Empty Net should have played for Dallas Stars, who blew a chance to clinch series
On Monday morning, Stars coach Rick Bowness said goalie Ben Bishop was “unfit to play.” At least Bowness was honest.
For some reason, the Stars thought the ideal time for Bishop to make his debut in the Western Conference semifinals was Game 5, a potential close out game against Colorado.
Bishop and the Stars tried to make history in the first period as they allowed five goals en route to a 6-3 loss.
“I’ll take the blame. I have to be better,” Bishop said in a Zoom interview with the media after the game. “One too many so I’ll take the blame.”
Game 6 is Wednesday, Sept. 2.
Bishop allowed four goals in the first period before he was pulled by Bowness in favor of Anton Khudobin.
Bishop, who has been dealing with an undisclosed injury, has not played since Game 2 of the Stars’ first round series against Calgary on Aug. 13.
Please note Bishop received zero help from the players in front of him as the Stars played like they were in sand.
“Our first 10 minutes was an absolute joke,” Stars center Andrew Cogliano said in a Zoom interview after the game. “Bish’ will take the blame but let’s be honest, the first 10 minutes was atrocious. This has nothing to do with our goalies. When Bish’ is in the net we have full confidence in him and we let him down.”
Bishop allowed four goals on 15 shots.
“We were letting guys just walk in,” Bowness said.
If the goal was to give Khudobin the night off to avoid him playing back-to-back days, there was no reason to pull Bishop.
If the goal was to give Khudobin the night off to avoid him playing back-to-back days, the Stars should have played the rest of the game with an empty net.
Although Bishop was the goalie who carried the Stars to Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals against St. Louis last season, these playoffs have belonged to Khudobin.
Khudobin had played every minute of the Stars’ previous eight playoff games. The only reason he would not have started on Monday night in Game 5 was because he played Game 4, on Sunday.
The Stars continually said Bishop could not play, including as late as Monday morning.
Despite the short turnaround, the decision to go with a goalie who had not played in weeks over a guy who was good enough to consistently win, and one win away from the reaching the conference finals, is four-letter word stupid.
“When he was given the clearance, with back-to-back games, the best decision at the time was to go with Bish’,” Bowness said. “If you are pointing fingers ... point it at me. Point your finger at me, and work your way down. There is no sugarcoating it; we got outworked. That starts being ready to play; we weren’t.
“This game was so bad, there’s a lot to digest.”
When the Avs took a 4-0 lead at the 13:43 mark of the first period on a shot by Nazem Kadri, the game was gone. The Stars have been the highest-scoring team in these playoffs, but they were not coming back from a 4-0 deficit.
Nonetheless, Bishop was out and Khudobin was in.
The play in front of the goalie didn’t improve much, and Khudobin allowed a goal on the first shot he faced.
Anything after the first period was inconsequential. The game was decided in the first 20 minutes.
The Stars still can close this series out before needing a Game 7, and while Bowness did not say who will be in net for Game 6 he did not need to.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 11:48 PM.
