Game 61 AfterThoughts: Course Correction

This game might have gone differently a few months ago

If this game happens earlier in the season, the Stars might lose this one.

Yes, the Stars built a 3-1 lead. And yes, they had a dominant first period that Pete DeBoer acknowledged ought to have given them more than a one-goal advantage.

But when crunch time hit, the Devils went 2-for-2 on the power play, and they brought a huge push in the final ten minutes to erase a two-goal deficit. They were working harder than Dallas, and the Stars looked scrambly in spite of Casey DeSmith making some genuinly outstanding saves.

It looked for all the world like New Jersey was looking to make a statement win after losing Jack Hughes for an undisclosed amount of time after a nasty injury the other night. Coming back to grab a game like this with their captain back home undergoing treatment and evaluation would have been a massive morale boost for the stretch run of the season, for New Jersey.

But in a game where things got a little unhinged at times, Dallas outperformed New Jersey when it mattered most, and they walked away with a win.

They got a clutch power play goal from Roope Hintz in a must-score situation at a 5-on-3 right at the end of the second period, marking their second straight game where they scored a goal in the final minute of the second period. (And they added another one in the final minute of the third, to boot.)

The Stars weren’t deadly enough on those sorts of chances early in the season, whether breakaways or power plays or what have you. But failing to get at least one power play goal out of five chances in this one would have been a big downer for the whole bench, so they found a way to get it. And despite some excellent saves by Markström on Hintz, the Stars’ center stuck with it, and buried the feed from Johnston, which he received from Thomas Harley. Both Johnston and Harley had a goal and an assist tonight—a total which is somehow a comedown for Johnston after his hat trick the other night.

Harley, meanwhile is just steadily excellent, facilitating Dallas’s scoring in lieu of being able to play 40 minutes a night (so far).

Hintz had to settle for a mere three points in this one, meaning he’s now at a truly ridiculous 11 points in his last three games.

Sometimes when you’re rolling, everything goes your way. But other times, you get just enough to go your way to tip the scales at the last moment. Earlier in the season, that was the other team in some tight games. But lately, everything’s been coming up Millhouse Dallas. That builds a lot of confidence in a team at a time when the games are getting more important every night.

There might be no better indicator for how good things are, though, than the go-ahead goal in the second period. Seeing Ilya Lyubushkin score his first goal in nearly two years sent the bench into delirium, and Lyubushkin couldn’t stop smiling when talking about it after the game.

First, he cracked a joke about how his last goal took place a couple years ago, “So, see you guys in a couple years.”

Finally, he scoffed at the suggestion that he might have looked to pass the puck: “Shoot, always shoot.”

And when you shoot like he did, it’s the right call, always—every couple of years. For the Stars not to come away with the win in this game, after that goal? That would’ve been downright criminal. It’s nice when you get rewarded for hard work.

Thomas Harley added this, about his defense partner:

“He’s the best. Solid defensively. He’s always letting me go up the ice and play offense, and there’s a lot of positivity.”

If you doubt the positivity part, then I have some proof for you.

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Wyatt Johnston, who started the season slow after recovering from injury, kicked off the scoring with an all-world play, basically the hockey equivalent of a pick-six. He jumped a pass in the defensive zone and just ate up ice with every stride, leaving Dougie Hamilton in his wake.

In a way, Johnston was negotiating his contract extension (still in progress) with the brilliant takeaway/breakaway sequence. Take a look at where he starts, and where he ends up.

After getting clear, Johnston fired a shot so perfectly over the pad and under the glove that I wanted to find a still shot of where the puck went, just to highlight how small of a spot he hit.

Can you see it, just above the “C” in “CCM” halfway up the goaltender’s left pad? That’s where the puck got through.

That made it 1-0, Dallas. And from there, the Devils’ goaltender had work to do, and lots of it. And he did a fantastic job.

Evgenii Dadonov got a weird breakaway of his own after a high lob pass eluded Simon Nemec, who then got a stick in the face courtesy of Brenden Dillon. That allowed Dadonov to scoop up the puck, but a Markström poke check just did subvert Dadonov’s effort to double the lead.

Jamie Benn and Esa Lindell performed a slick give-and-go, with Lindell and later Benn firing great wristers from the slot that required quality saves. But again, Markström kept New Jersey within reach.

And before the Stars were even nine minutes in, Mason Marchment grabbed an attempted clear and barged into the crease, only for Markström to rebuff his attempt. I am not breaking any news here, but I think New Jersey is glad to have Markström back.

