GDT: [Game #70] Dallas Stars vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - 7:30 PM CT (BSSW)

[Dynamite Time]

Our 2 Matthew’s did not show up but their 1 Matthew’s did. That being said we got a point when we should have been blown out.

Robertson did have a 2nd assist; thankfully we got a point tonight.

 

[Kcb12345]

Robertson did have a 2nd assist; thankfully we got a point tonight.

Robertson had 2 assists

 

[Elysian]

I think if your expectations for backups is anything higher than what Wedgwood has provided so far, you should probably readjust.

No.

 

[Linus Bryksa]

Name a goalie that would have stopped Matthews on that goal?

 

[starsfan86]

Name a goalie that would have stopped Matthews on that goal?

David Ayres

 

[Henderson33]

If we agreed to get a guaranteed point tonight we all would have taken it.

Wedgewood was great and we we came back from being down. That's more than enough to ask for.

 

[JesusNPucks]

Auston Matthews is good at hockey.

 

[The Tourist]

Wedgewood is 2-0-1 with Dallas. Dominated in a win against Carolina, struggled in a win against San Jose, and played very well in an OT loss against Toronto. In two of the games he faced 47 and 41 shots. His team in front of him hasn't helped him much. He's been relied to steal two of the games and he was able to get 3 out of 4 points in those two games.

I can't complain. I'm satisfied with our back up getting thrown to the wolves and stealing points.

 

[Frozen Failure]

I wish Benn tried as hard as Radulov.

I wish Benn tried at all that entire game. It's obnoxiously evident that there is some serious coasting going on.

 

[Kipper 17]

Wedgewood is 2-0-1 with Dallas. Dominated in a win against Carolina, struggled in a win against San Jose, and played very well in an OT loss against Toronto. In two of the games he faced 47 and 41 shots. His team in front of him hasn't helped him much. He's been relied two steal two of the games and he was able to get 3 out of 4 points in those two games.

I can't complain. I'm satisfied with our back up getting thrown to the wolves and stealing games.

Exactly! The coaching staff probably expected losses in those 2 games and he is a HUGE reason we got 3 points instead of the 0 we deserved.

He has been more than worth what we traded to get him.

 

[eartotheground]

'5 goalies'
- Satan

 

[Satan]

5 goalies

 

[Captain Awesome]

So I didn't watch this game, but what kind of idiot matches up Seguin-Benn-Suter against Auston Matthews on home ice?

 

[eartotheground]

So I didn't watch this game, but what kind of idiot matches up Seguin-Benn-Suter against Auston Matthews on home ice?

i agree that one doesn't make much sense, but it's hard to argue with the stars' ot record this year.

 

[starsfan86]

i agree that one doesn't make much sense, but it's hard to argue with the stars' ot record this year.

I still find it funny they start with Faksa and Glendening. Faksa is the slowest guy on the team and is not ideal for 3 v 3 hockey.

 

[Captain Awesome]

i agree that one doesn't make much sense, but it's hard to argue with the stars' ot record this year.

I went back to double check this one because the highlights don't show how they got there, and what's baffling to me is Matthews and Nylander are out there, THEN the Stars made their line change. The Stars aren't very fast, so the amount of guys they can put out there to match other teams' fast and skilled lines is limited, but that particular combination of guys just seems bad in OT in general. I'm not gonna die on the 'The Stars are better at OT now' hill, because to be honest I haven't looked at it closely enough to have formed a strong opinion about it, but when i see this:

I think it could just be luck balancing out from what happened last year. If Auston Matthews is out there, I want Hintz going against him every second of the entire game in even strength situations. Truthfully, there's a good chance Hintz is going to lose this matchup, but he is probably going to lose significantly less than anyone else. All the other centers are some combination of slow and/or inept defensively. Calling Seguin below average defensively would be kind to him at this point.

Seguin and Benn actually lead forward ice time at 3 on 3, the sample sizes are tiny but the numbers are pretty bad. Corsi for% of 44% and 39% respectively and an xGF% of 44% and 31.45% respectively. Interestingly, actual GF% are 67% and 100% respectively.

Despite both getting caved in on chances, they are coming out ahead. It's kinda meaningless with the season over at this point and 3 on 3 not being a big deal in terms of success in the playoffs, but these guys have terrible 3 on 3 numbers with great results, and are playing over Hintz and Robertson. For me, it's just another example of terrible coaching, but again, I haven't looked at it super deeply to form a concrete opinion on the matter. I think I can safely conclude after having suffered over 100 games of this, though, that Bowness is a truly awful coach.

Edit: It looks like Pavelski was actually on the ice instead of Benn right before the goal, and Seguin screwed up by not getting in a line change and was on the ice longer than anticipated. So, less intentionally dumb than I had originally thought, not nearly as dumb as matching up Faksa against Matthews anyway.

 

[hairylikebear]

So I didn't watch this game, but what kind of idiot matches up Seguin-Benn-Suter against Auston Matthews on home ice?

Looking at the shift shart, Bowness sent that trio against Muzzin, Kerfoot, Mikhaev but when they lost possession the Leafs had a free line change. Faksa, Glendening, Heiskanen was his preferred match against the Leafs big 3.

ShiftChart - Hockey Shift Data Visualization

shiftchart.com

 

[Rory]

Auston Matthews is good at hockey.

