DENVER — The Dallas Stars simply could not match the desperation and intensity in a 4-0 Game 4 loss against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.
We vow to never lead in this series
The Stars absolutely hate to score in the first period in this series. Almost as much as they hate leading at all before winning in overtime.
Tonight it was a 2-0 lead for Colorado after 20 minutes, both goals coming on special teams.
First, Thomas Harley looked to be in between two plays, and Logan O’Connor made a good play to strip it and beat Jake Oettinger on a shorthanded breakaway.
Then a penalty to Mason Marchment late in the period led to another Nathan MacKinnon goal in this series and a very important pad to the Avs lead with seconds remaining.
Here’s the thing, leading a series 2-1 despite leading for like a minute is a great storyline. But it’s not a recipe for success.
Dallas is a FAR better team when playing with the lead… most NHL teams are, but especially those who like to roll four lines and protect the important areas around their own net. Dallas is exactly that team.
Instead, they got behind in the first and watched Colorado steal all of the momentum, especially when Gabriel Landeskog scores his first NHL goal since June 20, 2022 to extend the lead to 3-0. Colorado racked up 34 shots through two periods.
A waste of a Phenomenotter
Oettinger was excellent in Game 4. He has been good all series, but great the past three games.
Oettinger stopped 37 of 40 in Game 2, 28 of 29 in Game 4, and finished with 31 saves on 34 shots in Game 4. The quantity was impressive, but the quality was even better.
He was forced to stare down Cale Makar about five times on one shift, move side to side quickly to stop open Avs, and deal with chaos around his crease.
After stopping 21 of 22 in the second period, Stars coach Pete DeBoer opted to rest Oettinger for the third period and put in Casey DeSmith. A move that reinforces the belief that this series likely goes the distance, and probably not a bad move with Game 5 being less than 48 hours away.
DeBoer confirmed this was to rest Oettinger — saying “it didn’t make sense to put him back in with the way we were playing.”
A really good game from Oettinger that was wasted with no offense on the other end. And I will say this, Dallas actually looked pretty good to start this game. They created chances back and forth with Colorado for about the first 10 minutes, then the game began to shift.
If Oettinger is this good every night, Dallas will win the series.
Also, I tried to make this joke after we had the perfect view of a shot squeaking through Oettinger and landing right behind him in the crease. Fans thought I meant that Oettinger was bad and proceeded to scream at me.
I had to clarify, and then got A LOT of apologies lol…
I still love you all.
Have to find a way to stop the Avalanche
I am just going to keep using this pun for the entire series.
But really, the Stars could not find a way to slow down the Avs once they turned the momentum in the game. Colorado outshot Dallas 36-12 over the final 40 minutes, and the score could have been a whole lot worse than 4-0 if not for Oettinger and Casey DeSmith making some big saves.
“There’s a million things that go into that. We didn’t do the things we needed to do tonight to tilt the ice back,” DeBoer said.
Dallas has a chance to do that now in a best-of-three series with home-ice advantage. As much as thing game stings, the Stars believe momentum does not carry over, and Game 5 is a brand new opportunity back in Dallas.
“We felt like that [momentum] after Game 2, we felt like that after Game 3, so momentum is a fleeting thing,” Matt Duchene said. “We lost it, they gained it, and now it’s time for us to take it back.”
I have to believe that the Stars would be happy with a 2-2 series going back to Dallas. Duchene called this a “Western Conference Final in the first round”, and that’s exactly what it is. Add to that Dallas playing without Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson, and it’s not a bad spot to be in with a chance to go up 3-2 on home ice.
Quotable
Stars coach Pete DeBoer on the lack of scoring in the series
“It’s 2-2, who cares who scored the goals? Its 2-2 with two out of three left, it’s who scores the goals in the next three games.”
