Going into this game, it was tough to be positive. The Stars had been flagging of late, and after a winless road trip, it seemed like they were destined to help the Oilers find their groove, at last. We’ve found lots to gripe about in the line combinations, defense choices and performances, and the ice time allotments:
Been that way for a while.
Hitch is adamant that they can’t survive with Benn-Seguin-Radulov loaded up on one line. I disagree, but I also think Jason Spezza would do fine as a second line center and that Radek Faksa needs more minutes (12:03). https://t.co/ZzMBSpKZos
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) November 18, 2017
And after the Stars took advantage of a sloppy Edmonton team and some key Kari Lehtonen saves, it looked like we were in for a long road of “protect the 2-0 lead” Hitchcock hockey that we’ve heard so much about.
In less than a minute, the lead was gone. The Stars’ power play (which was awful today outside of another Edmonton breakdown that led to a beautiful Ben Bishop primary assist and a Spezza-grade Jason Spezza shot) appeared to have been solved by Todd McClellan after the Stars’ three PPG in the last meeting, and then some. A shorthanded goal by Drake Caggiula (a McDavid pass that slipped under the short part of Kari’s paddle, unfortunately) seemed almost inevitable, as the Stars kept handing the Oilers chances, including another Klingberg mistake on the power play that was saved early by Lehtonen. Less than 50 seconds later, Jamie Oleksiak (who was caught in that same in-between spot we’ve seen Johns and Lindell inhabit between shooter and goalie) made one save, but couldn’t stop the rebound by McDavid while Kari Lehtonen took a mysterious amount of time gathering himself for a push across the crease, and so the Stars’ special teams carried its road woes over to their local ice rink. It’s always fun to bring souvenirs home from a trip.
The chippiness turned into outright gronking as both Jamie Oleksiak and Greg Pateryn fought their way to the box in the first, and while I’m sure a good coach points to those as good contributions by defensemen who have struggled this year, it’s hard to say it did anything for the Stars, as they surrendered the lead altogether to open the second period.
It would be the third point of the night for McDavid, but he would end up regretting this game in a big way. I’ve read a lot of comparisons between these Oilers and former Stars teams this season, and McDavid’s game today evoked a lot of 2013-14 Tyler Seguin. He is capable of doing so much, but when your team gets this disintegrated behind you, you’re going to end up juggling one too many chainsaws at some point. A rough bit of goaltending by Cam Talbot just exacerbated some ugly mistakes (and one horrific line change) by the Oilers, and that’s how a team doing so many things right—they did dominate the Stars in possession, but they gave up too many prime scoring chances on breakdowns in the slot—can end up getting knocked down. They could probably use some good defensemen, too. Some people have wondered how a team this talented has been so disappointing this year, but Stars fans know all about that.
Antoine Roussel has been struggling this year, but putting him with Radulov and a vicious Jamie Benn turned him into a catalytic converter instantaneously. If not for Talbot’s one great save of the day, Roussel would have had two goals (and four points) on the afternoon, despite playing only seven minutes (thanks to a misconduct penalty). It was great to see last year’s Roussel show up again, especially because it meant we got to see Radulov and Roussel scream angry celebrations at each other. Who doesn’t love angry happiness? Cam Talbot, probably. That first goal was putrid, but maybe Devan Dubnyk will console him with highlights from the 2016 playoffs. (“Roussel just does that.”)
Add Devin Shore’s first of the year (on a bit of a lucky bounce out of a Brett Ritchie screen, but all goals are lucky in some sense, right?) and Radek Faksa’s fifth goal (he played 13 minutes tonight, solidly behind Hanzal’s 14:36), and the celebratory enthusiasm was almost too much. If you need to fall back in love with this team, watch the squad almost crush Devin Shore amongst themselves. Brett Ritchie was adamant that yes, this goal belonged to Devin. Hooray for Devin, the Stars said to themselves, and to him!
Ben Bishop pitched a shutout after coming in for Lehtonen on the third goal, and it wasn’t an easy one. It was good to see Bishop make some tough stops look easy (the Stars were selectively stingy, but not quite miserly today in their chances allowed), and the Stars were able to capitalize at the other side. This is something the team couldn’t do last year, with a goalie tandem whose confidence was never very high on either end, and particularly low on the Niemi front as the season wore on. Let’s enjoy this game in its own right, and let’s enjoy Bishop’s performance this year without thinking of the contract. It’s nice to celebrate with each other.
But hey, we can’t not talk about Jason Spezza scoring his second goal of the season. I solemnly note that it, like his first, did come on the power play, but I would also note that the Spezza-Hanzal combo (soon supplemented with Shore on the other wing) was about as ineffective as they’ve been all season at even strength. They were given as many offensive zone starts as Hitchcock could find for them, with Stephen Johns and Oleksiak backing them up. In that configuration, Spezza and Hanzal generated two shots at the net, surrendering seven against their own.
If it’s yours truly writing the lineup, I would have put Spezza on Tyler Seguin’s wing the moment the top line was broken up, but Hitch preferred Ritchie up there, and that was, if possible, even less effective than the Hanzal line outside of the Shore goal. Tyler Seguin with Brett Ritchie generated just three attempts at the net all day while surrendering 16 against. Natural Stat Trick had that line getting burned to the tune of an 11-2 scoring chance differential against at 5v5, but without surrendering a goal, somehow. Again, I’m not sure your line combos are working all that well when only your top and bottom forwards are really functioning, but I guess 10-9-1 is sort of an okay record? It will have to be, for now.
All told, I’m just going to enjoy this game. Any time I get to drink coffee while watching hockey, it’s fun (either because it’s an early game, or because I’ve stayed up far too late and need caffeine to write). I enjoyed the Stephen Johns breakout pass to Jamie Oleksiak, and I enjoyed the Tyler Pitlick spin move to feed Radek Faksa, who showed a lot of scoring IQ to hold the puck and pull it to the other side and beat Talbot. I enjoyed Ben Bishop’s primary assist, which now puts him ahead of Martin Hanzal, Brett Ritchie and Remi Elie in terms of primary assists (and tied with Hanzal and Ritchie in primary points overall). I enjoyed Alexander Radulov continuing to be worth every dollar he’s being paid and then some, and I enjoyed some Kari Lehtonen saves to keep the game in hand early. I enjoyed Esa Lindell’s great gap on Connor McDavid early, and I enjoyed John Klingberg sticking up for Ben Bishop to Milan Lucic after the goon went full goon on Bishop behind the net. I even enjoyed Hitchcock almost immediately switching up his lines from the morning skate, because that is playful, I have decided. Playful coaches are more fun than grumpy ones as long as you’re winning, even if that playfulness might also decrease our life expectancy. Time is relative anyway.
The Stars took a third period that could have been as ugly as their last one against Edmonton, and they turned it into a three-goal victory lap in front of a home crowd. The Oilers are inching closer to getting their coach fired, and the Stars are at least reminding us that, beneath the frustrating results and the questionable choices, this is a group of good hockey players who can win games and score goals, sometimes. This was one of those times, and I enjoyed it a lot. The Stars scored six goals and, it must be clarified, won. I hope you enjoyed it, too.