Bowness is not good at hockey.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Looking at the shift shart, Bowness sent that trio against Muzzin, Kerfoot, Mikhaev but when they lost possession the Leafs had a free line change. Faksa, Glendening, Heiskanen was his preferred match against the Leafs big 3.

ShiftChart - Hockey Shift Data Visualization

shiftchart.com

From what I could tell, it looks like the plan was to have Faksa win the opening faceoff, gain possession, and immediately go off the ice for a more offensively inclined line to take over, in this case they left Heiskanen out and put Hintz and Robertson out for Glendening and Faksa. I still think it's a weird choice, just put Hintz and Robertson out there to begin with, Marner-Matthews-Rielly is going to eat Faksa and Glendening alive, and Heiskanen can only do so much.

The Stars did manage to get 2/3rds of a line change in before the goal with Seguin missing his chance, but two thirds of that was Suter and Pavelski, so I'm not even sure they had a plan to match the Toronto trio. It might have just been rushed because the line change was pretty sloppy. Maybe someone with a very good memory who was at the game can explain how Seguin ended up being stuck out there when Klingberg and Benn managed, it looks to me like Seguin has time to change with Klingberg forechecking the Toronto d-man, but the camera doesn't allow us to see where Seguin was.

 

[hairylikebear]

From what I could tell, it looks like the plan was to have Faksa win the opening faceoff, gain possession, and immediately go off the ice for a more offensively inclined line to take over, in this case they left Heiskanen out and put Hintz and Robertson out for Glendening and Faksa. I still think it's a weird choice, just put Hintz and Robertson out there to begin with, Marner-Matthews-Rielly is going to eat Faksa and Glendening alive, and Heiskanen can only do so much.

The Stars did manage to get 2/3rds of a line change in before the goal with Seguin missing his chance, but two thirds of that was Suter and Pavelski, so I'm not even sure they had a plan to match the Toronto trio. It might have just been rushed because the line change was pretty sloppy. Maybe someone with a very good memory who was at the game can explain how Seguin ended up being stuck out there when Klingberg and Benn managed, it looks to me like Seguin has time to change with Klingberg forechecking the Toronto d-man, but the camera doesn't allow us to see where Seguin was.

If they lost the faceoff, they have their defensive role players on. If they win, they have Heiskanen to play keepaway while they get their top forwards out. It makes perfect sense to me. I think you'd prefer not to waste a Hintz and Robo shift trying to defend the Leafs top players.

 

[Troy McClure]

3 on 3 ends up forcing forwards to play D, and Matthews abused Seguin there by seeing Seguin facing the wrong way and going too slow to impede Matthews. Suter didn't help by recognizing too late what Matthews was going to do. Suter should have gone over to that side the moment it was clear Matthews was bearing down on Seguin.

It's what makes 3 on 3 awesome. You get crazy matchups and see scoring chances come out of nowhere.

 

[catters078]

I think that point yesterday will be really valuable as we finish the season hopefully in the wild card 1 position. I am confident we will make playoffs but given nashville will own the tie breaker over us that point might be gold if we can leap them.

Wedgewood was good yesterday, not amazing...but good. Matthews could have easily had 4 goals.

If you look at the 2 recent games vs Carolina and Toronto combined that he played in. The Stars have been outshot 88 to 33!! Yet got 3 out 4 pts against 2 top 5 teams.

The wedgewood trade has been exactly what we needed, especially now Jake has had an eased workload, and it gives him a chance for Jake to steal us some games to end the season

 

[Troy McClure]

I think that point yesterday will be really valuable as we finish the season hopefully in the wild card 1 position. I am confident we will make playoffs but given nashville will own the tie breaker over us that point might be gold if we can leap them.

Wedgewood was good yesterday, not amazing...but good. Matthews could have easily had 4 goals.

If you look at the 2 recent games vs Carolina and Toronto combined that he played in. The Stars have been outshot 88 to 33!! Yet got 3 out 4 pts against 2 top 5 teams.

The wedgewood trade has been exactly what we needed, especially now Jake has had an eased workload, and it gives him a chance for Jake to steal us some games to end the season

It says a lot about a game when a goalie gives up four goals but still has a save percentage on the night over .900.

 

[Captain Awesome]

If they lost the faceoff, they have their defensive role players on. If they win, they have Heiskanen to play keepaway while they get their top forwards out. It makes perfect sense to me. I think you'd prefer not to waste a Hintz and Robo shift trying to defend the Leafs top players.

I should have explained a little more, but this was my core point. Between Faksa not being good as a defensive center and being too slow to play 3 on 3, and Glendening just not being a good hockey player, the likelihood of that situation turning out well was very small. I think putting up Hintz and Robertson (could also use Pavelski instead) against that line is a choice you're forced into because no one else on the team is nearly good enough to keep up with them. With how all-or-nothing 3 on 3 is, it's not a terrible gamble to go power on power and hope Hintz and Robertson come out on top and can quickly put the game away.

I guess my overall point is that 3 on 3 hockey really emphasizes speed and puck control, and those are two things Faksa and Glendening are dogshit at.

 

[hairylikebear]

Yeah Faksa has been average at best defensively this year. I suspect Bowness still holds him in high regard though.

His assignment was nothing more than win the puck then skate to the bench. I don't think the 3v3 transition speed game comes into play there.

I'm not even trying to defend it or suggest that it was the best strategy. I'm speculating on his reasoning.