In crucial playoff games, Dallas Stars’ Tyler Seguin again MIA
Before commencing on another playoff episode of “Where is Tyler Seguin?” we must wait.
The Dallas Stars’ center has disappeared in the last three games, and not contributed a single point. He’s been so ineffective it’s a good time to throw him in the bear pit.
In a conservation with NBC NHL analyst Pierre McGuirre, he guided me away from taking a 2x4 to Seguin just yet.
Seguin and his line mates Alexander Radulov and Jamie Benn have been non-existent in the Stars’ last two games, which have turned a 3-1 Western Conference semis series cushion into a win-or-go-home Game 7 on Friday night.
“In their defense, guys are playing hurt and we don’t know. I’d be careful to prejudge players in their playoff performance until we know if they’re hurt,” McGuirre said in a phone interview on Thursday. “He missed a game [in the NHL bubble Edmonton] for a reason.”
NHL tradition is for teams to reveal their players’ injuries only once their playoff run is over.
Seguin missed the Stars’ third and final round-robin game on Aug. 9, but he has appeared in every playoff game since.
If Seguin is playing hurt, he gets a pass. If not, this finale will rank among the more embarrassing efforts of a big-time talent we’ve seen around these here parts in a long time.
The Stars gave him an eight-year, $78.8 million contract in September of 2018 for this moment. Not for Game 77, but Game Seven.
He’s a good pro, and in the regular season he has been a top-line scorer.
In the playoffs, he’s been erratic at best.
In the Stars’ Game 7 loss against the St. Louis Blues in the West semis last season, he registered two shots and nothing else in the overtime loss.
In this current Stanley Cup Playoffs, Seguin had no goals and three assists in the Stars’ 4-2 series win over Calgary in the first round.
In the first three games against Colorado, he scored two goals with two assists; he had points in all three games.
Since then, he has zero.
This normally translates into a guy who is simply not willing to go to the uncomfortable places on the ice. Or he can be “talked” out of it, early, by the other team.
But you don’t necessarily have to score a goal to make a difference. Shots on goal, and zone time, matter.
“It’s not fair to use [Avs center] Nathan MacKinnon as an example, but his shots on goal are insane,” McGuirre said.
Yes, yes they are. MacKinnon averages 4.8 shots a game in this series to Seguin’s 2.5.
“For [Seguin] not to get points in three straight games in this series, that’s significant,” McGuirre said.
The Stars had this series in the bag, and if they blow it the blame will not be solely reserved to the shortcomings of an All-Star center.
The decision to start Ben Bishop in goal in Game 5 will be second guessed until next season, and beyond. It could affect whether Rick Bowness is made the team’s permanent head coach.
“My biggest question is how does a team that scores the most from its defense in the playoffs not winning?” McGuirre said. “If they don’t win Game 7, and the big guys don’t produce, how did that happen?”
Game 7 will provide the answers, and because of the extensive Colorado injury situation, the Stars should win.
Yet if they don’t, and they gag this one away, the doors to the bear pit will open.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
