Dallas Stars 2023 Playoffs Thread of Dominance

[crum 541]

this made going to game 1 and having my heart ripped out at 1:15 on a work night all worth it

[markstanco 12786]

this post held up well

I want to take my hat off and beat his ass like they did to Randy quaid in major league 2.

[markstanco 12786]

So we thinking Wednesday night assuming Sea/Col play Sunday? 

Can’t believe that series and the Florida Boston series.

Hoping Joe is ready if Wednesday. Need him, no more Minny type of teams will remain.

[Firemans4Horn 18528]

Otter with a .965 save percentage the last 3 games of the series. 
 

[Pato del Muerto 53460]

3 goals allowed in 3 games,  and one was a 6 on 4. 

[Longboard Horn 41350]

Welp, looks like we'll have to wait til Sunday to find out who our opponent is for second round. I'm hoping it's the Kraken.

[Radical Larry 28819]

[Fudbelty 2809]

Welp, looks like we'll have to wait til Sunday to find out who our opponent is for second round. I'm hoping it's the Kraken.

Doesn’t NHL reseed? Pretty sure Vegas would be the next opponent for the Sea Monsters.

Edit- delete response, ban user.

[Scary Stranger 1725]

Read one of the post game articles where Zuccarello said the Wild were the better team. That’s LOL. The ONLY reason they were in this series as long as they were is because they gooned it up the first 5 games…. And we still blew them out multiple times.

[cactusflinthead 27627]

 

[Skipper 6411]

1 hour ago, Scary Stranger said:

Read one of the post game articles where Zuccarello said the Wild were the better team. That’s LOL. The ONLY reason they were in this series as long as they were is because they gooned it up the first 5 games…. And we still blew them out multiple times.

Strong Leinart vibes but way worse.  They outplayed us 1 game the entire series.  Game 1 and 4 were pretty evenly matched, but games 2, 5 and 6 were complete ass kickings.

[C-Man 27778]

Aw shit, forgot we won't have Josh & Razor on TV anymore now. 

That’s the only downside to advancing out of the first round.

[C-Man 27778]

Read one of the post game articles where Zuccarello said the Wild were the better team. That’s LOL. The ONLY reason they were in this series as long as they were is because they gooned it up the first 5 games…. And we still blew them out multiple times.

Terrible take by Zuccarello. Fits in perfectly on that side.

[Longhorn_Fan68 34103]

🤣

 

[Firemans4Horn 18528]

[Beau Vine 55862]

Next round will be much more difficult for the simple reason that the other team won't be coached by Creed Bratton.

[Longhorn_Fan68 34103]

6 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Next round will be much more difficult for the simple reason that the other team won't be coached by Creed Bratton.

I'm not predicting anything, but I like our chances despite who we draw next round.

[Beau Vine 55862]

1 minute ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I'm not predicting anything, but I like our chances despite who we draw next round.

I do too.  I honestly think Dallas would drill Colorado right now.

[wood 11763]

4 hours ago, Scary Stranger said:

Read one of the post game articles where Zuccarello said the Wild were the better team. That’s LOL. The ONLY reason they were in this series as long as they were is because they gooned it up the first 5 games…. And we still blew them out multiple times.

[C-Man 27778]

I do too.  I honestly think Dallas would drill Colorado right now.

I’ve been watching that series but haven’t really followed the lines closely. Colorado appears to be essentially a one-line team, albeit a great line with Rantanen and MacKinnon. Landeskog isn’t coming back and who knows WTF is going on with Nichushkin. That’s a strange situation.

Seattle is scrappy as fuck and that home-ice ain’t no joke. Of course, Colorado is tough due to altitude and other things. I also like our chances against either, even more so if Pavelski comes back. Otter will be more severely tested by our next opponent, whichever team wins tomorrow.

[Beau Vine 55862]

Seattle has been playing Dallas's game, only with less talent.

[Skipper 6411]

25 minutes ago, C-Man said:

I’ve been watching that series but haven’t really followed the lines closely. Colorado appears to be essentially a one-line team, albeit a great line with Rantanen and MacKinnon. Landeskog isn’t coming back and who knows WTF is going on with Nichushkin. That’s a strange situation.

Seattle is scrappy as fuck and that home-ice ain’t no joke. Of course, Colorado is tough due to altitude and other things. I also like our chances against either, even more so if Pavelski comes back. Otter will be more severely tested by our next opponent, whichever team wins tomorrow.

Rooting for a 3OT game then let the chips fall!  Sucks it's another late start.  Not starting the week off staying up for that 

[Beau Vine 55862]

[Fudbelty 2809]

21-14 in a six game series is a pretty good ass kicking. Pretty easy to see who the better team was.

