Dallas Stars’ top players vanish in Game 6 loss; team now on brink of epic gag
Be afraid.
The Dallas Stars were this close to reaching the Western Conference Finals, and now they are this close to blowing it.
The Stars earned a 3-1 series lead against Colorado on the strength of the highest-scoring offense in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the team that could not score on an empty net the size of the Atlantic has returned.
Teams that score the way the Stars were scoring are known to suddenly stop with no warning. It happens.
The Stars lost Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinal series against Colorado, 4-1, on Wednesday night. Game 7 is Friday night.
Although the Stars famously defeated the Avs in Game 7 of the West Finals in 1999 and 2000, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk and Sergei Zubov aren’t walking through that door.
The lineup that was so dominant in gaining a 3-1 lead seemingly has opted out of the last two games. Unlike Game 5, the goalie was not the issue in Game 6.
The issue is the issue, and it was expected before this series started; the Avs’ best players are outplaying the Stars’ best players.
In their previous eight playoff games, the Stars averaged 4.5 goals per game. Discard the three goals the Stars scored in Game 5 of this series; the team trailed 5-0 after the first period.
After playing so well early in this series, the trio of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alex Radulov has vanished. They combined for 0 in Game 6.
They didn’t get a shot in the last 29 minutes of the game. In the last two games, this line has one point, a Benn goal.
These guys have to register for the Stars to advance beyond the second round.
“Need them to produce. Simple as that,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said in a Zoom interview after the game. “Their top players are producing and our top players are not. It’s what it is. Your top players have to carry you at this time of year.”
This happened last year.
The Stars had a 3-2 series lead against the Blues in the Western Conference semifinals last season before losing in Game 7 in St. Louis.
“We all know what happened last year; in this position the chance to win it in Game 6 on home ice,” Seguin said. “As an organization we’ve been trending in the right way. This is going to be a big one for us.”
After the Stars took a 1-0 lead on defenseman Miro Heiskanen’s fifth goal of the playoffs late in the first period, they were outplayed.
The Avs tied the game two minutes later, and took a 2-1 lead seven minutes into the second. They added a third in the third period, and an empty netter late in the game.
It’s not as if the Stars are unable to penetrate Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek or some Hall of Fame goalie. They are playing against Avs goalie Michael Hutchinson.
You know, the same Michael Hutchinson you have never heard of before.
Hutchinson made history on Wednesday night; it’s the first time a goalie earned his first two career playoff wins in an elimination game.
“We are making it easier than it should be,” Bowness said.
That’s kind.
It did not help any that the Avalanche was handed five power plays in the game’s first 35 minutes. The Stars, meanwhile, had zero power plays.
“Their best players were on the ice. Even if they don’t score that makes a difference,” Bowness said.
Love this man’s candor.
The Stars did not receive their first power play until a little more than five minutes remained in the game.
The forwards were so outplayed the crisis that was the Stars’ goalie situation in Game 5 was nothing in Game 6.
After starting veteran Ben Bishop in Game 5 in net, with virtually no sign that move was coming, the team returned to Anton Khudobin in Game 6.
Bishop, who had not played since Aug. 13 with an undisclosed injury, promptly allowed four goals in the first period before he was pulled in Game 5.
Khudobin started Game 6 and allowed three goals, but at least one of them was via poor play in his own end, especially the third one in the third period.
Bowness said Bishop is “unfit to play,” meaning Khudobin will be in net for Game 7.
The Stars are in Game 7 of the West semis, but the confidence surrounding this club is as sturdy as a bowl of warm Jello.
Their Game 7 history against the Avs is brilliant, but this ain’t 1999 or 2000.
Be afraid.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 10:30 PM.
