When you’re the Dallas Stars under Pete DeBoer and all you’ve ever known is losing Game 1 of a playoff series, then what happened very late Tuesday night was not that big of a deal. Colorado’s 4-3 overtime victory certainly doesn’t feel as life-threatening as losing the first two games at home to Vegas did, and the Stars survived that, just as they did losing openers to Minnesota and Seattle last season.
So let’s start there. The second-round series is not over. Having said that, there are perhaps no good ways to lose a playoff opener but there are numerous bad ways, and Dallas practically checked them right off the list.
You don’t want to lose at home. Check.
You don‘t want to lose to a team that sat idle for a week since clinching and shows its rust throughout the first period, even gifting the Stars with a rare 5-on-3 playoff power play. Check.
You don’t want to give the opponent the emotional boost that comes with erasing a three-goal lead and scoring the final four goals. Check.
You don’t want to play into overtime when you are already the tired team after playing a seven-game series that just finished Sunday night and you’re going to have to deal with Colorado’s speed and playmaking and you’ve only got five defensemen that DeBoer is willing to send into regular battle, anyway.
Checkmate.
Dallas can certainly still beat the Avalanche, but that was a seriously poor way of delivering the message.
”I was surprised how sharp we were at the start,’’ DeBoer said. “And you knew they were going to be a little rusty at first.’’
That’s how the Stars carried a 3-0 lead into the second period, and only a stick save by defenseman Josh Manson kept Jamie Benn from making it 4-0 in the final two seconds of the opening period. At the time, that potential goal seemed superfluous. As the game evolved — and it evolved quickly with two Colorado goals in the first half of the second period — it was one the Stars badly needed.
The funny thing is that some of what we think or say about Colorado and its great skill is a bit on the mythical side. Yes, Nathan MacKinnon scored 140 points this year and deserves to win a Hart Trophy now after being a finalist three other times. Sure, Cale Makar is the closest thing the league has seen to Bobby Orr since the days of Bobby Orr and has the stats to prove it.
But over an 82-game season, Colorado led the NHL with 304 goals. Dallas scored 298. What kind of a difference are we really talking about here?
”If you’re surprised that the Dallas Stars are a good hockey team, and you watched the regular season or what they did against Vegas in the first round, then you’re not informed,’’ Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Tuesday. “When you’re down to eight teams, you’re impressed with every team and what they do for stretches of a game.
“We were undisciplined and we did a lot of standing and watching in the first period. But the only score that matters is the one at the end of the night. You’ve got to play the full 60 and sometimes more.’’
The Stars played about 30-35 Tuesday night. They need more. Where does it come from? This speed skating contests feels like no place for Joe Pavelski, who did get his stick on a puck for an assist, his first point in eight games. A bigger concern is Roope Hintz, who can handle the skating part just fine but where did his skill and playmaking run off to?
He has one point — a Game 4 empty-net goal in Vegas — after eight playoff games. A year ago he had five goals and eight assists after eight postseason games.
”We’ve got some scorers that need to step up,’’ DeBoer said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in that boat.’’
Based on what they achieved in the first round, there’s no reason for the Stars not to still have plenty of believers on their bandwagon, too. Winning four out of five in a tight-checking series after going down 0-2 isn’t the easiest way to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Now they have dug another one-game hole that feels a bit like a trench. Colorado wasn’t exactly lacking in confidence after winning the Cup in 2022 with these same skill players and then taking four straight from the Winnipeg Jets after losing a 7-6 opener in the first round. In that series, Colorado never scored fewer than five goals.
Give Dallas credit for chopping that down to four Tuesday night. Doesn’t feel like that’s going to be enough unless the Stars regain their legs quickly and throw a lot more pucks at Alexandar Georgiev, whose five-game winning streak includes a 2.2 goals against average. On a team with Colorado’s weapons, frankly, that feels unfair.