This was actually one of the few times I’d say the losing team could legitimately think they were better, but they lost so they weren’t.

[C-Man 27778]

Saad’s story about DeBoer coaching circles around Evason: https://theathletic.com/4469577/2023/04/29/stars-pete-deboer-dean-evason/?source=user_shared_article

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Officially, the Stars won their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild on Friday at 11:14 p.m. when the final horn sounded at Xcel Energy Center to conclude Game 6.

Unofficially, the Stars won their series against the Wild in the early morning hours of April 18.

It was one of the darkest nights of the season for the Stars. After a successful regular season, they lost home-ice advantage on the first night of the postseason when Ryan Hartman scored the game-winning goal for the Wild in double overtime at 1 a.m. For many, the lasting image of that night was Joe Pavelski lying on the ice behind the Minnesota net at the American Airlines Center after absorbing a big hit from Wild defenseman Matt Dumba.

For the Stars, those few seconds of Pavelski on the ice felt like an eternity.

Max Domi had an emotional response. Seeing Pavelski down, Domi instinctively pounced on Dumba. The hit by Dumba was initially called a five-minute major but was reduced to a two-minute minor upon review, and Domi’s actions canceled out any power-play advantage the Stars could have received.

After the game, Jake Oettinger let his emotions be known at the podium when asked about Dumba’s hit.

“I hadn’t seen (the hit) closely. From what I saw, it looked like a major penalty,” Oettinger said. “I’ll look at it (again), and I don’t think my opinion is going to change. It’s tough. You lose your leader like that, a guy we need, to a cheap shot like that. It’s tough. Hopefully he’s not hurting too bad and we can use it as motivation to help us.”

The Stars were rattled. And they were furious. Logistics and legality aside, players in the dressing room felt like the hit was late. Others, including some coaches, felt it was unnecessary. Some felt it was both. Biased? Sure. Dallas didn’t just lose 77 points, a top-line winger and a top power-play piece to that hit. The team lost one of its most respected figures and leaders.

If there’s one person who has the strongest bias toward Pavelski, it’s Stars head coach Pete DeBoer. Pavelski was captain of the Sharks under DeBoer when he was the head coach in San Jose for five years. In the moments after an emotional loss and seeing one of his beloved players go down in that fashion, DeBoer would have loved to publicly come to Pavelski’s defense. Instead, right after Oettinger left the podium, DeBoer stepped up and was asked about the hit that took out Pavelski.

“You know, we have the best officials in the world,” DeBoer said. “They called a (five-minute major). They reviewed it, which is the right thing to do. If they reviewed it and decided it wasn’t a bad hit, then I guess it’s not for me to argue with that. They got to look at it in multiple different angles, and that was the decision they made. We’ve got to live with that.”

Pressed further about the nature of the officiating that night, especially after what appeared to be missed high-stick and tripping calls in overtime, DeBoer stayed on the high road.

“Again, we have the best officials in the world,” DeBoer said. “It’s a fast game. That’s not why we lost the game tonight. We’ve got to regroup and get ready for Game 2. That’s playoff hockey. You’ve got to deal with all kinds of adversity, whether it’s a missed call or a bounce in overtime or a post that didn’t bounce your way. Those are things you have to deal with.”

Tyler Seguin met with the media the next day. He expressed sadness and concern at seeing Pavelski down that way and spoke about filling Pavelski’s void. In front of the cameras, he remained diplomatic about the officials. From the moment DeBoer said his piece after Game 1, all Stars players did.

“He’s such an important part of our group, and the immediate reaction of your group is that everyone wants revenge,” DeBoer said. “They want to avenge the hit, avenge it for a really important part of our team that’s laying on the ice and not available to play. We wanted to try and get the temperature down on that as quickly as we could and get our focus back. The best thing we could do for Pavs is to win the series and let him play again. I thought once we reset that, I thought our group did a much better job.”

DeBoer’s diplomatic response to the officiating after Game 1 was seen by some as pandering to the officials. In reality, though, DeBoer was locked in on his players. He was sending a message to them and setting a tone. Before the series, DeBoer was asked about how a head coach can manage a team’s emotions throughout a playoff run. He told a story about how he witnessed Blues head coach Craig Berube maintain his composure when a blatant miss by the officials in a 2019 playoff series against DeBoer’s San Jose Sharks resulted in the Blues losing. DeBoer identified Berube’s composure in the aftermath as a key moment and one of the reasons the Blues recovered in that series and beat the Sharks on their way to hoisting the Stanley Cup.

