Three Thoughts, Gm 3: They Have McDavid
Hockey is not always about who has the best player, but sometimes it definitely is.
The Stars are now in a critical spot. They are not dead, so let’s not get it twisted.
But, let’s also not lose sight of the reality. The reality is that they must win the next game or they will be put in a ridiculously tough spot where they will be down badly and they will be down to their last strike.
They aren’t there yet, but they are headed that way in a hurry.
The Stars now trail in the Western Conference Finals, two games-to-one in the best of seven Western Conference Finals because they lost Game 3 by the final score of 6-1. I would like to tell you that it was much closer than that, because it was. But, of course, losing by five goals just a few days since losing by three goals back in Dallas is not the time for me to justify good efforts that fall painfully short.
The playoffs are all about results and the Edmonton Oilers have just done something with some ease that the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets were unable to do against Dallas – win consecutive games. And because they were able to string victories together against the boys in Victory Green, they now have the Stars in a bit of a headlock early in this conference final that could get late in a real hurry if the Stars don’t scratch out a win in Game 4.
Now, if we may offer a small amount of perspective and even optimism, it would be these two elements:
Dallas was actually a very connected hockey team and playing a very good brand of hockey in Game 3 for huge portions of the game and were done in by a series of unfortunate events. Blown call here, absurd save there, and a moment of brilliance from No. 97 and a game that should be tied goes to the 2nd intermission, 3-1 Edmonton. Rough scene and they probably deserved better from this effort, but here at the biggest stages, that is sort of how the sport works.
Dallas had a 2-1 lead last year in the Western Conference Finals with a Game 3 in Edmonton. It appeared Dallas was in a golden spot with things going right and even took a 2-0 lead in Game 4, if you will recall. But, then they collapsed and never won another game as Edmonton did not even need a Game 7 to smoke right through Dallas on the way to the finals where they would fall short to Florida. I guess that means that 2-1 doesn’t assure anything so maybe we will lean into that at the moment.
Regardless, as Master Yoda tells us, “you either do or do not” and Dallas did not in Game 3 and now feel the walls closing in fast. It was good, but not nearly good enough and Dallas better figure things out or they will be watching the final round on television.
These are My Three Thoughts:
I have watched hockey for most all of my life. Thanks to the ridiculous lack of NHL television coverage available to most non-hockey markets before about 1988, I will admit that my historical context may not go back to my earliest days, but if I may use nearly four decades of watching and easily thousands of games, allow me to say that I have never seen anything quite like Connor McDavid. He is without question the most electrifying hockey player I have seen and to find someone as inevitable or dominant at those truly big moments, I think I might have to go all the way back to Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. In case some aren’t sure, that is the highest shelf of hockey super heroes.