On paper, it was a great result for the Dallas Stars.
Roope Hintz scored an overtime hat trick goal. The Stars absolutely shut down NHL wunderkind Connor Bedard. Dallas secured that all too important ROW. The Chicago Blackhawks are literally the only team in the Central Division the Stars are okay giving a loser point to. Heck, it even hurts their lottery odds.
And yet, unlike the fine Mizzou fans over in Arlington last night, Stars fans couldn’t really feel good about last night’s win. Because Hintz should have never had a chance to score a game-winning hat trick goal in overtime. The Stars should have won the game 4-2 in regulation. Or, honestly, 4-0, given how bad Chicago is.
Instead, the Stars went down 2-0 (again) just 11 minutes into the first period. That seemed to kick the Stars’ rear into gear, as they answered back less a minute later, taking just 16 seconds to score on the first power play of the night. Dallas then scored twice in 20 seconds in the second to take the lead, and Jamie Benn put the game on ice two minutes into the third.
Or, at least, that’s what should have happened. Instead, much like humans occasionally exhibit signs of our caveman ancestors, the Stars reverted back to their turtling ways, getting outshot 14-4 in the third period after outshooting Chicago 28-15 in the first two frames. And that arguably wouldn’t have even mattered had it not been for two penalties — one unfortunate, the other fairly self-inflicted stupidity — that led to Chicago storming back and forcing overtime.
Yes, that’s right: overtime. Again. 11 times in 34 games this season, or nearly a third, and 8 in the last 20, or nearly half. It turns out that the Stars are completely incapable of playing 60 minute games in large part because they’re too busy playing 65 minute ones instead.
This was a game Dallas should have crushed. Again, Chicago is one of the worst teams in the league, buoyed only by an already superstar player in Connor Bedard. The fact that they needed overtime to beat them despite holding Bedard pointless (snapping a 5-game point streak, mind you) is just frustrating beyond words, which is even more frustrating when I’m then tasked with writing words to describe how I felt about said game.
The good news for Dallas is that they get a second chance to run Chicago out of the building tomorrow for New Year’s Eve. The bad news is that Bedard has only been held off the board in back to back games twice this season. And if Dallas has trouble with the Blackhawks without Bedard contributing… well, onto the bullet points!
• Before the game, I predicted that each of the Stars’ top trio would score a goal. I was 2/3rds right, but in my defense, they did score four of the Star’s five goals. That was thanks mostly to Roope Hintz, who, in my opinion, continues to be arguably the most underrated player in the NHL. And that’s not even the Victory Green in me talking — in a piece yesterday on young, offensive minded forwards being used on the Penalty Kill, something Hintz has been doing for years now, Hintz wasn’t so much as mentioned, despite being, according to the own stats referenced, one of (if not the) best in the league at it. It’s crazy!
The lone Avenger who didn’t score, by the way, was Jason Robertson, who still had a very strong game and picked up two assists and barely missed out on a third. Robertson leads the team in scoring with 34 points in 34 games (Pavelski has 33 points, and Hintz has 32 in 32), which makes those critiques about his “slow start” feel eons ago. Is he on pace for 40 goals and/or 100 points again? No. Is he capable of reaching those marks still? Absolutely.
• The other non-Hintz goal from the trio came from Joe Pavels- I mean Nils Lundk- no wait, it really was Joe Pavelski. Honestly, with the way he celebrated aftewards, I’m surprised it was ever even credited to Lunkvist. But although his first “goal” of the season was taken away, that doesn’t diminish how killer of a shot it was, the perfect tipping material for Pavelski.
It was good to see from Lunkdvist, who I felt was playing timid in the first period after drawing back into the lineup for the first time in nearly two weeks. And who can blame him when the Stars’ coaching staff have made it clear they don’t view him as a Top 6 defenseman? I’ve seen a few people online question whether this extends his leash, but I highly doubt it — in the end, it’s going to be viewed as one good play, and that’s it (#fancystats be damned). If Lunkdvist plays again the next game or two, it’s because it’s against Chicago and the Montreal Canadiens, not because he’s worked his way back into good favor.
• Speaking of blueline decisions, Miro Heiskanen was double shifted on both units for the second power play, staying on ice for the full two minutes (including a defensive zone faceoff with one second remaining in which he and Jamie Benn immediately headed to the bench after it expired, which was weird). For the third, Thomas Harley surprisingly started with the top unit… only to come off at the first whistle 20 seconds in, after which Heiskanen, again, remained for the duration of the power play. Looked to me like a sign that they simply didn’t want to play him the full two minutes again.
It was, uhh, certainly a choice by Pete DeBoer and staff, who still seem allergic to the idea of giving their elite puck moving defenseman keys to the second unit. Look, I would kind of understand it if Heiskanen was some offensive powerhouse like Cale Makar or Erik Karlsson, but he’s not. Just. Give. Thomas. Harley. More. Minutes!
• I think Scott Wedgewood has played great in Jake Oettinger’s absence, but as much as his teammates left him out to dry in the third period last night, I still kind of lay this one (at least partially) at his skates. His first two goals against were completely understandable and hard to fault him for, but the same couldn’t be said for the latter two.
Yes, he was making one sprawling save after another during those two penalty kills. But those continuous saves were also because he wasn’t gloving the puck or controlling the rebound. In the case of the first power play, his failure to tie it up let Chicago retain possession in the offensive zone, allowing Jason Dickinson(!) to score shortly after the penalty expired. In the second, I was literally in the process of yelling at Wedgewood to control the rebound when, surprise, Tyler Johnson jumped on the puck and tied the game.
Perhaps if I had been quick enough, Wedgewood would have heard me and done just that. Oh well.
• Finally, let me just say that Wyatt Jonhston, who hasn’t scored a goal in over a month, is officially snakebit, to the point that when Benn scored off his rebound, it looked like his initial reaction wasn’t of joy, but utter bafflement that somehow, his linemate failed to score again.
A reminder: Johnston scored seven goals in the team’s first 14 games, nine in their first 19. He just needs to get that monkey off his back and I’m sure he’ll be back to dazzling us to the point that we forget he can’t buy a beer in the US.