By any measure a 4-0-1 start is a very strong open to the season. However, NHL schedules come at teams hard and fast, rarely is there a game that doesn’t test some facet of a teams overall game. For the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs offered the Stars another chance to compare their game against an Eastern Conference elite.
Toronto, bringing the national media with them, are off to a similarly strong start to the new season. Coming off significant changes to the front office in the summer, the core pieces for the Maple Leafs are largely in a “prove-it” year. Under the dual external and internal pressures, the Leafs start is rather impressive. However, if there is an area where the Leafs are feeling a deficiency, it would be in the goal and defense, as they rank 17th in GA with 3.33 per game.
The Stars are not without warts, largely being out-shot in each game they have played in the young season. There are encouraging signs that the club can point to following their 4-1 win over the Pittsburg Penguins, namely, they continue to find offense throughout the lineup. Dallas also redeemed their slow start with a very solid final 40 minutes in Pennsylvania, something they would need to carry over against Toronto.
First Period Observations
The Stars came out in the first period and were largely keeping the game a low event affair, the perfect way to play a high event team in Toronto. However, Dallas was still plagued by a lack of strong puck play, unable to make crisp plays in their own end and neutral zone. The Leafs on the other hand, were good on their zone exits and largely controlled the Stars in their own end. To the Stars credit, they were able to keep the Leafs to the outer edges of the rink early.
Power play’s have been unkind to the Stars in the early season, the first of the evening was no different. The Stars struggled to maintain offensive zone time, leading to jumbled plays and easy clears for Toronto. Issues would compound when Wyatt Johnston committed a slashing minor, evening the game at four-on-four. Toronto, with Austin Matthews on the ice, would capitalize when Morgan Reilly deposited on a slick pass, giving the Leafs the first goal and lead in the hockey game.
As the period wore on, the Toronto speed and creativity started to give the Stars fits. There was a stretch where William Nylander reigned havoc upon the Stars defense, repeatedly attempting to go interior on drives to the net. Credit to the Stars and Scott Wedgewood, Nylander was unable to convert on these chances, but effectively created stress and confusion on the in-zone coverage in the process.
The trio of Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, and Jason Robertson looked out of sorts in the first fifteen minutes of the contest. Passes refused to connect between them, the Leafs speed in the defensive zone gave them issues on zone exits, and Robertson in particular, looked to be fighting the puck.
To sum up the Stars game after the first period: Sloppy.
Shots:
Dallas 5 Toronto 8
Score:
Dallas 0 Toronto 1
Second Period Observations
Wyatt Johnston continues to jump off the page in the early going. It’s not hyperbole to say that the young forward may be the Stars most consistent player behind Jake Oettinger and Miro Heiskanen, that is just how good he has been. In the second period penalty kill for the Stars, Jamie Benn walked the puck into the Toronto end, lulling the Leafs defense to sleep and giving Johnston a lane to jump into the slot. The play by Johnston was intelligent and while he didn’t score on the shot, it further encapsulates just how he is morphing into a lynchpin in the top nine of the Stars. As Johnston goes, so goes the Stars past the top line.
The Stars started the second period on their toes, jumping out to a 14-13 advantage in shots-on-goal through the first eight minutes of the period. Pete DeBoer shuffled the lines a bit, finding some jump on the second line out of Tyler Seguin and Matt Duchene, who seem to still be figuring each other out through the first six games. Zone-time favored the Stars early in the second, with the Leafs largely attacking, if at all, off the rush. It also helped that the Stars were much cleaner with the puck when breaking the puck up and working through the neutral zone.
Quick one-off observation: Seguin-Duchene-Dadonov = GOOD
The trio combined for a perfect shift, hemming the Leafs in their own end that resembled a power-play more than an even strength shift. Their combined efforts resulted in the Stars first goal of the night when Mason Marchment scored his first of the season off a rush chance, when Duchene fed a nice cross-ice pass over the Marchment. The goal bookmarked a perfect fifteen minute spurt where the Stars largely dominated the hockey game.