Jesper Bratt nearly rendered 1-0 deficit null and void shortly afterward, grabbing a puck that had gotten knocked down in front of the crease and attempting to take it wide and put it over DeSmith’s pad. But DeSmith got just enough “oomph” with his splayed legs to lift his left pad, and that was enough to deny Bratt.

Johnston got a second chance alone on Markström about 12 minutes in, but once again, the savvy Swede proved he wouldn’t be so esily beaten, guessing correctly that Johnston would go glove side again, and stopping him this time.

Lian Bichsel looked very functional in his return to action, laying four hits in the first period alone (and six in total), including a big hit on Kovacevic against the neutral zone boards. It’s clear that the coaching staff is glad to have him back, and it’s also clear that Bichsel is ready to be back.

Still, the big hit of the game probably belonged to Mason Marchment, who greeted Brenden Dillon in much the same fashion as Jamie Benn did a few years ago:

Overall, the first period was a very good one for Dallas, but thanks to the Devils’ goaltender’s superb work (and a clutch save from Casey DeSmith for Dallas), the Stars took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Dougie Hamilton had a rough collision behind the net that kept him out to start the second period, which didn’t make matters any better for the Devils. Hamilton would not return to the game, and coach Sheldon Keefe didn’t have an update on the health of the team’s defenseman, adding another solemn moment in a tough run for New Jersey in recent days.

Shots on goal were 10-9 at the end of the first, but was it really an even game? Look at the shot attempt plot after 20 minutes, and you tell me:

As usual, Dallas strongly preferred shots from between the circles, while their opponent fired whatever shots they could from lower-percentage areas of the ice. That’s a recipe for continued success, so long as you avoid the odd pothole along the way. Unfortunately, Dallas would start going ad hoc on the recipe, though it wouldn’t catch up with them until the final ten minutes of the game.

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The second period began with some friction between countrymen, when Erik Haula whacked Roope Hintz above the neck with his stick. That put Dallas on the power play, and a Roope Hintz chance off a beautiful Duchene setup, only for the puck to wind up hitting the post after glancing off the goaltender’s arm. It was a beautiful save, genuinely.

The only other chance of the power play was Nico Hischier’s, who fired a puck off a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Jesper Bratt that DeSmith heroically saved. DeSmith had to be excellent all night, and the three goals he allowed really don’t reflect just how much he had to do to keep Dallas in this one.

On the other side of things, the Stars would convert a 2-on-1 of their own by giving Ilya Lyubushkin the biscuit and letting him cook.

It was Lyubushkin’s first goal in nearly two years (147 games, to be exact), and his celebration was a mixture of disbelief and joy. The bench was elated.

“That was awesome,” said Johnston after the game. “It’s been I think a while for him, so it’s awesome to see. He does so much for us. Obviously goal-scoring isn’t what he’s known for, but it was awesome for him to get that one.”

After a Mikael Granlund holding penalty, the Devils would quickly strike back, as Timo Meier buried a royal road pass with a shot neither DeSmith nor any other goalie known to mankind would be able to stop to cut the lead in half.

The Stars got another crack at the power play when Dillon got nailed for high-sticking on Logan Stankoven (tough break for the big guy, that). But the Stars’ comparative slump continued, and they were 0-for-2 a couple minutes later, after which Dillon tried his best Ilya Lyubushkin impression coming out of the box, only for DeSmith to foil his effort. Those moments are big ones, you may have heard.

After some back-and-forth, the Stars got their third power play of the game on a no-doubt delay of game penalty from Johnathan Kovacevic just short of the cheap seats. But after Hintz nearly tucked a backhand effort in tight, Luke Hughes made things worse with a heavy, no-doubt slash on Duchene’s glove that drew the Modano shake, and a 5-on-3 power play with 25 seconds left in the period.

This time, Hintz would convert an effort from the porch just ten seconds into it, finishing a surgical passing play the excellence of which was only surpassed by its simplicity.

Brett Pesce actually got a piece of the shot, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the puck from sailing in. That’s sort of the upside of shooting six feet away from the net. (And don’t miss the beautifully weighted touch pass by Wyatt Johnston to set up Hintz, either.)

All told, after 40 minutes, the Stars somehow had a bigger lead after a far less-dominant period. Sometimes, hockey just goes the way hockey goes. But some twists and turns were still to come in the third.

