(2024 Playoffs, Round 1) Game 6 Stray Observations: Vegas shuts out Dallas 2-0

Hold on to your butts.

It’s hard to criticize Dallas’ performance.

Yes, we’ll get to some individuals in a bit, but as a team they were up against a Vegas squad that played maybe their tightest game of the series. Their passing through the neutral zone continues to make aggressive forward pressure tricky, and their blueline structure is the only team in the West that can compete with the Stars.

Dallas has broadly felt like the better team, but they’ve never quite felt in control either. That’s to be expected. The Knights, after all, are really good. Nothing is ever certain for a Game 7, but one thing for sure is that most of Sunday’s game will be played at even strength.

Yes, despite the stereotype, penalties are called at a slightly higher rate in the playoffs. However, that pattern completely disappears in elimination games. While that’s probably obvious to most, it’s not intuitive. As in, there’s a very good chance that teams are not magically committing disproportionately less penalties all of a sudden. So whatever Dallas is gonna do, they’re gonna need to do it at even strength.

Does that give Vegas the advantage? Probably, but only slightly. That doesn’t mean I think they’re the better team. The Stars, after all, seem to get their chances dramatically. If they can find a little more finish, hopefully that’ll be the difference. For now, it’s nothing but pain.

Tyler Seguin the the boys

Seguin hasn’t been the loudest player in the series, but he’s been one of the more consistent forwards in all three zones. However, combined with Duchene and Dadonov, they’ve been more than simply quietly effective, but unhinged, generating odd man rushes out of nothing. Dadonov in particular has been a bat out of hell, and like a bat with a puck, hasn’t been much of a shooter outside of that random goal from Game 4. It’s worth emphasizing because I thought without the typical Seguin lineup, they might be more muted than usual, but they’ve been anything but.

I know fans will criticize them for not finishing, but Hill has been good, and I’d rather see them generate chances than generate nothing at all.

Esa Lindell, the other goaltender

We’ve talked about Lindell before, and the effect Chris Tanev has had on him. I’ve always been of two minds about the Finnish defender, and while I still think Tanev has been Dallas’ best defender, Lindell hasn’t been far behind as the blueliner with the most thankless, but no less essential, role. Not only was he mindful, but he was physical — the latter of which he’s not typically known for.

Dallas’ blueline

While this series has been the Tanev show in terms of a masterclass in stay-at-home defending, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the rest. Heiskanen had a brilliant pokecheck on Tomas Hertl, Harley’s steady defensive work has been a revelation, and Ryan Suter and Nils Lundkvist have been their best selves (regardless of amount of shifts) against a very tough, physical Vegas forward group that would be getting a lot more chances versus any other defensive group not named the Hurricanes.

Two-thirds of the top line: MIA

I’m not big on “guy must be injured” as the default suspicion whenever a player is underperforming, but tonight Roope Hintz actually did get hurt on a play. Nonetheless, it’s impossible to understate how much Jason Robertson is on an island right now. The criticism of Hintz is deserved, but Joe Pavelski belongs on the fourth line. Unlike Hintz, who is getting attention from Vegas, Pavelski can simply be ignored. He has five shots on net through, which is tied for Sam Steel, who has played 20 less minutes. Craig Smith has been, frankly, fantastic in his limited icetime. I don’t know how you could downgrade the top line with Smith up there; one of the few forwards who can play with both physical and fast much like Vegas’ lineup.

The Vegas perspective

If you’re the Knights, you’re not feeling good because you won; you’re feeling good knowing that murder is legal in Game 7s. They largely sucked Dallas into their game, and while I don’t believe they’re the better team, they’re more than capable of winning a Game 7 on the road.

The asterisk is that Dallas has done a really good job — thanks to Tanev — of shutting down the top line, and Jack Eichel in particular. He has a 45 percent expected goal share, and on ice for only four goals, and three against. While I think that line has been good in the neutral zone, the Stars have kept from capitalizing on entries. It’s good news for Stars fans, but the bad news is that it doesn’t take much for Eichel to take over a shift. He’s still the only player that can jailbreak a shift. But he has only one game to change the narrative.