“As a coach, you can set the table a little bit with that with how you manage situations,” DeBoer said.

DeBoer was presented with the first “situation” of the series in Game 1 and handled it the way he did. When Game 2 began, Stars players weren’t hunting Dumba or looking for extracurricular revenge. The Stars simply played their game. In Game 2, the Wild were called for nine penalties resulting in six power-play opportunities for the Stars. Dallas was called for eight penalties of its own, resulting in five power plays for the Wild. The Stars scored the first goal of the game on the Wild power play when Roope Hintz converted a short-handed breakaway. Seguin added a power-play goal shortly after, and the Wild never recovered.

When DeBoer was asked about the temperature of the series after a game in which seven misconducts were issued in the final six minutes, he replied matter-of-factly.

“Not surprised,” DeBoer said. “When you pre-scout them, Minnesota takes penalties. They’re the sixth-most penalized team in the league. So, we’re ready for that.”

The next day, in what appeared to be an orchestrated initiative, Wild head coach Dean Evason was asked about DeBoer’s comments.

“We watch all of the press conferences, too,” Evason said. “He mentioned that we were sixth in the league and something like we were going to continue to do that. Obviously, we monitor that. We felt that they had some bigger people go down pretty easy in that hockey game. We’ve talked about this before, and it’s a fine line because we don’t dive. Our team, the Minnesota Wild, don’t dive. … We don’t do that. That’s not what we do. But yeah, there was some of that last night.”

With those comments, Evason got outdueled by DeBoer, and it was before DeBoer could even lay the final dagger. When asked about Evason’s comments about Stars players diving, DeBoer burst into laughter. Then, he twisted the dagger and topped it with a backhanded compliment.

“There’s a hockey term for that,” DeBoer said. “It’s called deflection. And you know what? Hey, listen, if I was coaching one of the most penalized teams in the league, I’d probably do the same things. So, that’s good coaching by him.”

The irony is that, by the numbers, the Stars were hardly any more disciplined than the Wild. At the end of their six-game series, both teams finished with 34 penalties taken to lead the NHL, along with the Florida Panthers. The fundamental difference in the series was that the Stars were a good special teams team (No. 5 power play and No. 3 penalty kill during the regular season) while the Wild (No. 15 power play, No. 10 penalty kill) were not, something that’s not a new issue under Evason come playoff time.

Beyond that, though, the teams took after the foundation laid by their head coaches. After Marcus Foligno was called for two bad penalties that resulted in power-play goals for the Stars in Game 4, the Wild forward turned his opinions loose.

“It’s a joke,” Foligno said of the penalties. “It doesn’t make any sense. I go to hit a guy who touches the puck, it’s interference. I go, get high-sticked in the face. It’s not a tripping call when you hit a guy clean on. It’s bulls—.”

At the core of his comments, Foligno wasn’t wrong. They were bad calls, as were the calls in that game against Evgenii Dadonov and Jani Hakanpää. The difference was that in a 3-2 final score, the Stars’ special teams won the “bad calls” sequence 2-1. The next game, Foligno was called for a five-minute major and game misconduct in the opening minutes. After the game, it was Evason’s turn to handle the emotions of a five-minute major review.

“It took some life out of us, for sure, with everything that’s gone on and all the whining and stuff about everything,” Evason said. “We disagree with it. We don’t think he changed his path. He could’ve changed his path and probably stepped in hard. If anything, their guy changed paths. We watched it several times — he does not move. Moose does not move, doesn’t move his legs, nothing. He stays straight, he braces himself, incidental contact, two big men.”

Those comments came at the beginning of the news conference. Evason then spent the last minute visibly flustered, asking rhetorical questions about what he should ask Foligno to do, rehashing the missed calls from Game 4 and hoping “that everybody sees it the same way.” Meanwhile, DeBoer not only kept needling the Wild by pointing to their tendencies to take penalties, but he also unintentionally made a mockery of Evason by demonstrating the part of taking ownership.

“I’ve said this before: They take penalties,” DeBoer said after Game 4. “And when they do, we have to make them pay.”

The public saga over officiating is the most overt example of how DeBoer outclassed Evason head-to-head in the coaching matchup, but it’s far from the only thing. After the Wild stole Game 1 behind a historic performance from Filip Gustavsson, who had been a top-three goaltender in the NHL for the second half of the season, Evason stuck to his guns and went back to Marc Andre-Fleury in the Wild’s blowout in Game 2. More than that, the Wild went to strange lengths to keep the mystery alive, from timing when goalies came off the ice in morning skate to where they went when they did. All for a 7-3 loss.

