The Dallas Stars were pretty quiet in a 4-0 Game 2 loss against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

The series we all should’ve expected

Many did not give the Jets enough respect coming into this series.

I heard a lot of “Stars in four or five games” predictions and some talk about who they would face in the Western Conference Final. That really surprised me, both knowing Winnipeg as a team and that Stars fans just watched their club overcome those same doubts to beat the Colorado Avalanche in round one.

Winnipeg won the Presidents’ Trophy. They were the most consistent team all season. And they kicked the crap out of Dallas in three of the four regular-season matchups. I know the regular season is different, but tell me Game 2 didn’t look close to identical to those three losses during the 82-game run.

This was always going to be a tight series. The Jets were always going to answer a lackluster Game 1 performance. It’s what teams in the final eight do… especially those built to win in the playoffs.

I suggest Stars fans buckle up for the rest of this one. I don’t think it’s ending anytime soon.

V-E-Z-I-N-A

Connor Hellebuyck was probably the NHL MVP this season. He will win the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender. But in round one, some of his previous demons rose again, especially on the road.

In the first two games of this series, though, he looks like the version Dallas does not want to see. He got better as Game 1 went on, and he was better tonight in Game 2. The saves on Evgenii Dadonov and Jamie Benn were perfect examples of that. He looks confident, he is moving and tracking pucks well, and he is back to reading plays at an elite level.

Bad news for the Stars.

The good news? He was 0-3 with over seven goals against per game on the road in round one, and this second-round series now heads back to Dallas for two games. Let’s see if that trend continues.

This is the Winnipeg Jets

Structure, support, and patience. That’s the Winnipeg Jets in a nutshell.

The Jets suffocate teams and force them to do things they don’t want to with the puck. For Dallas, that’s dumping pucks in.

The Stars love to carry the puck and use their team speed to create in transition and off the rush. Winnipeg stands up at its own blue line, attacks puck carriers in vulnerable areas of the ice, and forces the Stars to chip the puck in and go get it back on the forecheck. They also frustrate the Stars, forcing them to try too hard to make plays. Those plays usually end up in turnovers and rushes the other way.

In Game 3, the formula for Dallas should be pretty simple. Find their team speed within the cycle game and increase the intensity a notch or two to win pucks in those battles.

Winnipeg is a big, physical team. The Stars are not as much so — although Alexander Petrovic sure made a nice hit on Adam Lowry tonight.

But they are a quick team with excellent support and structure of their own.

Game 3, in my opinion, will be a battle of intensity, will, and structure between two very similar teams.