Post-Series Talk: Dallas Stars Defeat Colorado Avalanche (Win 4-2)

[CanadienShark]

I don’t know if there’s an ex Av that I hate more than Douchene.

Sounds like you're upset about losing.

 

[Magic Mittens]

Yes yes, it is rigged we are well aware.
The refs are betting
It’s bush league
I’ll never watch again


Now that thats out of the way, great game plan and execution Dallas. I don’t think the depth is what won you the series rather the teams commitment to executing a game plan to a tee. Maybe that’s what depth is and I don’t know it because we don’t do it anymore?!?

Good series, and you're a great sport. Avs will still be a threat every year as long as they have Mack and Makar.

Cheers

 

[Devonator]

Hey Dallas fans....any idea when Roope is coming back?

 

[Magic Mittens]

Hey Dallas fans....any idea when Roope is coming back?

Should be fine for game 1, sounded like he was close if there was a game 7

 

[HolyGhost]

my fantasy league took a beating with this lose

 

[Grigowski]

Stars are going to be a problem for the rest of the West for many years to come.

Same has been said of the AVs......

 

[Sombastate]

One thing that was super impressive was, IMO, how much better Heiskanen was in comparison to Makar.

Now, I still think Makar is the better player, but Heiskanen absolutely brought himself into the conversation for one of the absolute top defensemen

 

[Klockis]

One thing that was super impressive was, IMO, how much better Heiskanen was in comparison to Makar.

Now, I still think Makar is the better player, but Heiskanen absolutely brought himself into the conversation for one of the absolute top defensemen

I feel like this happens in every playoff run the Stars have. Heiskanen is fantastic and on similar level to the other top D. Then people kinda forget about him since he doesnt put up the same offensive numbers in the reg. season as some of the other guys.

Doesnt help that Dallas is not that popular to watch outside its own fanbase.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Sounds kind of weird to say but that 1st round 7 game series against Vegas could be just what the Stars needed. They were dialed in at a level Colorado wasn't in this series.

Sometimes getting pushed to the brink early in a post season has a unifying effect.

 

[Sombastate]

I feel like this happens in every playoff run the Stars have. Heiskanen is fantastic and on similar level to the other top D. Then people kinda forget about him since he doesnt put up the same offensive numbers in the reg. season as some of the other guys.

Doesnt help that Dallas is not that popular to watch outside its own fanbase.

He's always been one of my favorite players, but I caught of just bought into the narrative that Makar was leaps and bounds better, but this series would indicate otherwise

 

[jaa]

He's always been one of my favorite players, but I caught of just bought into the narrative that Makar was leaps and bounds better, but this series would indicate otherwise

I think (like many others do) it's the flashiness and point production that makar brings that feeds this narrative. Avs' style is also so fast and offence minded that at first glimpse, makar seems to be unstoppable force of nature.

But dallas play different game and heiskanen is really good at defending, dictating the pace, making openings, joining rushes etc. It is only when you watch him play that gives aeay how special he is.

It is a hot take, but I think Heiskanen is leaps and bounds more important for his team on both ends of the ice than makar for example.

 

[D Wakaluk]

Avs got hosed. That Dallas winning goal should have never counted.

There were multiple stars hanging outside the crease causing goaltender interference.

 

[Devil made me do it]

The fact that Dallas was cheated out of their first OT goal when it was clear as day there was no goalie interference, confirmed repeatedly by the game announcers, you have to question the league's motives and the purity of the game at this point.
They were intentionally trying to take this to a Game 7. For ratings, I guess?
As a hockey fan and as a sports fan in general, it was truly a disgusting sight... but fortunately, the outcome was just as Dallas deserved the win.

 

[De Montreal]

Colorado was losing this one with or without Nuke

 

[serp]

Avs lack of depth on forwards just couldn't be compensated especially not after the whole Val thing. Game 6 very much showed it. Just compare the minutes . Stars still had legs , Avs did not. Depth won the series . Superstars alone can win you games , a series , maybe even two but without enough depth they can't win it all.

