Winnipeg, Manitoba – Stars Coach Pete Deboer started his most veteran attackers on the ice when the washer dropped for match 2 on Friday.
It was probably not a coincidence, hoping that he could count on them to make good decisions and remain composed during what was planned to be a strong Winnipeg push after losing match 1 on home ice.
But Deboer obtained the opposite result.
Tyler Seguin was called 17 seconds high in the match. He was called a double minor, so Winnipeg obtained a four -minute power game. At just 3:35 am from the match, the jets held an advance of 1-0 after Gabriel Vilard followed a shot by Nikolaj Ehlers.
“We just have to stop shooting ourselves on the foot,” said the Stars Cody defender this. “It's hard to start a match in this way.”
The jets never looked back, winning 4-0 to the 1-1 series while returning to Dallas.
Friday scored the eighth time in nine playoffs that the stars sacrificed the first goal. The only time they scored first was when Wyatt Johnston scored nine seconds in the rout of Match 5 of Colorado.
The stars managed to win four of the games in which they first dragged, including three against Colorado when they followed the third period. The Mikko Rantanen hat towers helped a few, but even in the defeat of match 6 against Colorado, the stars overcome an early deficit of 2-0 to equalize the match in the second period.
But Friday showed why it is a trend that cannot continue.
The stars have escaped a series against colorado by the skin of their teeth, thanks to certain heroic prolonges and one of the greatest revenge games in the history of Rantanen. His greatness was sufficient to take match 1 in Winnipeg, but the jets are far too qualified by a group to abandon the tracks every evening of this series.
They won the presidents trophy for a reason, and it was not without putting out their opponents when they had the opportunity.
The stars won a victory for a regular season against the jets, but their three other defeats came not only when Winnipeg scored the first goal, but the first four of each.
“They are a big team when they are in place,” said Stars Matt Duchene striker.
These regular season losses seemed strangely similar to the way Winnipeg played stars on Friday, jumping to an early advance and continuing to apply the pressure.
Less than four minutes after the marked of Vilardi, the shot of Ehlers rebounded on the skate of Esa Lindell and inside. Even when the stars made a second-time push, it was already an important hole to overcome, and Adam Lowry capitalized on a lucky rebound on the boards to do it 3-0 and even less manageable.
“It's a big hole in this skating rink,” said Deboer. “Self-inflicted.”
The stars did not get good rebounds all the playoffs, and sometimes it can make the difference, especially when you are already living to play from behind.
Early deficits were penalties. The stars ranked in the lower third of the league in minutes of regular season with 6.36 for 60. In the playoffs, they increased it to 7.39, including 16 minutes of penalty on Friday.
“We take more penalties in these games in which we continue,” said Duchene. “I have no explanation. I have never seen so many four -minute high penalties in my life. They are not unruly guys, they are just difficult pieces, guys trying to compete on the washer.
“We have to find a way and clean it.”
Then, all it was needed was the biggest goalkeeper in the world to play this way. Connor Hellebuyck is a factor that the stars did not have to consider when making miraculous returns against Colorado.
The jets underperformed for eight playoffs, but on Friday it seemed to be woken up. The stars are intrinsically the oppressed of this series and must stop being even bigger one night and evening.
Despite a disappointing performance in match 2, they go home to Dallas who did exactly what they had to do – winning one of the two games in Winnipeg to steal the advantage of ice at home. Now they just need to win three home games to secure the series, where they were 28-10-3 in the regular season.
They are also 14-5 after losses in the playoffs under Deboer.
But if the stars meet early Sunday afternoon or Tuesday evening, as they have eight times in the playoffs, there may not be enough luck for another miraculous return.
Find more Dallas New Stars Board of Stars here.
