At first, it was just another Dallas Stars game.
Not the multi-goal drubbing that we’ve been accustomed to as of late, mind you, but rather the age-old “less than 60 minutes performance.” The first period against the New York Islanders was fantastic, even if the scoresheet didn’t reflect it, but after the first intermission there was… nothing. Just meh, blah, however you want to characterize it.
Sure, there were goals, and the occasional high-danger scoring chance. But for the most part, it was mostly just back and forth oatmeal, and as the Stars pulled their net for the extra attacker, it looked like it was going to end as a rather uneventful 3-1 (or 4-1) loss.
Then Jason Robertson scored. Again.
His backhander was a thing of beauty, and a crowd that had accepted the inevitable instead roared to life. It was still a one-goal deficit, and you couldn’t help but think of the botched power play attempts (more on those later) that made up the difference, but there was life. The crowd was rambunctious, the arena full of new life as the Stars continued to push and do everything they could to force overtime.
Then the Mikko Rantanen hit happened.
From the angle I was at, it looked like awful, awful boarding, even before the refs waved over the medical staff towards a clearly unconscious Aleander Romanov. 5 minute major was an easy call there, no question. Once I was able to lookup the replay on the way home, however, I was able to take note about how Rantanen’s balance was thrown off as his skate got tangled up with Scott Mayfield’s. Rantanen’s extending arms did not seem to be an intentional hit and boarding as it had looked from almost right above, but rather a player instinctively bracing themselves as they began to fall down.
It was still a five minute major, to be clear. Rantanen carries responsibility for what his arms did there, and needed to be more careful. But it wasn’t dirty, and the NHL seems to agree, as he won’t be getting a hearing for it. Still, I hope Romanov is okay and won’t miss too much (if any) time.
Back to the game: the penalty was the third time that evening the Stars cut short their man advantage (again, more on that later), and the game was over. I’ll be honest, my dad and I did then what we almost never do, and left our seats to start heading out. If there was a sign of life, we could stop and look out from the concourse, we told ourselves. But we knew that wasn’t going to happen.
So imagine our surprise when, while riding down the escalators, we heard a sound of cheering, followed by the goal horns blaring, and a clock that read 0:00.
Once at the bottom, we rushed back to the rink to get a better look. We watched the replays, and the goal was announced as under review. From what we could tell, it looked borderline, and in a world where the call on the ice/court/field usually stands when it comes to sports review, there was hope that the Stars just stole a loser point.
But in the back of my mind loomed Sean McIndoe’s trusty goaltender interference guide, which essentially breaks down to one simple question: was the player in the crease? Robertson was, which meant a no goal, and that’s exactly how it was called.
For what it’s worth, Robertson was pushed in — even when setting aside my victory green tinted glasses, I don’t think he would have made contact otherwise. But he was still straddling the edge of the crease, and while we could all debate the issue back and forth, the reality is that the call was the correct one (based on how the NHL calls it). Although, I might add, David Rittich did look like he was selling a big flop there, what with the stick throw and everything, but maybe he was just trying to ditch it as part of a last second turnaround to try and make a save anyways. Given how it was all within the span of a second, I’d say his actions were probably less intention and more pure instinct or reaction, whether he was going for the call or the save.
And so ended an eventful ending to an evening that was otherwise anything but. Had the game ended 3-1 (or 4-1) as I originally expected, I think most people would have remembered the game only for the honoring of Daryl Reaugh’s inclusion to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Instead, it’ll be all about the roller coaster of emotions those final two minutes (of game time) were.
At least it gave us something to talk about on the way home.
• After almost 47 minutes of play without a penalty, the Stars (down 2-1 at the time) were gift wrapped a chance to not only tie, but take the lead as Bo Horvat took a double minor for high-sticking (and a 10 minute misconduct for what I assume was mouthing off to the referee about it). Instead, they gave up a short handed goal that ended up being the game-winner, then took a penalty that essentially gave the Stars two half-length power plays with some 4-on-4 in between.
Later the Stars would get another power play, only to take another penalty again to cut it short. And we already talked about the Rantanen penalty that cut short a 6-on-5. Essentially, the Stars power play, the hot topic of the NHL right now, let the team down as they not only failed to make a positive impact, but actively hurt the team with that shorty.
Granted, you would prefer to make more of an impact at even-strength and not need your power play to bail you out to begin with, but alas.
• As a founding member of the Jason Robertson fan club, whose loyalty has never wavered, I was particularly tortured these past few games as I was able to watch, but not write about, Robertson breaking out of his scoring slump with a one-goal, then two-goal, then three-goal game. I joke with my dad on the way to the game that Robertson was going to keep the pattern going, this time scoring four goals for the “Joe Thornton hat trick.”
