Now that’s what I expect to watch when I see the Dallas Stars play a matinee game.
It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, except after the train derailed, another train came and crashed right into it. And then the trains caught on fire. And then they exploded. And then a bunch of arsonists danced on the remains while setting off fireworks.
And I watched the whole thing.
Perhaps that was the issue — I never watch games I don’t attend live, yet I did today. I would normally be tempted to stop watching or at least skip through the end once it became 5-1 if not before, but I obviously didn’t have that option. It was like the universe was punishing me specifically (and by extension the Stars) for allowing myself to be exposed to commercials.
The original title was of this was going to be “Missed Calls, Missed Opportunities.” The first part would have, obviously, referred to the missed delay of game call in the first period, which indirectly led to two Edmonton Oilers goals within 36 seconds. Yes, calls are going to be missed. Yes, you still have to pla when they are and can’t just complain about the refs for any misfortune that follows.
…but still: delay of game is literally (supposed to be) the most black and white penalty in the game. There’s (supposed to be) no judgment calls, no game management, nothing of the sort. It’s just a penalty or it isn’t, as stupid as that penalty may be in my opinion, or as stupid as the play not being reviewable is (as much as I would loathe to add more reviews to hockey).
So yeah, Dallas should have been on the power play, which means Edmonton would have probably never gone up 2-0. Butterfly effect and whatnot, but there’s a decent chance that a penalty called there means Jason Robertson would have opened the scoring in the second with his first of the postseason.
But of course, that’s not what happened. So Dallas had to try and crawl back from a 2-0 hole, which leads us to the second part of that original title: “misses opportunities.” Specifically, the 21(!) shots on net Dallas made in the second, three times(!) as many as the Oilers (7). And yet each team scored exactly one goal apiece.
Overall, Dallas outshot Edmonton 34-24. And yet they lost 6-1. Why? Because the Stars, surprise surprise, couldn’t manage to score (again) on an incredibly leaky goaltender in Stuart Skinner. Meanwhile, the Stars felt content to completely abandon Jake Oettinger and let the Oilers’ top scorers stunt on him.
I mean seriously: have you ever seen a goalie give up six(!) goals and come away thinking they’d played pretty decently, if not well? Cause that was my takeaway, given the Oilers’ first goal was off a crazy screen, the next four(!) were off odd man rushes / breakaways (for some of which the Stars defense seemed to not even make an effort), and the sixth was a power play goal when the Stars as a whole had long ago given up.
And ultimately, that’s why I changed the working title. Because characterizing the whole game based on a single missed call and a failed opportunity in the second would completely disregard the third, in which things went from bad to worse. That’s what we in the business would normally call a “title drop,” but I think that’s usually reserved for good titles, and this one most definitely is not. In fact, I couldn’t think of any good title after cycling through half a dozen, save maybe just a simple “Ugh.”
So like the Stars, I just gave up and accepted I wasn’t going to be happy with my work, and instead just phoned it in.
Maybe that should have been the title…
• It’s a holiday weekend, so I’ll keep the bullet points short. First off, I’m glad Robertson finally broke his scoring drought. I wish the rest of the team did so as well, but there is some poetry in Roope Hintz missing the game due to injury and Robertson being the only Star to answer the call.
• More optimism, as hard as it is to find: it’s still a 2-1 series. Should you feel good if you’re a Stars fan? No, this game kind of felt like what it was like for Carolina Hurricanes fans after their Game 3. Or Game 2. Or Game 1.
But the difference is Dallas is only down 2-1, not 3-0. And as ugly as the final score was, Dallas still out chanced Edmonton, plus at the end of the day, there’s no real difference in losing 2-1 or 6-1. The Stars are more than capable of using this game as motivation to bounce back (or burning the tape and just responding well) and making this a best of three series with home ice.
• That being said, if I were a betting man, i think I’m officially doubting my original “Stars in 6” prediction for this series, even though it’s still possible. Oilers in 6 is far more likely (I think Dallas manages to take at least one more).
• Finally, I feel like every playoff run has a storyline. This year’s for the Stars has to be “13-of-16.” That is, the number of tomes that Dallas has given up the first goal of the game.
Honestly, I don’t know what’s more impressive: the stat itself or that the Stars have won 9 playoff games regardless. But one of those two were likely regress to the mean, and unfortunately, it seems like it’s the wins, not the goals.
