Dallas Stars Continue Defying Odds, Beat Blues To Take Series Lead
In another big game and on another big stage, the Dallas Stars shone brightly. They fended off the St. Louis Blues in a 2-1 win on Friday night thanks to an early jump and strong goaltending and clinched a 3-2 lead in their second-round series. It just keeps getting better.
Believe it or not, the Dallas Stars had a lot working against them on Friday night as they entered the Enterprise Center in St. Louis for a critical Game 5.
After cruising to a big 4-2 victory over the Blues in Game 4 at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday night, the Stars drew even with their second-round challenger. That in and of itself had seemed somewhat unlikely after Dallas dropped a disappointing Game 3 on home ice just two nights prior.
While the Stars already had experience with being in a 2-1 series hole from round one against the Nashville Predators, something about this situation just felt different. Maybe it was that the Blues had come at the Stars hard in the opening three games. Or maybe it was simply because playoff hockey uses the emotions of players and fans as its own personal punching bag.
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Regardless of the situation, it was both impressive and important to see the Dallas Stars shine in Game 4. They hounded the puck from the opening draw, didn’t crumble when Vladimir Tarasenko scored a power play goal on the team’s first shot on net, and kept pushing for the entire 60-minute session. By the end of the second period, the Stars had received goals from Jason Dickinson, Jason Spezza, John Klingberg, and Roope Hintz and seemed to be in complete control as the Blues lost their focus and, consequently, their composure.
But a tough task still awaited them in Game 5 in St. Louis. In the first round, the Blues had fallen into a 2-2 tie with the Winnipeg Jets and had sacrificed consecutive wins to Winnipeg in Games 3 and 4. They followed those losses up with two powerful wins to close out the series and move on to the second round. So, this was familiar territory for the home team.
The Stars were also leaving the comfortable confines of their home ice to head back to a rowdy arena where they posted a 1-1 mark to start the series.
And finally, the second-round set between Dallas and St. Louis had followed a simplistic pattern up to Friday night. The two teams had traded wins through the first four contests, with the Blues claiming Games 1 and 3 while the Stars took Games 2 and 4. If patterns told us anything, it was that the St. Louis Blues would serve as the hungrier team in Game 5 and use their home crowd to push them to a potentially series-altering victory.
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It’s a good thing the Stanley Cup Playoffs also have no time for predictability or patterns. If they did, the Stars might not have successfully completed a monumental task in Game 5 on Friday night.
The Dallas Stars entered the Enterprise Center on Friday in hopes of gaining the upper hand in a critical game. If they could win Game 5, they would follow a similar path as they did in the first round and head home with a chance to clinch the series in Game 6. A loss, however, would force Dallas to win out (which would require another victory in St. Louis).
Yes, the tensions were already high in the series. Yes, both teams were on edge with everything knotted up. Yes, fans and players were starting to get a little more chippy as the showdown went deeper.
And yet, the Stars found a way to make it happen. As they have done many times throughout their 2018-19 journey, they got the job done when it mattered most, regardless of whether they were expected to or not.
It took less than three minutes for Dallas to get on the board. As has been a common theme for them in the playoffs, they showed no signs of early rust and were quick on the attack. With 17:18 left, Tyler Seguin found the puck behind the back of the net and fed it to Jason Spezza on the doorstep. Spezza sent the puck sailing past Jordan Binnington and bought the Stars an early lead.
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Pucks and Pitchforks
The middle frame provided the second score of the game when Esa Lindell tallied on a backhand shot that deflected off of a few bodies before finding the back of the net.
The Blues got a goal back in the third period when Jaden Schwartz scored to cut the lead in half with 11:34 remaining. But that’s where the door was shut as the Dallas Stars rallied together to pick up a big 2-1 win away from home.
Through all of the excitement and mess, though, there was one difference-maker that solely defined the result of the game. No, it wasn’t Spezza’s early goal (though that helped set the tone). And no, it wasn’t the number of scrums that the two clubs took part in throughout the game. While those helped, the Stars wouldn’t have won that game without a stellar showing in net from goaltender Ben Bishop.