Crazy thing is, he almost did. His first goal came courtesy of a 3-on-1 in which he sniped it past a shuffling Rittich, and we already mentioned the second earlier. But Robert Tiffin’s got the clip of his “what could have been” almost third goal, the save on which got me to literally leap up from my seat and jump up and down in frustration, with maaaybe some “darn it”s thrown in. Had he sealed the deal, he was going to score in overtime (if not earlier), no doubt, because the mean has been regressed to and Robertson is back to doing what Robertson does.
Just a shame that Jim Nill couldn’t trick him into signing an extension a week ago — he might force the team into another bankruptcy at this point.
• As for Robertson’s draft-mates, the numbers were (surprisingly, to me) not pretty for Miro Heiskanen, nor his partner, Esa Lindell, or the entire third line:
As for Jake Oettinger… I’m torn. That second goal was a direct result of a weird bounce off the endboards, but he should have clamped the puck up before it slid through to Horvat. Meanwhile for the third, shorthanded goal, you can make the argument that he needed to commit more to Kyle Palmieri and let Heiskanen stop any cross-ice pass. But then again, it’s always going to be hard to stop a good goal scorer who more or less can pick their shot on the rush… but then again that’s the shot you need your $8.25M goalie to stop. Again, torn.
• Vladislav Kolyachonok, making his Dallas debut last night, didn’t particularly stand out to me, but Kyle Capobianco did. And not in the “you never want your third pairing defenseman to stick out” sort of way either — he was really good. The two plays that stood out to me where when he dove to the ice to extend his stick and block a pass as the Islanders transitioned into their offensive zone, and later when he broke up a potential high-danger scoring chance off the rush by (if I recall correctly) Ryan Pulock. He’s been playing like a player making his case to stay in the lineup even after the blueline heals up, and it’s a pretty good case so far.
• Jamie Benn made his season debut last night, and the crowd was elated to see him. I know I personally was shouting for him to score goal No. 400 pretty much every time he touched the puck, not really caring how he did it — he was my favorite player for a long while before Heiskanen showed up, and while I was prepared to move on from him last offseason if need be, I would have hated seeing him play in another jersey, let alone hit that milestone.
But while Benn had a few really good chances, his game was otherwise not very noticeable or impactful, and he took one of those dumb penalties, the first one which split the double minor. So, in other words, a typical Jamie Benn game these day. Welcome back, captain.
• Finally, I recall years ago, I think during his sophomore if not rookie season, when I was at a game and decided to watch Miro Heiskanen and only Miro Heiskanen whenever he was on the ice, regardless of where the puck was. He was my favorite player and I wanted to be able to appreciate all of the little things he did well that might often go unnoticed, like positioning and decision making. I was blown away about what I saw, and a lot of what I notice in his game today goes back from picking up on it that one night long ago.
Last night, I decided to give 18 year old Matthew Schaefer the same treatment, not only because he’s been a top defenseman (not just among rookies) so far this season, but because let’s be honest: with one game in Dallas every year, the odds are I’ll get to see the New York Islanders in person again anytime soon are pretty slim, even if my dad grew up cheering for them. So this felt like the best chance I’d ever get at trying to get a similar appreciation for his game.
My biggest “I’m not even an amateur scout” takeaway was that Schafer’s skating is soooo smooth. He effortlessly and gracefully glides around the ice in a manner you’d expect from a figure skater, not a teenage hockey player playing in a league full of grown men. He was also very aware of his positioning, often going to fill the gaps left by his teammates even when it brought him up high, and was very effective at boxing the Stars front man out when in front of the net — I recall one play in particular where the puck got close to Bourque for a potential shot or pass to an open teammate, but Schaefer kept him from even trying.
Sadly, it didn’t seem like the Islanders were trying (or at least not able) to “activate” him much offensively, which says more about the overall bland game play I described earlier than it was about any specific player or performance. So I wasn’t able to pick apart much of his offensive game, but that will be much, much easier to do while watching him on stream in the future.
• All of that being said, what stood out to me most about Schaefer was his uncanny ability to teleport onto the ice. I mean, I was watching him specifically — every time there was a stoppage in play, or I could see the Islanders doing a line change, my eyes snapped to the bench to see if he would come off it. And yet I can’t tell you how many times I didn’t see him, looked back towards the ice, and then suddenly there he was, as if he had been there all along. Spooky stuff.