 

[bobholly39]

Dallas looked great in the game last night and deserved the win. They're going to be a tough team to beat this year. I think on paper, they're favorites every round moving forward - but I still predict that either Van or Edm will beat them.

Colorado fought and tried, but you can't win every year. At least it's better for them to go out swinging in game 6 2nd OT then it would have been to go down without a fight by losing game 5 couple of days ago as a lot expected.

As good as teams like Colado and Vegas have been past few years - it really puts into perspective how impressive it was for Tampa to make the final 3x in a row (and win 2 cups). It's hard even when you're that good of a team to win constantly.

 

[Half Clapper]

My takeaways:

For the Stars:

• Pavelski is done
• Somehow Jamie Benn is not. He looks better today than he did five years ago to me. I don't understand how this happened to a guy with his history/playstyle.
• Same for Tyler Seguin. I would have put money on him being out of the league by now five years ago, somehow he's still an effective player that has really grown his game.
• I still can't tell how I feel about Stankoven. There's a Connor Garland-esque quality to his game where it's hard to tell where he exactly fits into a lineup.
• Is this the best that Duchene has ever played? He's obviously less skilled/explosive than he was a decade ago, but this is also the first time I've ever seen him not go worst player on the ice mode when the pressure was on.
• Wyatt Johnson is going to be seen by everyone as a true #1 by the end of next season. He might be close to that level today. He thinks the game so well. It's not a coincidence when a guy is literally always around the puck.

For the Avs:

• I refuse to stand for Samuel Girard slander any more. He has been playing the best hockey of his life and I thought he was outstanding. So many composed exits under heavy pressure.
• If Devon Toews played with a different D partner, would he get some Norris votes? I think I ran out of fingers (and toes) counting the number of plays he broke up tonight with his stickwork.
• Parise works so hard but he was toast.
• Mackinnon turns 29 this year. He's at the point in his career where you really start to see noticeable drops in skating ability. This was the first time I've watched him and it didn't feel like he was just too fast/strong/explosive for the other team to corral.
• Is it better for the Avs if Landeskog retires? 7M for a guy in his 30's coming off of an extremely serious knee injury...wouldn't surprise me if the Avs push him to retire and line up a front office job for him.

Good points, but didn't Pavelski assist on the game winner?

 

[bobholly39]

Avs got hosed. That Dallas winning goal should have never counted.

There were multiple stars hanging outside the crease causing goaltender interference.

People always get so up in arms about calls they deem unfair.

Honestly - it's part of the game. Great teams have to take into account that some calls will go their way and some won't - even if they think they should have - and find a way to rebound and win anyways. Which Dallas obviously did.

I wasn't rooting for Dallas last night - but if I had been it wouldn't have bothered me that much at the time of goal. Just keep fighting to get the next one - and they obviously managed to do so.

 

[bobholly39]

My takeaways:

For the Stars:

• Pavelski is done
• Somehow Jamie Benn is not. He looks better today than he did five years ago to me. I don't understand how this happened to a guy with his history/playstyle.
• Same for Tyler Seguin. I would have put money on him being out of the league by now five years ago, somehow he's still an effective player that has really grown his game.
• I still can't tell how I feel about Stankoven. There's a Connor Garland-esque quality to his game where it's hard to tell where he exactly fits into a lineup.
• Is this the best that Duchene has ever played? He's obviously less skilled/explosive than he was a decade ago, but this is also the first time I've ever seen him not go worst player on the ice mode when the pressure was on.
• Wyatt Johnson is going to be seen by everyone as a true #1 by the end of next season. He might be close to that level today. He thinks the game so well. It's not a coincidence when a guy is literally always around the puck.

