TORONTO – Despite a mostly superb performance, Travis Dermott was left second-guessing himself afterwards for a decision he’d like to have back.
“I was gonna go put my hand down, but it was a little hard and I didn’t wanna risk hurting anything,” he said. “Looking back on it, you wished you had grabbed it instead of trying to play it off your shin pads.”
The questionable judgment occurred early in the second period and led directly to a goal in what was a 2-1 victory for the Texas Stars in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Finals. The best-of-seven affair is now tied at a game apiece.
Dermott failed to intercept a long stretch pass from Stars defenceman Dillon Heatherington and the puck went through his legs and onto the stick of Curtis McKenzie. The Stars captain beat Marlies goaltender Garret Sparks on a breakaway for his playoff-leading eighth goal.
“You’ve gotta read those plays and take it more defensively,” Dermott said.
McKenzie’s goal only tied the score. However, it completely changed the game’s complexion.
The Stars took it to the Marlies from that point on, allowing just nine shots on goaltender Mike McKenna. They outshot the Marlies 24-22 overall.
As a result, the Marlies saw their 10-game post-season winning streak snapped. They fell at home for the first time since March 24 – a span of 13 contests.
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The moment that proceeded McKenzie’s crucial tally could be considered either unfortunate or careless, depending on how you slice it.
Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe chose the latter option – a positional error by a young but promising blueliner.
“On that particular play, we’d like to see him keep the player in front of him,” Keefe said. “We’ve been caught on that a couple times – trying to knock down long passes rather than just staying above their guys and letting them come through us.
“That’s something we want to clean up, but I don’t think that’s solely on Derms.”
The Stars were the better team from that point on and were rewarded with a goal on an early third-period power play.
Gavin Bayreuther got the winner at 4:31 with veteran Marlies defenceman Vincent LoVerde off for holding the stick of Stars winger Jason Dickinson.
The Marlies only mustered four shots in the third as the Stars sat back and clogged up the neutral zone. They struggled to generated speed, gain the offensive blue line or even effectively dump and chase the puck.
“We’ve been good in third periods all year. We weren’t today,” Sparks said.
“They took out our best guys from the game,” Dermott said.
Dermott’s blemish – and the goal that followed – altered the game, which is a shame because he was one of the more impactful players on the ice.
Ahead of the series, Keefe lauded Dermott’s professionalism since his return to the Marlies after the end of the Toronto Maple Leafs season.
Dermott played 37 games in the second half of the season with the Leafs and appeared in all seven playoff contests of a first-round loss to Boston.
Keefe said the 21-year-old, second-year pro came back on a “mission of wanting to win.”
Throughout Game 2 he showed not only that, but why he’s expected to be a fixture on the NHL team’s blue line in the fall.
Dermott made a smart, calculated pinch late in the first period, one of two key plays he made on the opening goal of the game.
After the pinch, Dermott got the puck back, moved to the centre of the ice and fired a low shot that was tipped by captain Ben Smith at 17:51.
It was Dermott’s third assist and fourth point in 11 AHL playoff games. He recorded 18 points in 28 regular season AHL games this season.
“He walked the line really well there,” Smith said. “It was a really quick snapper (from) an NHL talent there. It was a nice play.”
Dermott started the game with regular partner Timothy Liljegren, but played more minutes with Martin Marincin and Justin Holl as Liljegren’s minutes were cut back by Keefe. Dermott even saw some rare time on the power play in place of Liljegren, the 2017 first-rounder.
“Derms had a good game today,” Keefe said. “He was involved in a lot of things. He moved around well. He moved the puck well. He was involved on offence.”
But Dermott’s mostly positive efforts weren’t enough.
It didn’t help that the offence was stuck in neutral from the time the Stars scored their first goal.
The team’s top line of Andreas Johnsson, Miro Aaltonen and Carl Grundstrom failed to record a point for the second consecutive game.
“It hurts. It’s been a big part of why we’re here and why things have gone so smoothly to this point,” Keefe said. “If going to get control of the series, we need those guys to be (better) and find a way to get through and get to the net.”
Losing has almost been unchartered territory for the Marlies in these playoffs.
Their last defeat came at the hands of the Utica Comets in the opening round. They dropped Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-five series, but then recovered to close out the Comets at home.
With the next three games on the road in Austin, Texas, how the Marlies respond there will go a long way towards deciding the winner of this series.
Plenty more chances to make up for mistakes – and get back in the win column after a long overdue defeat.
“It happens. We knew it wasn’t going to be a perfect run by any means,” Dermott said. “We’re going to go and try and win the next game, right?”
