The Dallas Stars suffered their first loss of the young National Hockey League (NHL) season. They lost on home ice 5-3 to the Vancouver Canucks. They have been knocked out of the rare “undefeated” category, which no team has anymore this season.
I was hopeful going into this game. I don’t regard the Canucks as a “great” team. I mean … they did miss the playoffs entirely last year. Speculation swirled about superstar Brock Boeser leaving the team last offseason, which ended when he signed a seven-year $7.25 million contract.
They have a new coach who I know next to nothing about, only that he played in the NHL for a bit. To be fair, the Stars have a new coach of their own this year, so maybe this is a moot point. Regardless of initial circumstances, I thought this would be another win.
They didn’t — and that’s okay. No NHL team is going 82-0 — that’d be crazy to expect. But I’m still gonna mourn this loss for a bit, because this was a weird experience throughout.
Stars backup goalie Casey DeSmith started this game, whilst Thatcher Demko got the start for the Canucks. I felt like we could’ve played our starter one more game, but I digress.
The Stars initially dominated play — I felt like the Stars had control of the entire first period. Such control resulted in a goal early into the game by Maverick Bourque with some help from Elias Pettersson of the Canucks.
Later on, the Stars scored thanks to Mikko Rantanen on a power play late in the first period. A rush entry and sniper precision from Rantanen gave the Stars a two-goal lead. The Stars were proving me right — no reason to worry.
Then the second period happened, with an initial scare of an almost goal. With DeSmith and crew just barely getting the puck off the goal line in time, their subsequent rush up the ice would result in nothing — just one of many Grade A chances getting wasted in this game.
The Canucks capitalized early in the second with an alley-oop flip from Filip Hronek to Filip Chytil. Chytil scored on the subsequent one-on-one play to beat the goaltender. This goal was totally preventable.
Thomas Harley didn’t play the puck right and got turned inside out. Additionally, why was there one defenseman back there? Nils Lundkvist got caught puck watching I assume, because he was a solid distance away from his defensive partner.
The Stars’ lead that was just cut in half would only hold up for about another two minutes, as Boeser scored with a power play to tie up the game for the Canucks. So much for an easy game.
Midway into the period, Canucks’ Max Sasson scored on yet another breakaway. Harley and Lundkvist were caught out of position, leaving ample space for the tie-breaking goal.
The Canucks pounced on a pass from Colin Blackwell into empty space. Conor Garland read the pass from miles away and propelled the Canucks’ lead to two goals, giving the Canucks a stranglehold on the game in one period.
The Stars attempted to get back in the game a little too late in the third period with a late goal from Wyatt Johnston to give them life, only for an empty net goal minutes later from Quinn Hughes.
The constant defensive breakdowns and lack of urgency were frustrating. First-year coach Glen Gulutzan said that he doesn’t want to be a “counter-punch” team — he wants to control the pace and strike first in games.
That’d definitely be a breath of fresh air, as the Stars have been all too accustomed to slow starts — especially in recent years under the leadership of Rick Bowness and Peter DeBoer. This type of play has left them short of the Stanley Cup.
Of course, it’s early in the season for the Stars. They’ll figure out the new system and get into their stride. But fixing the miscommunication on defense and being more offensively aggressive is important.
Otherwise, I don’t see this team being a good regular-season team, let alone a great playoff team that can compete.
Baker can be reached at [email protected].