With the high-tension, high-intensity nature of the series, teams needed a sense of calm from their leader. The day after the Stars lost Game 1 and home ice, DeBoer was at his calmest, even if the things he said raised panic flags for those on the outside.

“If we go down 0-2 and play a really good game, then I’m OK,” DeBoer said before Game 2. “We’ve got to get our game in a really good place for 60 minutes, and the rest will take care of itself.”

In Game 3, the Stars played their worst game in over a month. A big fix was not on the horizon. The venue would be the same hostile Xcel Energy Center. After such a flat performance, many expected DeBoer to shake up the lineup. Instead, he kept everything mostly the same, just making a swap on the third pairing. In the days after Game 4, numerous Stars players indicated that DeBoer not appearing to panic helped them maintain their confidence as well. It wasn’t terribly unlike when DeBoer refused to make changes on the power play late in the regular season, despite it being in a multi-month slump.

The Stars didn’t lose again in the series.

Perhaps the Stars were just a better team, with better players and better situational hockey (which also falls on coaching to some degree). But after Game 1 went to double-overtime, many penciled Stars-Wild to go the distance. In the end, it wasn’t nearly as close. Because the gap in coaching between the Stars and Wild wasn’t close. DeBoer won that battle in a landslide.

[cactusflinthead 27627]

 

[Firemans4Horn 18528]

23 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Saad’s story about DeBoer coaching circles around Evason: https://theathletic.com/4469577/2023/04/29/stars-pete-deboer-dean-evason/?source=user_shared_article
 

[cactusflinthead 27627]

 

[C-Man 27778]

1 hour ago, Fudbelty said:

21-14 in a six game series is a pretty good ass kicking. Pretty easy to see who the better team was.

This was actually one of the few times I’d say the losing team could legitimately think they were better, but they lost so they weren’t.

I was Mac Engel’s backup that season and the next, I think. Dallas was 100% a better team and would’ve almost certainly won Game 7 back at home. That series was wild because the Stars were basically without Bill Guerin IIRC due to the compartment (??) injury to his thigh suffered late that season. He played sparingly in the final four games of the series vs Anaheim. Also, the Stars were pretty certain Giguere was wearing illegal pads during that postseason run.

The Game 1 loss was just a killer in that it went into the first minute of the fifth OT and made bouncing back for Game 2 that much harder (Anaheim won that one too). The Stars should’ve made the Finals that year. Not sure how they would’ve fared against New Jersey but that was a good fucking Stars team.

Fun fact — I was also in the building for the Stars-Sharks game several seasons later as a fan (I’d left the newspaper business). Sat with four friends on the last row of the upper level and got shit-faced. We were stone sober by the time Brenden Morrow ended the series with a goal in the fourth OT, I believe. Pretty sure they reopened some of the concession stands at some point but, obviously, weren’t serving booze any longer. That was a fun night.

[C-Man 27778]

Went to look at the series at Hockey-Reference. I forgot that Anaheim tied Game 2 with 1:09 left in the third and then won it less than two minutes into overtime.

[C-Man 27778]

Also, it appears the Stars have only won 10 playoff series since advancing to the Cup Finals in 2000. That includes last night’s win over Minnesota.

[Fudbelty 2809]

Been fairly slim pickings. Off the top of my head WCF in 09 (edit:was 08 I could have sworn it was the year my daughter was born) and SCF in 20 feel like the only times we’ve been out of the second round.

[Beau Vine 55862]

Anyone seen anything on potential game dates?

I'm thinking that if Seattle wins, G1 & G2 in Dallas on Tuesday and Thursday.

If Colorado wins, G3 & G4 in Dallas on Saturday and Monday?

I'm trying to give sufficient thought to whether going to a game would be enough compensation for visiting the in-laws for the weekend.

[C-Man 27778]

Anyone seen anything on potential game dates?
I'm thinking that if Seattle wins, G1 & G2 in Dallas on Tuesday and Thursday.
If Colorado wins, G3 & G4 in Dallas on Saturday and Monday?
I'm trying to give sufficient thought to whether going to a game would be enough compensation for visiting the in-laws for the weekend.

SS kept saying Wed above. Not sure if he knows anything or is simply guessing.

[Skipper 6411]

I know I've seen them require a quick turnaround before.  I was thinking if Avs win they may start us Tues given Avs will already be a home and maybe if Seattle wins Weds?  It would be pretty rough to require Seattle to play a road game Sun night then start Tues on the road but who knows.  I'm sure TV will dictate and I haven't done enough to figure it out.  Just looked quickly and couldn't see where Edmonton/Vegas schedule set yet.  But I have home game 1 and home game 3 tickets and a crazy May schedule so will be good to get it settled.