This series has been a tricky one for Bishop. In round one, Bishop posted a 4-2-0 record along with a .945 save percentage and 12 goals against and made quick work of the Nashville Predators. He looked the way a Vezina Trophy finalist is supposed to look and was a primary catalyst in the Stars’ series victory.
But in two of the first three games against St. Louis, the goaltender looked a bit out-of-sync. He sacrificed three goals in Game 1 and finished with an .850 save percentage and followed it by giving up four goals in Game 3 and finishing with an .882 save percentage. He was missing shots that he typically would have stopped and was leaving the Stars to try and rally from behind. And, considering their game plan and success have gone through Bishop this season, it wasn’t working in their favor.
On Friday night, however, Bishop was back in full force. He stopped 38-39 shots, including a 14-15 performance in the final frame. And, had it not been for a poorly-played puck near his crease that led to a turnover and St. Louis goal, the goaltender likely would have finished the night with his first playoff shutout as a Star.
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Bleedin' Blue
Bishop was electric for a majority of the night, making key stops and looking calm and composed in his crease. There were very few high-danger moments, he did a good job of stopping initial shots and limiting rebound chances, and played the puck relatively well. And even when he suffered a quick err in judgement that led to a Blues goal and a reinvigorated crowd, he didn’t break. He made a handful of solid stops, including a sprawling left-pad save on Oskar Sundqvist on the doorstep, as the final minutes ticked away and helped preserve the lead.
“Ben Bishop was the best player in the game tonight,” said Stars coach Jim Montgomery following the game. “I thought the Blues were the better team than we were tonight, but Ben Bishop was the difference. He’s been the difference for us many times this year. We weren’t worried on the bench when the puck went in, and the saves he made on the penalty kill right after were incredible. He’s just someone who responds and he’s our brick wall back there.”
Bishop played an influential role in the heist as Dallas successfully carried their momentum from Wednesday into an important Game 5 and came out with a win. But he wasn’t alone.
Game 5 was also filled with a bunch of “little plays” that helped contribute to the overall product. While on the power play, Roope Hintz chased down Alex Pietrangelo before he could get a shot off on a shorthanded breakaway. Jason Dickinson helped cover Bishop’s far post when Pietrangelo tried to score on a wraparound. Roman Polak got into it with Pat Maroon after the Blues forward jumped rookie Miro Heiskanen following a whistle. Esa Lindell continued his spectacular play, skating 29:20 (including 7:49 of the 8:00 that the Stars spent shorthanded) and scoring a goal while also blocking five shots.
The box score may not show that the Dallas Stars dominated Game 5. In fact, they were outshot by 12 (39-27), lost the face-off battle, and had their hits more than doubled by the Blues.
But when St. Louis got physical, the Stars didn’t respond with uninspired aggression. They responded with an extra dosage of force and resilience and used it to push them ahead in the game. When the Blues went on the power play four separate times, Dallas was there to kill each one off with relative ease and even create a handful of shorthanded chances as they moved their kill mark to 14/16 on the series.
When the Blues acted, the Stars reacted, but in a smarter and better way.
“Penalty killing is about three things. You need great goaltending. We’ve got that. Ben Bishop should win the Vezina. He should win the Hart Trophy because he’s been amazing. Then, you need smart players. You need guys that want to be in the right position at all times. There is a plan and there is a system. The third thing is that you need guys tough enough to stand in front of the net and block shots when the opportunity is there.” – Stars defenseman Ben Lovejoy on the penalty kill
And now, they sit on the cusp of the next level. The Dallas Stars received a stellar performance from their goaltender and used it and a quick start to propel them to a big win. All they need is one more win.
“You just gotta go back and play your game,” Bishop said about the mindset going into Game 6. “Like I said, it’s the hardest one to win and we know they’re going to have their best game. We have to focus on what we do well and go out there and play our best game because we know they’re gonna have theirs.”
The Stars had a lot pushing against them as they approached Friday night’s contest. But by using poise, dedication, desperation, and a shining start from their goalie, they took the next step towards their first Western Conference finals berth since 2008.
Next. Roope Hintz Helping Stars Push Forward In Playoff Run. dark
And though the next win will likely be the toughest to clinch, this Dallas Stars team definitely seems up for the challenge.