Led by captain Jamie Benn’s brain dead penalty, the Dallas Stars are on the brink
The Dallas Stars hosted their most significant game since 2016, and in front of an amped crowd they performed like they had never seen a hockey puck.
On Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center, the Stars offered their loyal fans one of the worst sequences of postseason sports this town has ever seen.
That covers Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks.
In the first seven minutes and 10 seconds of the first period, Stars captain Jamie Benn lost his mind and was ejected, the team allowed three goals, and the goalie was pulled.
What should have been a series that went to a Game 7 looks like it will be over by the end of Game 4.
After winning the first two games in overtime, the Las Vegas Golden Nuggets came to Texas and dumped the Stars, 4-0 win. The Golden Knights lead the series 3-0, and can close out this sad show on Thursday night.
There was nothing that happened in the first two games of this series that indicated the Stars were vulnerable to a such a whippin’.
Less than one minute after Vegas scored the game’s first goal, Benn committed one of the most egregious, dumbest and idiotic penalties conceivable.
After Benn cleanly knocked Golden Knights forward Mark Stone to the ice, Benn took his stick with both hands effectively jumped into Stone’s chest with a brutal cross check.
Benn didn’t even try to hide it; he did this directly in front of the ref’. Go big or go home.
Even in a playoff game, the official had no choice. Benn was given a game misconduct, the Knights were handed a five minute power play, and that was that.
In the next five minutes, Vegas scored twice more and Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was justifiably pulled in favor of the backup, Something McSomething OrOther.
What Benn did was uncharacteristic, and beneath one of the NHL’s most respected players. On Thursday, the NHL suspended Benn for two games.
He did not speak to reporters after the game. Instead, The Captain let his teammates/coach explain his mistake.
Someone needs to explain what “Captain” means.
“He made a mistake,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I don’t think anyone feels worse than he does. I’m not going to pile on him. We’ve got to live with the consequences; it’s a big hole.”
Historically Benn is a tough, fair, player. What he did to Stone was dirty.
This is not some 23-year-old kid fresh off the float plane from Moose Jaw. Benn is 33, and a 14-year NHL veteran. He knows better, and he did it anyways.
The irony is no player has played more selflessly in his career than Benn, and in that moment he made a most selfish play.
He spoke to the media on Wednesday, and didn’t say much. Couldn’t find an apology in there. Just said it was unfortunate.
It was a brazen hit with no regard for the moment, or the weight of the game.
By the end of the second period a boring blowout actually got worse; Stars forward Max Domi was given a game misconduct, which led to fans throwing bottles, food and other trash onto the ice but hats.
“We don’t love it,” Stars center Tyler Seguin said. “We have amazing fans; we put them in that position, and they’re emotional.”
Sub out the word “emotional” for “angry.”
Given the way the Stars played, the ice could have been confused for a trash can. Say this for Stars fans, at least they could hit the target, unlike the Stars players who could not hit back of the net.
With 21.6 seconds remaining in the second period, the referees sent both teams to the dressing room. It’s a shame they just didn’t keep them there for the third period.
By the end of the night the Stars completed one of the worst home playoff performances in franchise history.
The last time they hosted a game of this magnitude was Game 7 of their second round series against the St. Louis Blues in 2016. The Stars fell behind 3-0 in the first period, pulled the goalie, and lost 6-1.
This is the Western Conference Finals, and if the Stars had any real chance to advance to the Stanley Cup they had to win Tuesday night.
Rather than win, they decided not to play, and their season is just about over.
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 9:44 PM.