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Dawson Mercer tested DeSmith on a 2-on-1 early, but the goaltender efficiently broke his heart with a blocker save. DeSmith was continually excellent in this one, you may have heard, multiple times, but it’s true. That blocker save in particular was the casual precision of a goalie on his game. Delaying the Devils’ push as long as DeSmith did was crucial for Dallas’s chances, as it turned out.

Dallas got yet another power play when Stefan Noesen tripped Jason Robertson, sending the Stars on the job halfway through the third with a chance to put the game far out of reach. But Hintz got robbed by Markström yet again. It’s weird to say, but Hintz genuinely should have had more than three points in this one. Credit to the Devils’ goaltender for his work in this one, though.

And the Stars paid the price for their batch of missed chances, as a Lian Bichsel tripping penalty resulted in another power play goal for New Jersey, and they weren’t messing around anymore.

Nico Hischier (#13 in white) tipped that Luke Hughes point shot past a helpless DeSmith to make things much less comfortable for Dallas down the stretch, with a 3-2 lead looking fragile as can be. How fragile, you ask?

Well, this fragile:

The Devils leaned on the gas, and after drawing a delayed call, Pesce fired a puck home past a hopelessly screened DeSmith (you’ll note you can’t see him in the above screen cap, as his two players are fronting the shot, ineffectively), and the game was tied with nearly five minutes to play.

There was a glimpse of fortune’s wheel turning when Dillon lost a puck behind his net with three minutes to play, but a smart stick from Markström prevented a pass from reaching the slot, and they played on. Or at least, New Jersey did, as Dallas continued to get caught in their zone, and it looked like the Stars would be fortunate to make it to overtime.

But after a borderline icing call where Harley tried to chop the puck down and whiffed completely, only to turn and chase the puck and get the call (and who doesn’t love questionable icing calls), the lack of overtime would prove to be itself quite fortunate, as the Stars’ top defenseman would grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drag it back to where it belonged.

Harley took a feed from Robertson (after the game, he said he thought Robertson was going to pass it elsewhere initially), and fired it into the far side of the net with four seconds to go, and that was all she wrote.

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Lineup

The Stars began the game with this lineup.

Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven
Marchment-Duchene-Granlund
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Bäck-Steel-Bourque

Harley-Lyubushkin
Lindell-Ceci
Bichsel-Dumba

DeSmith

Stankoven and Bourque swapped places in the second period, with Bourque moving up to the top line. Bourque looked like the better player tonight, too.

Stankoven has had a couple of times now where he’s broken through with a goal or two, then gone quiet on the scoresheet for a long stretch of time. It’s hard to keep doing that as a rookie on a team preparing for a serious playoff run. Ultimately, the players decide who starts on a given night, and who watches the game from the press box. Stankoven is too good not to start stringing good games together, but scoring has to be a part of that in more than occasional fashion.

Final Notes

• Today felt extra-long after this game, and then I remembered why: I got woken up in the middle of the night by a massive thunderstorm.

  • A couple of the players had never experienced the sirens that play when severe winds come through, and Oskar Bäck said he thought it was a tornado siren at first.

  • Matt Duchene said he and his wife woke up their kids to potentially get everybody hiding under the stairs, but thankfully, the sirens stopped before they had to do so.

• Ilya Lyubushkin’s last goal was on March 15, 2023. I doubt he enjoyed it as much as he did this one. I don’t think anyone would have expected Lyubushkin to score a goal before Granlund, but we’re ten games in, and both Granlund and Ceci have yet to score a goal (though Granlund has seven assists, and also laid a great flash screen that Harley credited for his goal).

  • The other remaining goalless Stars? Lundkvist, Dumba, and Smith. Place your bets, I guess.

  • Okay, one more Lyubushkin smile.

    

• On the other side of things, here’s how this game felt for New Jersey:

  

  And, yeah, that’s about right. New Jersey is third in the Metropolitan Division, with a lot of teams bouncing around the playoff bubble just a few points back of them. To fight as hard as they did to get back to level in this game, and then to walk away with nothing after a goal with five seconds to go while also losing Dougie Hamilton (after having lost him last season, too)? That’s just brutal.

• There were some trade rumors flying around Twitter during the game, but I’m writing up a longer trade thing for tomorrow morning, by which time it will either be outdated, or retroactively prescient. (Definitely a thing, don’t think too hard about it.)