This is going to be a short one.
I mean, I’m not really sure what to write here. You can pretty much copy/paste much of what I said about Game 4 when it comes to the Dallas’ Stars performance last night, except this time, we didn’t even get the give minutes of glory.
Like I said before, I’ll more or less never question the effort of the players and teams that get this far… but you have to admit the Stars looked kind of lifeless, right? I mean, Chris Tanev was back in the lineup. They were back home. They had only lost two games in a row once before all postseason. The ingredients were all there for Dallas to come out strong and play the kind of game they wanted to.
Instead, they were flat, and the Edmonton Oilers got to do what they’ve loved to do against Dallas this series: minimizing shots on Stuart Skinner to makeup for subpar goaltending. The Stars had just ten shots on net the first two periods (4 in the first), which they matched in the third period alone for a game total of 20, their lowest amount of the series. There were times where players would have a clear scoring lane, but would hang onto the puck anyways as if waiting for a better opportunity that never came. “Quality” truthers will talk all about how the count doesn’t matter as much as the scoring chances, but you can’t have a scoring chance unless you actually take a chance to begin with.
Meanwhile Edmonton didn’t exactly unload on Jake Oettinger, but their efforts were enough thanks to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins breaking their power play drought. Twice. The dam finally broke, and I’ll be honest, with the way Dallas was playing, the game already felt over after that second goal — sure, Edmonton had just come back from a 2-0 deficit the game before, but how were the Stars going to manage that if 1) they refused to get the puck on net, and 2) any chances they got on the power play (theoretically their best chances to answer back) weren’t going to amount to anything (they ended up 0-2)?
Of course, the game really felt over after the third goal, which was definitely one Oettinger should have stopped, screen or no screen. But hey, it’s not as if letting in that bad goal really mattered, because again: Dallas wasn’t scoring anyways! At least, not until Wyatt Johnston finally ruined Skinner’s shutout with just under six minutes to go in the game. Which, you know, was fun and all, but too little too late.
If there’s a silver lining to be found, it’s that these series are best-of-7, not best-of-5 — the NHL’s best road team has every chance to steal Game 6 in Edmonton and then come back home for a Game 7, where anything can happen (especially with Pete DeBoer’s magic). But the Stars have not looked like themselves since going up 2-0 in Game 4, instead looking every bit like the team many media pundits have treated them like this series (if not this whole postseason).
• To be clear, I’m not placing the result of the last two games solely on the Stars’ struggles (although they weigh heavily). Full credit to Edmonton for, again, keeping Stuart Skinner’s life easy, plus being a constant thorn in Jake Oettinger’s side. Whereas I’m not sure you could ever call the Stars’ “due” on the power play given how they’ve looked this series, the Oilers absolutely were — they were going to score eventually, and odds were pretty good that they’d do it twice in one game.
• I think it was a rough night for pretty much everyone in Victory Green, but the Stars’ top players as a whole left a lot to be desired:
I feel like the #fancystats more or less back up what I saw: rough nights for Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen, and Matt Duchene, as well as defensively for Thomas Harley and offensively for Roope Hintz. Then again, pretty much everyone struggled offensively except for the Captain and Kids line, which, understandably, earned the single goal for.
For comparison:
• As far as personal predictions go, I mentioned last time that I still expected Dallas to win the series, but that they really needed to win Game 5. Well, they didn’t, and so now I’m chalking this up as the Oilers finally advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.
Winning four games in a row against a good team is hard. Winning just three games in a row is also hard. But with Dallas playing like they have been and Edmonton having seemingly figured them out, it’s hard to imagine that we didn’t just watch the the last home game of this (post)season. And if that’s the case: boy what a sour note to end on.