the icing call didn’t end up being a bigger talking point, but you know, the thing about playoff-like games is that you can’t dictate what breaks you get; you can only overcome them, or not.

Dorofeyev had a break himself at the end, and a chance to tie game on his stick, except Jake Oettinger’s glove remembered it was on national television, and it lashed back in full stretch, ripping the puck out of its path to preserve the net.

JAKE OETTINGER!!

SAVE OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE!! pic.twitter.com/T54UVqrMhs

— NHL (@NHL) January 25, 2025

And just for good measure, Oettinger made another sprawling save on Hertl with six seconds to go, because sometimes, if you want something done right, you just have to go ahead and do it yourself.

It was a huge win after the tough loss against Carolina on Tuesday, and on national television, no less. At least, I’m told the Stars were in this game, though judging by Stars Twitter, this game’s commentary may have mostly featured talk of Jack Eichel passing the puck to himself all night long, but that’s what I get for judging anything based on Twitter, I suppose.

I’d love to say this game only makes you look forward to the rematch early next week in Vegas, but I think all of us remember how stressful that series was, and even how stressful this game’s final ten minutes were. So maybe this game just makes me look forward to going to sleep tonight, because I think we’ve all earned forty winks after this fantastic hockey game. And Jake Oettinger, in particular.