Stray Observations (Game 25): Another two-goal deficit defeated

Another win too. A good one!

Watching the meltdown in Toronto is a reminder that you can’t take your stars for granted. Even the best hockey stars don’t produce night in and night out, so because of that, it can be easy to understate their impact from shift to shift; how much gravity a single player can have in a sport where the gravity is either unseen, or simply not discussed; especially a sport that artificially divides skilled players into either Skilled or Skilled But Doesn’t Want It Enough. How many broadcasts openly discuss Jason Robertson’s defense? Mitch Marner wasn’t perfect, but he was a star with a star’s impact on the game. There’s no replacement for that. But more critically, screwing it up can’t be undone.

I’m not sure what this preamble has to do with anything except that I thought this was one of Robertson’s better nights. But it was also one of Dallas’ better nights as a group. Typically, this many games in this many nights (in this case three in the last four) is a recipe for disaster. Or at minimum — fatigue. We saw this with Edmonton, who couldn’t even connect D-to-D passes. Despite a team that should have been on fumes — and who once again had to stage a comeback (more on that in a bit) — they kept pace with Utah’s elite rush attack.

It’s hard to imagine Dallas catching up to Colorado, who have four more points than Dallas with one less game played. The Avalanche have lived up to their moniker so far, with only one regulation loss, and none at home, where their record is 9-0-2. But their roster right now is kind of tailor-made for regular season success. That is not a criticism. They’re a wagon. But hopefully this tempers expectations about where Dallas’ streak is headed; if they’re not the best Central team, who really cares? It just goes to show you: you are rarely who your record says you are. There is a community college’s worth of President’s Trophy winners who will attest to this.

What made tonight a little more exhilarating than usual is that Utah is on a real playoff path. I think they have the juice to make it. That means a team like Utah could very well be their first round opponent. It’s a little early to be thinking about this stuff, obviously, but given Winnipeg’s injury situation, and that their immediate competition is Minnesota — I’m just saying. Don’t be surprised.

To that end, I think that would be one hell of a series. The Stars have been able to put their early-season struggles behind, and are consistently looking like a cohesive unit. There are still issues, which we’ll get to, but tonight was a very good win from a fatigued group against a solid team.

Stop calling it a comeback

We’ve talked about this. And talked about it. And talked about it. Two things can be true at once: Dallas is a good at staging a comeback, and Dallas shouldn’t need to stage a comeback in order to win. The first two goals weren’t even random bounces. They were Utah capitalizing on Dallas mistakes with their speed and passing. Again, resilience is a good thing. Getting back to that waffles meme, when I tell you that I like waffles, it does not mean that I hate pancakes. But look at the teams in Dallas’ company. (It’s not weird to quote myself is it?)

The fact that only Anaheim is legit, and are awful defensively — suggesting that a sudden crash would and should surprise no one — makes it a stat that deserves proper framing.

Why doesn’t anyone listen to me???

These are not SEO hacks/growth tricks for Substack dummies. “Hey let me write something I can callback to the night of in order to increase visibility, intensify engagement, and make one thousand dollars in under two hours!!” I didn’t write today’s paid piece in order to link back. Granted, I get it. You can either afford to read these or not. I wrote it because I think it’s an interesting story, and because it’s fun to write a surprising headline that isn’t clickbait. Hence today’s piece about why I believe the penalty kill is Good, Actually (!). And boy was it ever. Utah only recorded two shots on net, and not a single high danger chance across two minutes and fort-two seconds on the power play.

Who comes out when Duchene draws back in?

Watching Justin Hryckowian have yet another quality night really puts the pressure on the forward who will come out once Matt Duchene is ready to draw back in. Granted, when that is, nobody knows. Without speculating, I don’t find his Instagram post particularly encouraging given what we know caused his injury. But I suspect we’ll find out soon. Regardless, when Dallas is fully healthy, they have a tough decision to make. Will it be Mavrik Bourque? Oskar Back? Colin Blackwell? It’s hard to believe it could be Hryckowian at this point. If Hryckowian has managed to surpass some of that veteran trust, it’ll be a hell of a statement.

Meandering Strays

• Dallas’ power play continues to be something special. The way they’re able to draw penalty killers out of position reads and looks like killer whale type behavior. Rantanen and Robertson are especially dangerous in this regard, but I would argue that Johnston is right up there with them.

• The Jason Robertson beat lives on.

• I’m contractually obligated to talk about jerseys, right? Probably not. But I guess I have to. Okay fine. They looked a-ight. Again, I’m a party pooper and I don’t like to have fun, but that’s where I’m at. I actually think the victory green pops just fine, and like their current jerseys. If you’re going retro, my personal opinion is to go all-in. Either make it retro retro, or do something totally new. That’s why I kind of liked the winter classics. They were a throwback and didn’t try to be anything else (the color of the pants didn’t quite work for me; only reason I didn’t totally dig them).

• Lian Bichsel continues to have these feast or famine shifts where he makes really good small plays, and then tries to hit some random home run play that gets thoroughly botched.

• RIP to Bryan Keller, father of Clayton Keller. Terrible news, obviously. I wish his family better fortune in the years to come.