Dallas finds themselves down 1-0 in their first-round playoff series. Here are five keys to right the ship.
Dallas finds themselves down 1-0 in their first-round playoff series. Here are five keys to right the ship.
Shortly after the Dallas Stars lost 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the opener of the First-Round Stanley Cup playoff series, forward and captain Jamie Benn was asked by a reporter what coach Pete DeBoer's message was when he addressed the team in the locker room.
After a long pause and a deep breath, Benn responded tersely, "stupid question, but that stays in here."
Players and coaches rarely reveal pre- or postgame discussions among themselves. But one can guess much of the conversation was centered around what went wrong and the things the team needed to address to come back and tie the series before it heads to Vegas for games 3 and 4.
The Stars showed they could hang with the defending Stanley Cup champions. They could have completely fallen apart after the Golden Knights grabbed the momentum 83 seconds into the game on a power play goal. But they fought valiantly to give themselves a shot at coming from behind, something they did 26 times during the regular season.
But each time the Stars trimmed a two-goal deficit down to one, Vegas would tighten up defensively and prevent them from getting the tying goal on three different occasions.
"If you're going to knock off the Stanley Cup champions, you're gonna have to bring your A game every night," DeBoer said following the Game 1 loss. "I thought tonight, we did some decent things, we did some things well, but we were chasing the game the whole night from the first shot of the game on. (It's) tough to play from behind against that team."
How can Dallas turn a decent performance into an A-game performance to prevent falling behind 2-0 ? Here are five keys to taking back the series.
Eliminate Early Mistakes
Giving up the first goal of a game is nothing new for the Stars; they did so 42 times during the regular season. They went 23-15-4 when giving up the first goal, with the 23 wins ranking first in the NHL. Not surprisingly, their record when scoring first was much more impressive: 29-6-5.
However, Vegas's first goal came just 1:23 into the first period following a high sticking penalty by Sam Steel that allowed Vegas to capitalize on the power play.
Making those kinds of mistakes so early in a game can often be chalked up to playoff jitters, especially having a five-day gap between games. It could also be attributed to over-aggressiveness in an attempt to take control early.
Either way, the Stars can't afford those same miscues to start Game 2.
"We had a problem taking penalties, but I'm sure we'll try and keep that down and keep the game 5-on-5," forward Jason Robertson said Tuesday. "You just need a fine line of competing and being disciplined. It was the first game of the series so everyone has the jitters. (Wednesday), just stay composed and check well."
Keep Vegas Away from the Net
The Stars' defense didn't allow Vegas to get many shots (they had 15 compared to Dallas's 30). But the Golden Knights found free lanes on several occasions that created traffic around the net and opportunities to score.
Late in the first period, Tomas Hertl found a free lane and tipped in a Noah Hanifin rebound for a power play goal that increased the Golden Knights' lead to 3-1.
After the game, Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said his team had an idea of how the Stars would approach the penalty-kill and responded accordingly.
"We're a little simpler," Cassidy said. "We know what Dallas is trying to do, at least what we pre-scouted in terms of their aggressiveness. Sometimes you got to take the first available look that you see. (Hanifin) saw Tomas in front on the second one in faceoff, maybe it was sitting on the half wall play that you're going to jump. So, we saw a free lane to the net and took it."
In the first minute of the second period, Brayden McNabb sent a missile from the left point to give Vegas a 4-2 lead. Jake Oettinger was screened on the play from a number of bodies around the net.
The Stars will have to find a way to keep Hertl and Hanifin away from the net, particularly since they are both expert at tipping in shots.
Special Teams Must Be Better
Vegas went 1-for-10 on the power play in the three regular season meetings with the Stars during the regular season. Monday night, they were a perfect 2-for-2, which means Dallas was unsuccessful in killing both penalties.
The Stars out-ranked Vegas in both categories by a wide margin during the regular season. They finished sixth-best in the NHL on the power play at 24.2%; Vegas was 20th at 20.2%. Dallas had an 82% efficiency on the penalty-kill, good for eighth in the league. The Golden Nights ranked 16th at 79.3%.
It's inconceivable to think the Stars will struggle with special teams the rest of this series, but they need a much better performance in that area than in Game 1.
"I think (Monday) night was a little bit of an aberration," DeBoer said. "I think we can do a much better job than we did. Some nights, everything they shoot finds a way in. Sometimes, you have to wash it and not overthink it."
Oettinger Needs to Bounce Back
Putting full responsibility for all four of Vegas's goals on Jake Oettinger would be unfair. Two of the goals were tip-ins, and one was difficult to track when he was screened. But Oettinger was not at his end-of-the-season best, and he only faced 15 shots on goal. His counterpart, Logan Thompson, was kept busy and often faced furious flurries of Dallas shots, particularly late in the game after the Stars had pulled Oettinger for the sixth attacker.
When asked if he'd like to have a couple of those goals back, Oettinger replied, "I'd like to have all four of them back."
Bring the Crowd Noise
This one's for the fans, who were loud and raucous in Game 1, particularly at the beginning and every time the Stars fought to get back in the game. They also loudly booed Golden Knights forward and captain Mark Stone, who came off of the long-term injured reserve list (LTIR) for the second straight year right before the playoffs began.
Just as the Stars will need to bring their A game, the fans need to duplicate their noise level. Perhaps this time, the team will be over the Game 1 jitters and respond accordingly.
The Stars remember what happened when they fell behind 2-0 in last year's Western Conference Final against Vegas. They dropped the third game as well and lost the series in six. They're hoping to fix the cracks in their armor Wednesday before heading to Vegas for games 3 and 4.
Golden Knights Projected Lines:
Barbashev- Eichel-Marchessault
Stephenson-Hertl-Stone
Howden-Karlsson-Mantha
Carrier-Roy-Kolesar
Hanifin-Pietrangelo
McNabb-Theodore
Martinez-Whitecloud
Thompson
Stars Projected Lines:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
Steel-Faksa-Dadonov
Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Tanev
Suter-Lundkvist
Oettinger
Nicolas Hague will miss Game 2 with a lower-body injury. Alec Martinez will replace him on the blueline.
Puck drop is set for 8:30 Pm CT, with the game being carried on Bally Sports Southwest and ESPN.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.
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