Before last night’s game, I was talking with my brother and (inevitably) we got to talking about Dallas Stars hockey. He said what he really wanted more than anything was for the Stars to actually lead for more than a minute in this series, before sarcastically stating that a monkey paw just curled and that they would hold a lead for 59 minutes but then still lose to a flurry of Colorado Avalanche goals.
So when Wyatt Johnston scored just nine seconds into the game, I was ecstatic, I was pumping my fists, I was ready to run through a brick wall if need be… before I recalled that conversation and did my best Philip J. Fry impression.
Thankfully, the hockey gods didn’t feel like having a sense of humor that night. The Stars were able to extend their lead(!) in the final minute of the first, and then even more so(!!!) to start the second. Oh sure, the Avalanche rallied back to score two quick goals later in the period, but the Stars immediately answered back with a pair of their own. Throw in the eventual empty netter, and this was a game that, save for maybe two minutes of “doomerism,” never really felt in doubt after the first intermission.
I wasn’t able to write about Game 4 (I swear I’m not just doing these things when Dallas wins), but I felt it was the exact type of game that Colorado needed after dropping two straight in overtime: the special teams showed up big this time around, they were able to skate all over the Stars, and captain Gabriel Landeskog — who I felt was, understandably, a bit quiet in his return — sent the roof flying off the building with his first NHL goal in three years.
Well, Game 5 was like that for the Dallas Stars — after winning two tight, low scoring games but getting handedly outscored in the other two, a 6-2 blowout win was just what the doctor ordered. Consider what I wrote from the previously linked Game 3 Afterwords:
To that end, you have to feel pretty good if you’re Dallas right now, and pretty nervous if you’re Colorado… I mean, you’re sort of just hoping the Stars’ top scorers don’t wake up and/or that Blackwood keeps playing great, or else you’re in a real tough pickle.
Let’s start with the first point, cause boy did the Stars’ big guns show up… well, big. We already touched on Johnston’s barn-lifting goal to start things off, but I was far more impressed by his second goal, even if Johnston himself didn’t do much more than feast on a wide open net. More specifically, most of the credit goes to Matt Duchene, who finally got on the scoreboard after a beautiful cross-ice pass that gave Johnston that opportunity to begin with. Considering how the Stars had just conceded two quick goals to the Avalanche, that goal was huge as it snapped the lid shut on a potential Colorado comeback.
Mikko Rantanen, who picked up the secondary assist, also had a great scoring opportunity that Mackenzie Blackwood stonewalled just seconds before. In fact, Rantanen had a lot of scoring opportunities, especially on that third period power play (lots of people have opinions on that penalty), in which it felt like every five seconds included a new shot by Rantanen. I recall at some point towards the end of the game the scorebug showing that Rantanen had 11(!) attempted shots and 6(!) on net — were effort the sole deciding factor, Rantanen might have scored enough goals to prematurely win Game 6 as well.
Instead, he had to settle for just one, but man was it pretty. A lot has been said (not all of it from me!) on how Rantanen is at his best when playing on the rush, and he and Roope Hintz delivered a textbook example of how to punish teams when they give you the opportunity. They later teamed up again for the empty net, this time with Hintz getting the goal, giving Rantanen a three-point night for four in five games. Not exactly the eyebrow-raising stats of league-leaders Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and *checks notes* Adrian Kempe, but a good step in the right direction.
Heck, even Mason Marchment, one of the Stars’ eight(!) 20-goal scorers this season, finally notched one this postseason. That was a great tip play to essentially put the game to rest after two periods, although I admit it took me forever to actually see Marchment’s deflection (I could have sworn the broadcast crew was trying to gaslight me when they kept insisting it wasn’t Alex Petrovic who scored). And while he was certainly not one of the players who needed to “get going,” I would be remiss if I didn’t share Thomas Harley’s goal to cap off the first period.
In fact, that’s a good point to pivot to the second key for the Stars today: Mackenzie Blackwood. I’ve mentioned before that I felt he’s played very well with solid positioning, but not spectacular with soul-crushing saves. I’ve been admittedly waiting for the wheels to fall off this series, and they finally did as Blackwood looked shaky the whole night — he should have never let that first goal by Johnston in, and Harley’s goal, while objectively hilarious, could have also been avoided had he gotten back up against the net even just a half second earlier.
Granted, it’s tough to blame him for the other goals — for example, on the power play goal, he had to bit down and hug the post to prevent Duchene from one-timing the puck past him. The problem was Duchene did one-time the puck, but in the form of a pass to Johnston, which put Blackwood completely out of position. Still, maybe I’m being harsh, but it felt that Blackwood was a bit slow to then slide back over to try and stop that shot. And doesn’t a diving stick-hand block by a goalie to deny Johnston seem like just the kind of save that goalies love to make against the Stars?
Again, Blackwood has been solid, but he’s not making the Herculean saves you inevitably need from your number one goalie in the postseason. And whereas Jake Oettinger getting pulled for the third in Game 4 felt a lot like, “It’s okay buddy, the bad defense can’t hurt you anymore,” Blackwood hitting the bench felt more like, “It’s okay buddy, it’s just not your night.” And given how well Wedgewood faired, especially on the aforementioned power play in which Rantanen shot the puck one billion times… look, I’m not saying there’s even remotely a goaltending controversy, but facing elimination, the leash could be short for Blackwood if he starts off slow again.
And really, that’s the main takeaway from the game at the end of the day: Colorado is the one facing elimination, not Dallas. Yes, the 6-2 win is exactly what we wanted-no, needed to see, but taking the 3-2 series lead is far, far more important than how it was done in my eyes. Colorado will not go gentle into that good night, but it’ll be harder for them to manage that for two nights.