The title says it all, but let me reiterate: that was (to me) a stressful way to start the season.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying the Dallas Stars played poorly. They were great, actually, looking every bit like a team that made the Western Conference Finals last year and are a bona fide Stanley Cup Contender heading into the season. But gosh dang it, watching them have to eek out a 2-1 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues is not how I’d like for them to kick things off.
Granted, maybe we’re not giving the St. Louis Blues enough credit here. I know they plummeted down the standings last year, and are largely expected to miss the playoffs this year again. But for the life of me, I can never feel confident in counting out the Blues. And that isn’t PTSD from 2019 mind you — it’s just that the Blue always seems to play well against the Stars. And since I only watch them when they play Dallas, well, my expectations have a default state of “fighting for a Top 3 in the division finish.”
What was a flashback to 2019, however, was the performance of Jordan Binnington, which is, in all honesty, the only reason this game was as close as it was. I’ve never been a Binnington fan, even when he led his team to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, but I have to give credit where credit is due: he was the best goaltender on the ice last night. And if that’s a sign of things to come this season, rather than a flash in the pan to start… well, like I said: I never count out the Blues.
But despite his heroic efforts, Binnington wasn’t able to steal the game for St. Louis, thanks in good part due to Jake Oettinger, who had a fantastic season opener himself. Any ghosts from his playoff performance last year didn’t seem to be hanging over him, as the young goaltender (who is usually a slow starter) looked like his all-star caliber self from puck drop.
He wasn’t the only Star to impress last night either; Miro Heiskanen had a great game as per usual, as did captain Jamie Benn, who is perhaps on his way to proving that last year’s bounce back season wasn’t of the “dead cat” variety. The free agent acquisitions, headlined by Matt Duchene, seem to be solid additions, and the penalty kill unit easily shut down the Blues, even with the loss of Luke Glendening and Joel Kiviranta (plus, for the time being, Roope Hintz).
Even some of the players with lower expectations heading in seemed to play well. Mason Marchment looked to have scored the Stars’ first goal for the second consecutive season in the first period off a beautiful tip, only for it to be overturned due to offsides (more on that later). And Nils Lundkvist nearly scored the game winner in the third period when his shot rang off the post. Both looked like they have their confidence back, or (like Oettinger) are at least heading into the season without any baggage on their shoulders.
But when it comes to low expectations, perhaps the most reassuring sign last night was the Stars’ overtime performance, in which they absolutely dominated. Sure, it didn’t result in a goal, but the Stars looked to be in control nearly the full five minutes, with only the occasional flash of worry about a possible overtime loss.
Still, it was those flashes, among other moments even in regulation, that stressed me out just a tad bit too much for my liking. A win’s a win, and I don’t even mind throwing the Blues a single point after a potential game-stealing performance by Binnington. But next time, maybe they can get some of those pucks in the net sometime and get the win on all time, deal?
A few standalone thoughts to close us out:
• Things didn’t start out too great for Ryan Suter, who had a pretty careless gaffe early on that thankfully didn’t lead to a goal against. My immediate thoughts were, “Here we go again,” and it wasn’t the only time his name came up in a negative light. Which made this graphic (which gave Suter the best defensive metrics from the Stars and third best overall) after the game quite interesting
Now, rather than try and make a pointless “analytics vs. eye test” debate, I simply want to point out a general observation I’ve made regarding judging defensive performances. Namely, bad plays stick out, and good plays tend to go unnoticed, meaning most “good” performances tend to be subtle. Add that to the fact that for a decent chunk of the game, I was splitting my attention between it and the Golden Bachelor (don’t laugh; this spin-off is actually good TV), and perhaps Suter really did have a much better performance than I gave him credit for.
• One name that didn’t surprise me, however, was Jason Robertson. Dallas’ record setting man was great in overtime, and scored one of the two goals in the shootout to secure the win. Yet he was largely invisible during regulation, failing to register even a single shot on net. So what gives?
Perhaps it’s over-simplifying things across a one game sample, but it’s hard not to think about how Roope Hintz was out of the lineup. Now don’t get me wrong: Robertson is a superstar talent, and over the long run, he’d excel regardless of his linemates. But it’s worth a reminder that he’s still a (relatively) young player with just three seasons under his belt, during which he’s played almost exclusively with another elite player in Hintz (as well as Pavelski).
So yeah, take away the elite linemate whom you have excellent chemistry with and haven’t really played much in the NHL without and you’re bound to not do as well. But in terms of any panic I have for Robertson if Hintz were to miss extensive time this season, it doesn’t even register on my radar.
• Finally, let me just say that I hate offsides reviews. I don’t care that the Stars were technically offsides for that first period goal — only in the NHL would you stop the game for a lengthy review so you can take a goal off the board and rewind the clock by more than 30 seconds, putting team back on the power play after it already expired in the process.
Now, to be clear, I like offsides reviews in theory — we have the technology, so let’s get it right. But it should only be used when the offsides directly leads to a goal. There are different ways to achieve that, but I’d prefer to treat it similarly to delayed penalties: if the opposing team gains possession of the puck, that negates a potential offsides review. If you have the puck and cough it over in your own zone, leading to a goal against, that’s your problem, not the entry that could have happened anywhere from 5 seconds to 19+ minutes ago.
Granted, I don’t remember if the Blues actually did touch the puck or gain possession before Marchment’s tip, but the point isn’t about this singular goal. It’s about the review in general. Do the right thing, NHL… which means it’ll never actually happen.