Craig Smith has been a wonderful addition to the Stars forward corp, in what could be viewed as one of the best underrated moves of the summer. His presence on the fourth line gives the Stars a player with speed, tenacity, and noticeable puck skills. This was best displayed when Smith harassed the Leafs defense coming out of their own end, forcing a turnover and a chance for the Stars fourth line to go back on the attack. No knock against the players lost from the fourth line last season, but Smith is an upgrade who should pay major dividends defensively and occasionally offensively.
The Leafs top line is inevitable. Even though the Stars had carried play for nearly the entire period, Mitch Marner was left alone in the offensive zone with time and space. He didn’t miss, putting a perfectly placed shot over Wedgewood’s shoulder. The goal would restore the Leafs one goal lead and send the Stars to dressing room facing a deficit after forty minutes for the first time this season.
One word to describe the period: Unfortunate
Shots:
Dallas 20 Toronto 19
Score:
Dallas 1 Toronto 2
Third Period Observations
The Stars had a similar jump to their game to start the third period, a noticeable carry over from the second periods effort. The most impressive line in the early stages, the new combination of Jamie Benn, Smith, and Johnston, which combined for the Stars most consistent chances at the net. In a related note, Maple Leafs net-minder Jacob Woll was impressive all evening. The Stars had grade A chances throughout the game to which he was equal to.
The Stars penalty kill would be perfect no more, when Jani Hakanpää took a double minor high sticking penalty. The Leafs would waste little time cashing in when Tyler Bertuzzi deflected a puck to make it 3-1 Leafs. While quiet for large stretches of the night, the top players for Toronto were noticeable when it counted, combining for all three of their goals in the game. On the other end of the coin, while the Stars top players were noticeable, they failed to impact the game over the first fifty minutes of the contest.
As for the Stars power-play, it appears broken and the issues have a lot to do with puck management and decision making. Too often the Stars seem to look for the perfect play, opting for the extra pass instead of the open shot. This is giving the killers a chance to reset their structure, forcing bobbles that turn into scrums that the Stars are often losing. Instead of the Stars power-play being an equalizer or a game changing force, it is arguable zapping the life out of the overall play of the team.
Ty Dellandrea went down the tunnel late in the period after taking a puck to the face in front of the Toronto net. He was able to come off under his own power, but the puck looked to catch the forward under the protective shield on the helmet. It was a scary play, with Bertuzzi kneeling next to Dellandrea to check on him after the whistle.
Wedgewood would go to the bench for the extra attacker with over three minutes remaining in regulation, giving the Stars a six-on-five advantage. However, the same bobbles and lack of puck luck would continue to plague the Stars. Toronto, as they were all evening, clogged the shooting lanes, forcing the Stars to make uncomfortable plays with the puck.
When it was all said and done, the Stars dropped the contest 4-1 to the Maple Leafs.
One word to describe the game: Ugly
Final:
Dallas 1 Toronto 4
Key Takeaways:
- As mentioned, Jacob Woll was outstanding for the Leafs. He stopped 31 of 32 shots and kept the Leafs in the game in the second period. Without him, Toronto could have very well been down after forty minutes.
- Pete DeBoer in the his post game presser mentioned that the woes on the power play on Thursday night stemmed from issues with execution and goaltending by Toronto. The Head Coach thought the Stars first unit was sharp with the puck, a sentiment shared by Matt Duchene who mentioned that when the Stars are set-up they are much more dangerous unit.
- Mason Marchment: Much has been made of Mason’s slow start to the season and it holds some merit. However, the Stars forward had his best game of the season, DeBoer said as much when he said, “I thought Mason was our best player tonight.” The coaching staff rewarded Marchment with increased ice-time throughout the night.
- The Stars ice-time leader tonight was predictably, Miro Heiskanen with 26:20 in total. Jason Robertson led all forwards with 19:38.
- Austin Matthews extended his personal points streak against the Stars to seven games, assisting on the go-ahead Mitch Marner goal.
- The Dallas Stars have not defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs since 2020 and have not won a home game since 2018. The Stars will have to wait until at least 2024 to reverse that trend.
- Pete DeBoer did not have a doctors update on Ty Dellandrea after the game, but mentioned he should be ok.
- The Stars and the NHL honored Joe Pavelski pre-game for recording his 1000th career point at the end of last season.