Three Thoughts - Stars Shut Out In Game 2
Edmonton slashed back; Stars must head to Edmonton in pain and with work ahead.
(presented without an editor, so I am sure there might be a grammatical issue or two.)
Before we dive too deep into last night’s kick in the groin, a reminder about how the playoffs actually work.
You can win the Stanley Cup despite losing 12 playoff games. Heck, you can win the Stanley Cup without ever winning consecutive games in a series. You can have a parade and only play hockey at a level that wins 57% of your playoff games.
So, nights like last night are not fatal blows. They can certainly feel fatal, especially when you best center looks like he may have been injured pretty badly – for no good reason. They are not fatal blows unless they become contagious and this hockey team has generally been pretty good at not stringing losses together.
Friday Night was the 6th loss of the Dallas Stars post-season and it was very rough. The bleakness was there for all to see and they once again were completely shut-out. But, I will remind everyone that every time they have lost in this post-season, the Stars have followed it up with a win. Every time. In fact, of the five playoff losses so far, four of them have been followed up with back-to-back wins. Now, none of that guarantees anything, but I think it is a proper reminder of the following playoff truth as we sit here the morning after that kick.
In the playoffs, when you win a game it feels like you are never going to lose again and when you lose, it feels like you are about to be eliminated and the dream is about to die.
So, nobody should be terribly thrilled about Edmonton looking like the clear best team in the six periods so far in this series as the battle moves to Alberta, but also, nobody should get too carried away about how long this thing will probably go. Edmonton won Game 2 way too easily, 3-0, and have locked the series up at a game each. Now, this is a best-of-five series. The goal of the Stars must be to make sure when they return home it is at least 2-2 and becomes a best-of-three series with Games 5 and 7 in Dallas. They must win a game in Edmonton and while we know they are plenty capable to do it, we must also realize that they may not have Roope Hintz available. Ugh.
These are My Three Thoughts:
It has been pretty disappointing how many high-danger chances the Stars are conceding early in these two hockey games and as this series goes to Edmonton, they have to know that this tight rope they are walking is going to continue to get more perilous unless the defensive coverage improves. We can justify how each goal is a lucky bounce or chance here or there, but the clear evidence is showing us that in the first 40 minutes of each game, Dallas is the 2nd best team on the ice and it isn’t very close.