Game 12 Stray Observations: Dallas beats Chicago 3-1 after a lengthy break

They might be leveling up. Hard to tell.

It was a big night for the Central. Minnesota destroyed San Jose thanks to Matt Boldy continuing his phenomenal year¹, and Winnipeg shutting down the Avalanche thanks to Connor Hellebuyck.

And then there was Dallas, almost shutting out Chicago with a stellar Jake Oettinger performance. It doesn’t sound that impressive when contrasted with the other top teams in the Central, but you can only beat who they put in front of you, and for the most part, the Stars dominated the way they should.

It was, however, pretty sloppy. It’s fitting that I just finished J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise, because that’s how I would describe the game: leveling up amidst the descent of everything else. Sequences of puck handling mayhem made me actively long for some junior hockey. I don’t mean to sound venomous towards the hockey we got, or the skill level that was involved — only that last night was an oddball clash, and probably warranted given how many games Dallas has played over the last two weeks.

However, I would argue it’s also in keeping with Dallas’ oddities as a transition team, as I wrote yesterday. On the ‘no duh’ front, there are three good teams in the Central and then there’s everyone else.

What’s great is that Saturday is the perfect follow-up: a bout with the hottest team in the league. Will the forwards finally break through, and will we get the Oettinger vs. Hellebuyck showdown? And do we have signs?

Sam Steel in for Mason Marchment

There was a moment early on when Thomas Harley pinched down low, and had a wide open Steel at the bottom of the left dot. Harley ignored him as he rose from the corners and took a weak angle shot instead. Steel later grabbed the puck, and took an even worse angle when shooting. I remarked on Twitter that I could see why Harley didn’t pass to Steel. And then Steel scored. I’m used to egg on my face. I guess I quite like eggs. Although I still don’t like Steel in the top six — he played a significant amount of games with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and still didn’t break 30 points — it’s hard to argue he hasn’t at least earned it. Egg or not, it was great to see him rewarded. Line juggling

Reunited

It was good to see Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven back with Jamie Benn. They seemed happy to be back to.

I thought Johnston especially had a solid game, moreso on the defensive side of things. While he continues to be quiet on the scoresheet, there are still a lot of things he’s doing that still projects a bright future, especially his one-on-one work. For so long, people thought his size might work against him, but what he lacks in muscle he makes up for in agility and wits.

Jake Oettinger

There’s not much to say here. Oettinger was a stone cold killer in this one. It’s not like Chicago wasn’t all up in his business either. If this is his way of preparing for the Hellebuyck matchup on Saturday — lifting Stankoven and Johnston while they sit in unkempt farm equipment out in the deep snow of some random mountain range like Rocky preparing for Drago — then I’d say he’s ready.

The Chicago Perspective

Five wins in 15 games. Yea they look it.

This team has James Hagens on their mind more than winning NHL games. What’s weird is that if you squint your eyes, it’s almost like you’re looking at an NHL roster. You have some elite young talent like Connor Bedard and…wait, that’s really it (no disrespect to Lukas Reichel). Now I get it. Reichel, Kirby Dach, Adam Boqvist…they haven’t hit big on their draft picks, and then there was that whole Seth Jones debacle. It’s all showing. Bedard is not quite good enough just yet to single-handedly pull them up by their bootstraps.

It’s hard to say exactly what to expect. Artyom Levshunov is gonna be good, but I’m not sure he’s a true blue impact player on the backend, although I think a future pairing with Jones (flaws and all). Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore will add speed to the group, but it feels like this group another string of drafts to create a proper core, which means Chicago fans will be hurting for awhile.

The Hater’s Perspective

Leave it to Ralph Strangis.

Hating the Blackhawks didn't survive the move...

1. Watching Boldy’s puck handling, it’s the one skill Roope Hintz simply doesn’t have in any capacity, and I wish someone were working with him around the clock to improve it.