The Dallas Stars never trailed and won in some wacky fashion as they defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-3 on Thursday at SAP Center.
Rantanen to Johnston unstoppable
Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen have found some chemistry on the top line this season. Although they did not have a stable teammate on the left, the two ranked first and third in the team’s scoring. Get them together on the power play and keep an eye on the other 31 teams.
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Entering tonight, Johnston leads the NHL with 12 power-play goals. While not scoring as quickly as he did earlier, he’s still three goals ahead of second-place Alex DeBrincat on the list. Rantanen ranks third in power-play scoring behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Well, one more goal tonight for Johnston and one more point for Rantanen. Was it ever beautiful?
The Stars’ power play is still near or at the top of the league, and their goals usually look like this. Know where each other is on the ice, make clean passes or stick handles without hesitation, and finish their chances. Elite.
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Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Johnston already scored in the game. It was a 5-on-5 goal, which he hasn’t done a lot of lately. According to our friend Craig Ludwig, if Johnston has a chance to make Team Canada for the Olympics, he’ll need to prove he can perform consistently at even strength.
Does this look like a player who can do that?
He fakes a hip opener, like he’s backing up a smaller guy in the paint to catch the ball…it’s awesome. He sold former Stars defenseman John Klingberg’s tumbling move behind his back, quickly pushed off his right skate and created enough space to fire a wrist shot over his glove. OK
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Rantanen has dished out two assists so far, the primary one, of course, and has surpassed Olli Jokinen to become the fifth-highest scorer by a Finnish player in NHL history (751 points).
They said he was very adventurous in hockey…
On the DLLS pregame show, we talked about Alex Nedeljkovic’s fun and adventurous side of hockey. Sean Shapiro watched him frequently in Detroit and made it clear that he had great hockey skills but would also make questionable decisions or passes from time to time.
Nedelkovic has turned the Stars’ predictions into dice multiple times over the course of 30 minutes, but also committed two turnovers of his own. High tournament goaltender, we’re just talking about what he can do with the puck.
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San Jose couldn’t create his passing opportunities, and Dallas didn’t make him pay for his mistakes. But that changed in the final minute of the game, when Nedelkovic thought Justin Hrykovian could actually score after nearly a month without scoring.
While the game was entertaining and the Stars were happy to take a two-goal lead in the third period, I really wanted to talk more about how much I enjoyed Hrykovian’s game.
He just kept walking. He was strict about pre-inspection. He fights on walls and in corners. He worked hard to get leading position on both ends of the ice. When he has the puck, he has the ability to create; when he doesn’t have the puck, he has the hockey IQ to find open spots. On top of that, he’s an absolute pest, constantly irritating his opponents and finding himself in the middle of most post-final shenanigans. He makes people crazy, and that’s the skill of hockey. Believe me, I have found a way over the years, albeit on a small scale.
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He can also fight and joins Jamie Benn, Lian Bichsel and Mikko Rantanen in a group of star skaters who will step up for their teammates when needed.
Tonight he showed a lot of skill and grit, pissed off the Sharks and capped it all off with his fourth goal of the season.
That boy.
Star PK makes grand debut again
The Sharks made this one interesting with Colin Graff’s third goal in two games against Dallas. I heard the kids at ECAC are underrated, is that right?
But when the Sharks struck in the third quarter, Dallas’ penalty shootout had to come into play again, as it had been since the end of the first month of the season. And they did.
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Star PK just tried every means to kill the penalty kick. That means Jake Oettinger (or Casey DeSmith) makes a huge save, which he does often. That means blocking shots. How about Oskar Bäck on the final San Jose power play? Block the ball, slap it on the defender with one hand, and start the substitution.
Sometimes, that means improvising to keep the puck away from the goal. We see diving saves, great saves by Miro Heiskanen or Thomas Haley to stop the puck from crossing the line behind the goaltender, and full-on saves by skaters when things get really weird.
But including the wacky moments, I don’t know if we saw what Colin Blackwell did to get out of trouble and kill most of the latter part of Game of Thrones…
This is incredible. After your stick flies into the neutral zone, it’s not just about blocking shots and winning the contest with the puck…but staying in position enough to bend over and basically dribble with your glove…just remember, guys, he’s a great basketball player.
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Blackwell flipped his right hand, poked the puck to the right, then turned and chased, then used his right glove to push the puck forward again. Then, while battling a forward, he shielded the puck, lunged forward, knocked the puck off the ice with his left glove, then got off and changed positions.
Dallas went 3-for-3 with kills.
Sometimes, you just have to do what needs to be done. The weird Hrykovi goal, the power play kill, and this Blackwell… whatever it is, are all great examples.
Jamie Benn’s empty-net goal gave Dallas another win. By the way, Oettinger scored a victory on his 27th birthday.
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Ilya Lyubushkin looked solid defensively tonight.
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Nils Lundkvist made some key plays, one of which was a late-game rush in a two-on-one to backtrack and analyze.
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MacLean Celebrini is very good. At times, he seemed to move too fast, either for his own good or so that his teammates couldn’t keep up. He consistently threw passes that the Sharks couldn’t handle or return. But it’s so fun to watch him pick the puck out of his skates, then turn around and burn with his head up.
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Casey DeSmith is expected to start Friday in Anaheim. DeSmith has scored in 11 consecutive games (8-0-3).
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It’s so cool for shark fans to bite the shark and have “Jaws” music playing in the arena before the power play. Not as cool as Nashville’s “Tooth Fingers,” though (100% sarcastic, that’s stupid.)
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DLLS After Dark brings out the worst (and best) in all of us. Don’t forget to attend the post-game show.
