Several of Dallas' top scorers during the regular season have gone quiet during the playoffs. That could be a problem against a high-flying Colorado club.
Several of Dallas' top scorers during the regular season have gone quiet during the playoffs. That could be a problem against a high-flying Colorado club.
Throughout the regular season, the Dallas Stars prided themselves on spreading their scoring around. Instead of relying on one, two or even three big scorers, the Stars boasted eight skaters with at least 20 goals, a franchise record. Two of them, Wyatt Johnston and Roope Hintz, reached the 30-goal plateau. Jason Robertson had 29, Joe Pavelski 27, Tyler Seguin 25, Matt Duchene 25, Mason Marchment 22 and Jamie Benn 21.
Such depth can come in handy. If one or two players have a dry spell, others are there to pick up the slack.
Sounds logical in theory, until it isn't.
Once the playoffs arrive, the quality of competition becomes tougher, goals are often harder to come by. Some top scorers come through, while others go silent.
In their first-round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Stars' top three goal scorers were Johnston (4), Jason Robertson (3) and Evgenii Dadonov (2). The team's point leaders were Johnston (7), Robertson (5) and Miro Heiskanen (5). It was a tight series, with Dallas holding a 15-14 edge in goals over the seven games (not counting empty-netters).
The second-round series with the Colorado Avalanche could prove to be a different story, if Tuesday's 4-3 loss is any indication. The Avs are a much more explosive team, dispatching the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 in their first-round series. Colorado outscored the Jets 28-15 over the five games and were led in scoring by Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon, each with nine points. Valeri Nichushkin (7), Arturo Lehkonen (5) and Makar (2) combined for 14 of the team's 28 goals.
While Stars head coach Pete DeBoer acknowledged before the series his team didn't want a track meet with the Avs, it will likely take more than two or even three goals per game for them to win the series.
"You gotta impose your game on them because if you don't, they're gonna do it to you," Duchene said following the 4-3 overtime loss in Game 1. "It's probably not as much of a chess match as the last series. It's gonna be a little more high-octane and free-flowing. That's the game they want, and we gotta limit them."
When asked whether he was concerned about veterans like Joe Pavelski's lack of production in the playoffs and if the Avs posed a problem for him with their speed, DeBoer didn't name names, but addressed the issue of some of his top scorers struggling for goals.
"I'm concerned about all our scorers," DeBoer said. "(Joe's) not alone there. Regardless of age, we've got some young scorers who haven't delivered yet for us that need to deliver. There's a lotta guys in that boat."
Johnston, Hintz, Robertson, Pavelski, Seguin, Duchene, Marchment and Benn have 11 goals between them this post-season. In all fairness to Marchment, he's only played in two games after getting injured in Game 2 against Vegas.
DeBoer has adjusted his line combinations throughout the playoffs, looking for a spark. Johnston went to the line with Hintz and Robertson, while Stankoven switched to the Duchene-Seguin line.
The team appeared to gain back some of the energy they had lost after the first period. They had their share of quality chances throughout the game. Benn had an almost certain goal just as the first period ended, but Avs defenseman Josh Manson made a great save to keep the Stars from taking a 4-0 lead into intermission. Seguin and Johnston were both prevented from scoring the game-winner on spectacular saves by goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
There are other issues Dallas will need to clean up if they wish to take control of the series: controlling the puck better in the neutral zone and staying away from costly penalties, to name a couple. But the scoring depth that guided them to Central Division and Western Conference needs to return.
"I think at the end of the night, when you look at the score sheet, their big guys all kind of delivered and were all over the score sheet," DeBoer said. "I thought a couple of our guys were, but... some of our scoring has to step up. We've been waiting for a series plus a game now for some of that."
The Stars are no strangers to falling behind in the post-season. Counting Tuesday's loss to the Avalanche, they have suffered Game 1 losses in six consecutive series: Vegas (2024 first round), Vegas (2023 Western Conference Finals), Seattle (2023 second round), Minnesota (2023 first round), and Calgary (2022 first round).
With the exception of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden Knights last season and in the first round against the Flames in 2022, Dallas came back to take the other series.
"We're not gonna give up," Benn said. "It's one game. (Colorado came out on top, kudos to them. We'll be ready for Game 2."
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