Perhaps the first question that needs to be answered is: how long before the first fight tonight? The second is, how long until the first penalty? This series has been overrun with both. Although the first is something that fans love to see, the second is nerve-wracking against a power play that looks poised to punch through at any moment.
Dallas’ penalty kill has been really good (so far). They gave up the one goal in game one on the power play but that’s it. Calgary was 0-4 in game three. Game three was dominated by Dallas in the physicality department as well. Dallas out-hit the Flames 44-23.
And of course, what else can you say about Jake Oettinger? He’s been fantastic in his first NHL playoff series. Oettinger gave up the two goals but, you will never be able to convince me that the first goal wasn’t because of goaltending interference. Despite what Toronto had to say about it. Either way, he’s been dazzling between the pipes. Razor said it best on the telecast the other night when he said Otter wants to play in these moments.
That brings us to tonight’s game. Obviously the Stars have a chance to take a stranglehold on the series as they go back to Calgary for game five. A Flames win, and they will have taken back home-ice advantage and done exactly what they set out to do coming to Dallas. The Milan Lucic line was ridiculous for the Flames the other night and you can expect they will dial it up another notch tonight.
Now, that could play into the Stars favor. An over-aggressive Flames team could possibly create some break-away opportunities on the other end of the ice for Dallas. The Stars need to be ready for both. The aggressive play and the chances on the other end. They will probably need to weather a first period storm from the Flames. It could look similar to what they saw in game one in the first period. Weather the storm early and the chances should come later for you to score and take the lead.
Dallas Stars Lineup
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Michael Raffl (18) – Jamie Benn (14) – Denis Guvianov (34)
Joel Kiviranta (25) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Alexander Radulov (47)
Vladislav Namestnikov (92) – Radek Faksa (12) – Luke Glendenning (11)
Ryan Suter (20) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Joel Hanley (44) – Jani Hakanpaa (2)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
Calgary Flames Lineup
Johnny Gaudreau (13) – Elias Lindholm (28) – Matthew Tkachuk (19)
Andrew Mangiapane (88) – Mikael Backlund (11) – Tyler Toffoli (73)
Dillon Dube (29) – Calle Jarnkrok (91) – Blake Coleman (20)
Milan Lucic (17) – Trevor Lewis (22) – Brett Ritchie (24)
Noah Hanifin (55) – Rasmus Andersson (4)
Oliver Kylington (58) – Chris Tanev (8)
Nikita Zadorov (16) – Erik Gudbranson (44)
Jacob Markstrom (25)
Daniel Vladar (80)