Stars played great D and had great goal tending. I think they were waiting for the Blues to expend themselves and make a mistake. It almost worked. Several good chances for the Stars.
50/50 game
That’s generally what what happens when a Team turtles lol.
The stars roster is very similar to past editions of the team in that their talent overall is largely offensive, with defensive trouble historically trying to allow that offense to do their thing.
Despite having so much offensive talent, they only scored one goal tonight, which was arguably fairly flukey too. That’s less ‘playing great’, and more ‘staying alive’. They have such potent offensive talent tho, that they make the most of their chances (but still didn’t, really).
There’s different ways to look at the word “dominate”. Overall game, one more goal. Nobody dominated at “winning”.
But in terms of minute-by-minute play, the Blues flat out dominated large stretches of this game, while the Stars stayed alive. Without Bishop, this game almost certainly doesn’t go to OT. Even if it was an equally good, smaller goalie. It’s hard to think the blues couldn’t have squeeked in one more goal.
I don’t like using the word “deserved” exactly... but I’m very glad the Blues won, as an eastern fan. Much of tonight’s entertainment was just the context. The Stars are one of the more boring teams minutes by minute imo. I hate extra conservative hockey. Bishop kept his team in it.
In the future I expect they can play differently, but they’re not there yet.