[Longhorn_Fan68 34103]

man, I don't see how Colorado gets past the second round, assuming they even beat the Squid. They're now without Colgiano with a broken neck! 👀 I know he's not a monster on the scoring end, but he's a puck hound. sucks for him, I'd prefer to play them if we had home advantage because fuck playing in altitude, but instead I'd prefer to have home and play Seattle. We'll see how it shakes out. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Longhorn_Fan68

[shadow_operative2.0 16258]

4 hours ago, C-Man said:

SS kept saying Wed above. Not sure if he knows anything or is simply guessing.

One post with a question mark is 'kept saying'? 

On 4/28/2023 at 11:18 PM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

So we thinking Wednesday night assuming Sea/Col play Sunday? 

[C-Man 27778]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

One post with a question mark is 'kept saying'? 

Sorry, thought you’d mentioned it a couple of times. Also figured maybe you knew something based on your post.

[C-Man 27778]

All the numbers say we should want Colorado but …

[Firemans4Horn 18528]

40 minutes ago, C-Man said:

All the numbers say we should want Colorado but …

I don’t believe that. Avs are the defending champs. They also would have home ice advantage and have an insane top line. 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

I don’t believe that. Avs are the defending champs. They also would have home ice advantage and have an insane top line. 

No clue what metrics he’s looking at. Ava have owned us. We have owned Seattle.  With home ice it’s a no brainer. This is shaping up to be very good for us. We would roll through Seattle and Vegas in six games or less particularly with Pavs back. 

[Firemans4Horn 18528]

2 minutes ago, Porterhouse said:

We would roll through Seattle and Vegas in six games or less particularly with Pavs back. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16258]

Tuesday, bros. 

 

[Skipper 6411]

Tues?  Wow. Never saw a home Tues game coming. I mean I guess good for us.  Shitty for me.  I'm slammed at work and have fucking Jury duty Tues.  Sorry clients that were expecting anything Weds.  Are they starting Edmonton/Vegas Weds? Makes no sense.

[C-Man 27778]

2 hours ago, Firemans4Horn said:

I don’t believe that. Avs are the defending champs. They also would have home ice advantage and have an insane top line. 

 

2 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

No clue what metrics he’s looking at. Ava have owned us. We have owned Seattle.  With home ice it’s a no brainer. This is shaping up to be very good for us. We would roll through Seattle and Vegas in six games or less particularly with Pavs back. 

What I meant was that all logic pointed to wanting Seattle in Round 2 but the Avs just weren't playing well and were beat to hell with Landeskog, Cogliano and Nichushkin unavailable. I don't think Georgiev is a difference maker. But they have Rantonen and MacKinnon and Makar and the Cup. The Avs would've had home ice against the Stars but just lost three of four playoff home games. Seattle is a second-year franchise so that's who you want, right? Probably. But I think Colorado was such a wounded animal. I expect a war with the Kraken.

[Pato del Muerto 53460]

Vegas won the west in its second year, didn’t they?  Hockey expansion does a good job of making nhl talent available to new teams so they can compete right away. 
can’t say I’ve seen a lot of kraken hockey though, other than the home and home btb they had with Dallas not long ago. 

[Skipper 6411]

Seattle has to be pretty pissed about the quick turnaround.  Really wonder why they would schedule our game Tues and Vegas/Edmonton Weds when Edmonton wrapped it up Saturday.  Must have been some arena conflict.

[Pato del Muerto 53460]

1 minute ago, Skipper said:

Seattle has to be pretty pissed about the quick turnaround.  Really wonder why they would schedule our game Tues and Vegas/Edmonton Weds when Edmonton wrapped it up Saturday.  Must have been some arena conflict.

Well it wouldn’t be for basketball 

[Voldemort86 2259]

26 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Seattle has to be pretty pissed about the quick turnaround.  Really wonder why they would schedule our game Tues and Vegas/Edmonton Weds when Edmonton wrapped it up Saturday.  Must have been some arena conflict.

The NHL is ruthless with that stuff. I remember during the last playoff run in 2020, we were always upset and surprised at how quick the next round started. The NHL doesn’t give a shit about giving teams rest.

[Steamboat1874 4321]

I love the Stars but I have been watching Seattle and they totally outskated Colorado in many of those games. They also won 3 out of 4 games in Denver.

This will not be easy.