EDMONTON — The Dallas Stars were once again held to just one goal in a 4-1 Game 4 loss against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
Good, but nothing to show for it
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…
The Stars played a good period, maybe even very good. They outshot Edmonton 17-10, won nearly 70% of the faceoffs, and had the better of the scoring chances. I thought the line of Mason Marchment, Matt Duchene, and Tyler Seguin looked really dangerous, especially when they started shooting pucks rather than overpassing.
Yet… they have nothing but a 1-0 deficit to show for it.
The main reason for allowing the first goal for the 14th time in 17 playoff games was an unnecessary tripping penalty by Jamie Benn behind the Edmonton net. He is working hard to battle for a puck, but puts his stick into the skate of his buddy John Klingberg in a vulnerable spot. Klingberg goes down, and the Stars good start turns into an Edmonton power-play goal.
The goal itself is just what the Oilers do… a perfect give-and-go between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl, and Draisaitl scores from his favorite spot.
I imagine Jake Oettinger wants another shot at this one, but it’s a quick passing play, and Miro Heiskanen looked to set a little screen on his own goaltender.
The physical stuff also picked up in the first period… both “legal” and not.
The best instance of the legal stuff was Esa Lindell clearing Viktor Arvidsson out of the front of the net after Oettinger allowed a rebound in front. The Oilers reacted, and Dallas got a power play out of it (which carries over to the second period).
The most noticeable illegal instance came from Evan Bouchard, who wasted no time testing the injured left foot of Roope Hintz.
Feels like someone needs to respond to this. Penalty or not.
IT’S THE SAME STORY
I will not just rehash what I said after the first, but can we all agree that the second period was essentially the exact same thing?
Dallas outplayed Edmonton and even tied the game thanks to a beautiful power-play goal by Jason Robertson.
Here is the goal being played at the Texas Rangers game… I love when teams do this:
But after watching Corey Perry get called for an offensive zone pick interference penalty, Mason Marchment did the exact same thing. Literally the same play, and he was called for it just the same.
The Oilers didn’t waste any time converting, retaking the lead 2-1, and making this an all-power-play scoring game so far.
The Stars have to be getting frustrated. They have to. They have played some really good hockey in consecutive games, and have not led for a single second. Every time they take a step forward, Edmonton answers, either due to good play on their side or a mistake by Dallas.
I mean, have you ever seen this chart more lopsided while a team is trailing after two periods??
I do think the Stars tried to respond after Bouchard’s slash on Roope Hintz. Benn took a head-hunting run at Bouchard, who spent the entire next TV timeout talking to an official. Benn also skated right through Stuart Skinner behind the net, taking advantage of a play where he was not likely to get called because Skinner stepped into his path.
I like it. I like it a lot. Do more of that.
I know it’s not technically true, but it certainly feels like winning this third period is vital to continuing this Stars playoff run.
Execution is key & the season is on the line
We can talk about the Stars scoring struggles all night long. But I want to focus on execution in the most important areas and times of the game.
Dallas went into the third period trailing 2-1 with essentially its season on the line. What a time to step up, dominate a period, and go back home tied 2-2.
Instead, the Stars mustered up just one shot through 11 minutes of the third. They couldn’t maintain control of the puck, often dumping it in but not creating any turnovers on the forecheck. When they did create offensive zone time or cycles, they either missed the net or hit Skinner in the chest with their shots. That’s better than missing the net like they did 15 times in the first period, but not by much.
And when it came down to the biggest moments… the Oilers won them.
Mikael Granlund took Dallas’ third offensive zone penalty of the game with five minutes to go. The Stars got the penalty kill they need, got a few huge saves from Oettinger, and had a chance 6-on-5 with more than two minutes to get just one goal and send it to overtime. Instead, they lost the faceoff in the Oilers end, lost a race to a high-flipped puck at center ice, and gave up an empty-net goal that put the game on ice.
If Dallas has any chance to win three straight games, they need to be harder around their own net and around Skinner.
They need to have that bite and edge to score goals, no matter how well Edmonton is defending. They need to force Skinner to make heroic saves if he is going to keep them to one goal or less. They haven’t done that yet. Sure, his numbers are great. But how many times has he had to make a great save or deal with pure chaos around his crease to find a shot or loose puck? Not often. That’s been the difference.
And as much as I had hoped not to write this tonight, the Dallas Stars season will be on the line at home Thursday in Game 5.
Quotable
Miro Heiskanen on responding to Edmonton’s physical play & facing elimination
“The best way to respond is to make them pay for it. We have to capitalize and score more goals, that’s for sure… That’s been the problem the last few games, we have to figure that out…
“We have to go (home) and get the win. That’s all we think about right now. It’s one game at a time… go back there and get the win.”
