Stray Observations (Game 21): Vancouver gets Blackwelled in Stars 4-2 victory

It wasn't pretty. But it was two points.

Photoshop compliments of the Stars Discord.

I write the same intro I write for every game, it seems. Who are these Stars? Who are they trying to be? Where are they headed? Blah blah blah, existential posturing, blah blah blah, more existential posturing. If you want my broad takes on this team, listen to me yap about Dallas with Gavin. It’s, I think, a lot of fun.

For most of tonight’s game versus Vancouver, fun wasn’t exactly the operative word. At first the game seemed like it might be a contest of dueling PDO’s; a game of nothing but shooters versus stoppers, stoppers versus shooters. Then it turned into something else entirely. A few things, actually.

Admittedly, it’s hard to start this recap without talking about the officiating. It was bad. Normally there’s the caveat that “well both teams could have been called.” No, it was pretty one-sided, or at least to these eyes it seemed one-sided. I don’t mention it to excuse what was broadly a run of poor play by Dallas, but because it added to the overall challenge. Poorly-officiated games happen, and this was an egregious example of one.

But it’s hard to look past what was arguably one of Dallas’ sloppier games versus a mediocre opponent no less. Outshot 46 to 36 (attempts), the lack of possession continues to be a problem for the Stars, as they suffered multiple sequences of getting caught in their own zone chasing. But if tonight was proof of anything, it’s that a bigger collection of good players can withstand more obstacles than the one with a smaller collection of good players. Quinn Hughes is only one man, after all.

And that was the story. In the end, a few star players did star things (I’ll talk about that Mikko Rantanen goal in the strays because my god that was insane) and that was the difference. Or not. The depth was actually a big deal tonight, but more on that in a bit.

Mavrik Bourque

It was good to see Bourque get on the scoresheet. I was having this discussion in the Discord about him, because I think some fans have lost some faith in his ceiling. As I said to the Discord fans, I’m willing to see where his game ends up post-deadline. He’s, IMO, the best part of that line with Oskar Back and Justin Hryckowian, and seeing him with say, Steel and Blackwell or Duchene and Seguin would probably squeeze a little more offense out of him. I don’t disagree with the criticism. But I think Dallas can get more out of him when their forwards are back to full health. It’ll be interesting to see who comes out when the forwards are at full strength. Will it be Back? Hryckowian? Blackwell? Bourque?

Systems bug

One of the things we’ve been talking about, and something Jack Han discussed in depth, is Dallas’ strange overpursuit on the forecheck without possession. If you’re not terribly fond of this kind of systems talk, or don’t have the patience, I found the perfect clip documenting exactly what Han is talking about. All three forwards are deep in the zone. The defensemen? A little too far back. The end result is a quick trip for Vancouver through the neutral.

The point here isn’t to judge what the coaching staff is going for. Without a healthy lineup, nobody’s expecting a Monet. But it’s definitely tough to see these hiccups remain. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dallas seems fatigued at times, and tends to get punished by extended sequences in their own zone. You can only sprint so often in one shift.

Rantanen dagger

This was just incredible.

It’s a stark reminder that no matter how down, or out Dallas seems, they have a player who can do stuff like this. Granted, it was kind of a broken play on the Canucks side with Conor Garland losing his stick, but plays like this can be the difference — and they’re more likely to be the difference when the player capitalizing on the unforced error is a talent like Rantanen.

Meandering Strays

• Dallas’ penalty kill deserves a lot of credit. Despite giving up one early, the 5-on-3 had all the makings of a disaster (another night in which a Star took a penalty on special teams), and Miro Heiskanen in particular somehow powered through a top 10 PP unit.

• The depth defenders did what they could, but tonight felt like the night where the cracks of keeping the blue line¹ with a bunch of AHLers together really showed. Granted, I don’t think anyone was particularly bad. But it’s not like any of them can actively take over a shift.

• It’s been interesting to watch the coaching staff’s treatment of Jamie Benn unfold. He’s tallied shifts with the top line, but it seems like they’re fine with trading in Sam Steel at the top every now and then.

• Garland really is one of the most underrated forwards in the game, and I’m not just saying that because he’s always a one-man wrecking crew against the Stars.

• A lot of credit goes to the depth forwards. Obviously Radek Faksa, for that pass to Colin Blackwell for the tiebreaker, but Justin Hryckowian also had a fantastic game, perhaps one of his best in a Stars uniform. While I still maintain that his age makes him an unlikely candidate to garner some sort of ‘next level’, we won’t actually know that level until the season’s over. If he can hang onto a roster spot, how his game develops will go a long way towards shaping a bottom six that many of us (myself included) figured would be a bunch of defensive forward goulash, but has turned into something quite focused, and intentional (they seem to do particularly great work on the cycle).

1. For the longest time I’ve been spelling this “blueline” and didn’t realize that was incorrect. Am I crazy, dumb, or both for only recently learning this?