Got Goalied

Let’s start off with the glove drop that set the tone for so much of the game- the Hintz and McKinnon fight. For Hintz’s first ever NHL fight, which was was instigated from a cross check hit, he went straight for McKinnon to settle the score from March’s game. Although the tangle in March came from a mishap battle along boards, it was clear in an interview from Gulutzan that Hintz was irritated with McKinnon from the start of the game. The second players made contact, both gloves dropped immediately and it was a brawl that showed Hintz is every bit of his size. Hintz rocked McKinnon and sent him to the box with a bloody face, only needing an ice pack for his hand.

Unfortunately the big action was between the goalies, with Blackwood making continuous saves meant to soar past his shoulder. The high danger chances and rebound shots that Dallas was sending his way would’ve been besting most other goalies in the league. Oettinger put on just as impressive of a performance, as Dallas was not lacking on puck control, unfortunately it was the deflections that caught him off guard and of course the 5 on 3- a vicious spot to be against a team like the Avs. Despite a loss, it’s an encouraging one, as Dallas’ defense didn’t allow the typical high scoring game we’ve seen from the Avs this season. Stopping them at 3 with just one goal behind we are making it an exhausting series, a close series, and hopefully a tied one after we play in their barn next.

Both teams had key scorers out- Johnston and Makar. With Makar out we saw effects not just in the Avs, shooting more pucks to the front of the net, but how the Stars were drawing the more aggressive 2-1-2 formations that force turnovers. Johnston is missing not just from last night’s roster but tonight’s as well, due to illness. We saw Seguin replacing him on special teams, but with Johnston overdue for a goal this season is his absence in this series keeping Dallas from taking the game to overtime in the first game?

We saw Seguin slide back into his comfort zone on the ice over the past week, making sure to get points every game. Last night he eased into the top 6 line from where he started at puck drop. With a goal and an assist, he’s showing that being on the same line with Hintz can light up the stat sheet for both players. Other players starting to fall together unexpectedly comes from the bottom line- Hyry, Faksa, Steele on special teams make sure to get the PK when it’s 5 on 4. However last night I can’t say I agree when special teams had Steele in the face off with 26 seconds left in a 5 on 3; with such a low face-off percentage we have to ask why Hyry wasn’t put in to simply get the puck out of our zone. Granted the Faksa tripped call on Mckinnon was a bad one given the rivalry between the teams, just enough went wrong in those couple minutes to keep Dallas out of overtime. The Hyry/Faksa/Steele line did give some looks throughout the game- starting with Steele finding confidence and going straight to the crease but unfortunately could not find the net with his chance. Hyry had a very crisp high-danger shot when it was 4 on 4 that Blackwood was just able to stop, he’s determined to keep hitting the back of the net like in preseason. And keeping the tone set for tonight’s game was Faksa’s hit on Schwartz; Svechkov saw the clean hit and still decided to fly down the ice and immediately drop gloves and start brawling wirh Faksa who stood his ground through it all. A 10 minute major on Scechkov allowed Seguin to come in and give us a power play goal to even the score and keep toe to toe.

However Dallas is expecting too much from some of these players- the bottom line is out here catching as much attention as the top line- does this set the stage for one, perhaps two, players to come in and have a career year? Will we see Blackwell find a shining spot on the roster trying to stay in Dallas over Cedar park? Robertson trying to beat his career high numbers to secure his next contract? Hyry on the same level he was towards the end of last season while improving his elite face off stats?

The big question tonight is starting goalies- loving what we saw from both last night, are we seeing a rematch tonight or will Dallas shake it up with Casey? Both goal tenders for both teams have outstanding save percentages and can easily make offense show their best game. I say rematch with Otter only allowing fluke goals in, I don’t see Makar back on the roster tonight being a drastic jump for the Avs stat sheet. Unfortunately Johnston will be out tonight, but we have plenty of goal scorers to show up for him tonight. I see Rantanen having another on fire performance handing out assists to Robo and Ritzy. I also want to see more of the magic between Seguin and Hintz, the two clearly have chemistry going back and forth assisting each other with goals- our first and second lines rival with each other for goal scoring opportunities.