For the Avs:

• I refuse to stand for Samuel Girard slander any more. He has been playing the best hockey of his life and I thought he was outstanding. So many composed exits under heavy pressure.
• If Devon Toews played with a different D partner, would he get some Norris votes? I think I ran out of fingers (and toes) counting the number of plays he broke up tonight with his stickwork.
• Parise works so hard but he was toast.
• Mackinnon turns 29 this year. He's at the point in his career where you really start to see noticeable drops in skating ability. This was the first time I've watched him and it didn't feel like he was just too fast/strong/explosive for the other team to corral.
• Is it better for the Avs if Landeskog retires? 7M for a guy in his 30's coming off of an extremely serious knee injury...wouldn't surprise me if the Avs push him to retire and line up a front office job for him.

Good analysis. I didn't watch every game - but I watched all of last night's game, so my response is going to be mostly based on what I saw last night.

- Pavelski didn't look great. But - he's old and experienced, maybe he won't be the type of player to control play and create chances relentlessly, but I can still see him show up and score a big goal here and there and being a difference maker.

- I agree Benn looked pretty good. Didn't notice Seguin as much. Duchene looked amazing - he seemed extra motived to win against Colorado in Colorado last night.

- Wyatt Johnson was great. Extremely impressive, everytime he touched the puck he seemed to generate something.

- I didn't like Samuel Girard's game that much. I felt as though the effort was certainly there and he battled a lot, but the result wasn't always good

- Parise had a lot of chances yeah and missed quite a few.

- I was super impressed by Toews. Might be the player that stood out the most from either team in the game, so many smart plays. Well - Makar was pretty great too. Such an amazing duo.

- MacKinnon.....didn't look good at all last night? I thought he had a really bad game - I kept waiting for him to do something but he generated very, very little. I felt as though Rantanen was a lot more explosive, but didn't have the right linemates...I wonder if Colorado should have tried reuniting the two to get them going, instead of splitting them up.

 

[Grigowski]

Again, congrats to Dallas for winning this series and advancing to the WCF.

They stick to their game plan, they had the better depth in the end and they just were better coached than the AVS.

And to me it looked like they even wanted it more than my team.

So all around the better team and a deserved series-win. And they have a very good chance to make it to the Stanley-Cup final.

They beat not only Vegas in Round 1, but also the AVS in Round 2.

Impressive. Respect.

Fun fact:
There was only 1 home-win in this series. Crazy.

 

[serp]

Stars Road Record so far 5-1 ...... Stars home record on the other hand is 2-3 .

Have not won a game 1 in a playoff series since game 1 of the bubble finals.

 

[catters078]

I'd love to know the amount of time this playoffs Dallas has either lead by a goal, were tied, or trailed by a goal. Feels like every game has been so close.

I'd guess 90% of the playoffs so far has been within a goal or tied.

 

[LOFIN]

Is it better for the Avs if Landeskog retires? 7M for a guy in his 30's coming off of an extremely serious knee injury...wouldn't surprise me if the Avs push him to retire and line up a front office job for him.

Landeskog will not retire with that contract. And if you think Landeskog would want a front office job for less money than what he's currently making not playing, wrong. And if you think the league would allow the Avs to "push Landy to retirement", then pay him the same amount as his contract for a FO job, wrong again. Obvious cap circumvention.

Landeskog will not retire. He will continue to try to play, and if that doesn't work it's LTIR. And that cycle will continue for the next 5 years.

 

[LaCarriere]

The fact that Dallas was cheated out of their first OT goal when it was clear as day there was no goalie interference, confirmed repeatedly by the game announcers, you have to question the league's motives and the purity of the game at this point.
They were intentionally trying to take this to a Game 7. For ratings, I guess?
As a hockey fan and as a sports fan in general, it was truly a disgusting sight... but fortunately, the outcome was just as Dallas deserved the win.

I really doubt there is some referee betting fix/ratings fix league-wide. The NHL would be over as we know it. How many people would have to be paid hush money? It's just a borderline ridiculous notion.

The reality is the ref made a call of goaltender interference in the moment, and there was some minor questionable contact so they were never going to overturn it, they were going to go with the on ice officials call.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Avs just couldn't overcome the loss of Landeskog and Nikushkin. I think they win this if they had both those guys in the lineup.