(2024 Playoffs, Round 2) Game 4 Stray Observations: Dallas beats Colorado 5-1

Destruction.

There was a lot of ink spilled about the Colorado shakeup. Valeri Nichushkin was admitted into the Player Assistance Program, and now gone for the series. Devon Toews was out with an illness. A prime opportunity, they said. But I didn’t think it was the story. Dallas was fresh off a dominant win in Game 3. They had been building momentum long before Colorado was down a few players. The opportunity, they had already largely taken. Game 4 was just the opportunity to put a stamp on it.

And stamp they did. I’m not sure you could ask for a better victory, except to stick it into Game 5 so that this series can be over. But it was everything Dallas has been built on. It was their best players being their best players, no matter how young, and their depth putting in the work while an elite defensive core held the fort in front of a goaltender at the top of his game. How can you beat that?

The series may not be over, but it certainly feels like it is. Georgiev hasn’t even really had a bad game. In fact, he’s been downright solid, but the Stars have forced a workload he simply can’t contend with.

We’ll see whether all of this goodwill, good fortune (well…mostly) and good breaks convert into closing out the series on Wednesday, but for now, things are looking mighty good. For a lot of reasons.

Wyatt Johnston: former 1st overall pick?

Maybe I’m letting my emotions get the best of me, but you know what — a strong emotion can be a better clue towards the truth than a raw fact. I’d like to think I’m moderately objective, not just because I don’t write BS fan service for this place, but because I follow the draft. Owen Power and Simon Edvinsson will make strong cases throughout their career (as will the top two centers of that draft), but who am I looking at when I see Johnston puckjack Cale Makar and beat the rest of the Avs on the penalty kill? [Heuristic Alert] Nico Hischier, or Patrice Bergeron? Feels a lot like the latter. And there isn’t a single defender in the league right now I’d take over prime Bergeron.

Granted, I’m not calling him Bergeron. But that’s the template. And that’s the talent on display. A big part of this argument comes from watching him play opposite Nathan MacKinnon, and feeling like the team with Johnston is more in control when the puck is on his stick. Just incredible work from a bonafide Star.

National Commentary

I’m not one to lament “east coast bias” and all that jazz. Not saying it doesn’t exist, and I’m certainly not saying I don’t get sick of hearing about the Leafs (although Steve Dangle you’re real for the best rant on hockey’s dippy officiating), but for two periods, the national booth was fixated on Colorado being out two players, and they “missed their brothers” like dudes being shipped out to the trenches. It was embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as the TNT crew treating Sam Bennett’s suckerpunch of Brad Marchand (yea yea) like a guy towing the line.

Are the two connected? Yea. Greatest sport. Not a league.

Blueline magic

This strays are starting to repeat themselves, I know, but this was another really good game from everyone involved. Thomas Harley is maybe the most interesting story precisely because his role has completely reversed. I don’t believe some of this is intentional — as in, I find it hard to believe part of DeBoer or Nas’ plan was ever “hey, we know you’re a puck mover but we need you to be the defensive half of a pair with Miro Heiskanen.”

But feels like that has transpired, even it’s done so by accident. Harley made a couple of really great defensive plays (especially a pokecheck of note in the second) on MacKinnon, and it’s a part of his game that has really grown roots. When the current top duo was formed, I heard comparisons to Toews-Makar, and that just never made sense. It makes a lot more sense now. It’ll be interesting to see how much of this becomes a part of who he is, but he’s ostensibly sacrificed some of his offense for it — although I would sooner argue a cold stretch more than anything deliberate. Nonetheless, I’m not gonna complain either. In the same way Jason Robertson sacrificed some offense for bulkier, more effective defending, perhaps that’s Harley’s fate too. It sure as hell isn’t hurting Dallas’ bottom line.

Part of what makes Harley’s defensive play worth highlighting is that if Dallas’ blueline was gonna have a weak defensive link in the top four, it would have been Harley. Instead you might even mistake him for Tanev and Heiskanen from time to time.

Pavelski’s concering play

To me, there’s never a poor time for criticism. Listen, I won’t talk about Pavelski this way anymore because there’s largely no point. He’s hockey old, and it’s been happening all year despite his gaudy point totals. But in a closer series, Pavelski will need to be off that Johnston line. It’s not just the shift to shift rating of his, which would be poor even by a fourth liner’s standards.

It’s also his reaction time, his dreadful passing, and how easily he loses puck battles. It’s not just bad. It’s concerning.

This is not an argument to scratch him, nor would that ever happen. But with as good as Johnston is playing (and Benn for that matter), this could be a very relevant discussion in the very near future in terms of optimizing their best forward.

The Colorado Perspective

You don’t have to read my opinions about the Colorado perspective. You could just see it on their faces, and in their body language. Not only are the Avalanche out of answers, but Dallas is firing on all cylinders. Even those moments of dominating shifts haven’t come to fruition. I also don’t know that there’s a silver lining either. Especially with the way Val Nichushkin has exited. They just LOOK like a time playing with zero confidence, or awareness. It’s telling that even on chances they do generate off entries, every forward is on an entirely different wavelength.

Bonus: A rant about playoff officiating

Steve Dangle’s rant about playoff officiating starts at 21:48 and it’s the best I’ve heard on this topic.

If you’re a casual fan just watching the goals and trying to enjoy a plate of nachos and beer, I am not judging you at all except to preempt this by saying that this rant is not at all irrelevant to Dallas’ situation.

For one, if Dallas gets past Colorado, a team like Vancouver is absolutely gonna tow the line. The favorites in the East, in this case Florida and Boston, also have players who routinely cross the line. But also, it’s quite possible that’s how Roope Hintz was injured. The Sportsnet group showed MacKinnon (my Twitter mentions said it was Sean Walker, but I’m pretty sure Walker was the one who crosschecked him in the back as he was going down — the clip where Hintz was ostensibly hurt was earlier in the shift) crosschecking Hintz in the hand/wrist area. Was this the same situation as Bennett suckering Marchand? No. But this nonsensical alternate playbook the NHL has for the playoffs is already affecting Dallas, even if it hasn’t hit a crescendo like it has for teams like Boston, and Edmonton.

Edit: At last, the footage!