Playoff Takeaways: Opportunistic Stars regain home-ice advantage over Avalanche

The Dallas Stars may not have been the better team Saturday night, but there’s no question they deserve to lead their series over the Colorado Avalanche.

A pair of empty-net goals in a 4-1 win over the Avs in Denver put the Stars up 2-1 despite being on their heels a good chunk of the night.

The stellar defence and depth the Stars are known for were the difference, as Tyler Seguin and Logan Stankoven had two goals apiece in a win that came despite being outhit and outshot in a game in which the Avs had 71 shot attempts to the Stars’ 45.

Unlike Games 1 and 2 when the Stars gave up seven goals after establishing early leads, the Stars looked very comfortable defending a one-goal lead in the final 20 minutes before finding the empty net.    

“I think our group took it personally when everyone questioned whether we could hold a lead in the third,” laughed Dallas coach Peter DeBoer.

“It was warranted with how the first two games went, but we knew we were better than that. 

“We’ve been really good in those situations all year and really good on the road. I thought the details of our game tonight were outstanding.”

Opportunistic and dependent on shot-blocking and the solid netminding of Jake Oettinger, the Stars regained home-ice advantage, which is significant given the Avs hadn’t lost at home until Saturday.

Some takeaways from the evening:

MACKINNON IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon and the rest of his top line continue to show signs of frustration, as the league’s top trio hasn’t been as productive as hoped against the Stars.

Avs coach Jared Bednar had said before the game he wanted his big guns to persevere and remain composed despite the added pressure put on them by the opposition.

Although Mikko Rantanen was able to jam home the rebound on a brilliant foray by MacKinnon midway through the game to tie it up, the dynamic duo with Artturi Lehkonen were all seen showing signs of frustration throughout a night in which they had only eight of their 17 shot attempts get through to test Oettinger.

Valeri Nichushkin’s record-tying seven-game goal streak from the start of the playoffs came to an end, as the closest he was able to come to scoring saw him ring one off the post late in the second period of a 1-1 game.

This series does ultimately seem like it will come down to a battle between Colorado’s stars and Dallas’ depth.

On this night the depth won out.

Chris Tanev sets the tone.

With all eyes on how MacKinnon and company would open the evening in front of a raucous home crowd, the tone for the evening was set early when the Stars’ prized trade deadline acquisition blocked a slapshot from the Avs captain that would otherwise have been an early power-play goal.

It’s hardly surprising the selfless veteran finished the night with a game-high five blocked shots, which were all crucial in a game in which the Stars were forced to defend plenty against a high-powered team known for its comebacks and third-period pushes.

Fellow defenceman Ryan Suter also played a big role in keeping the Avs off the board early when a MacKinnon redirection dribbled through Oettinger’s pads and was heading across the goal line before he corralled it to keep the game scoreless.

SEGUIN STRIKES... TWICE

Snakebit through the playoffs, Seguin managed to break through with the game-winner and the insurance marker into an empty net.

Playing wing on the third line, Seguin represents the type of depth that teams dream of.

His two-goal effort gives him just three goals in these playoffs, but they’ve all come in the last two games when the Stars have managed to turn the series around following their opening-game collapse.

That’s not to say Seguin hasn’t been playing well, as he had two glorious scoring chances early in overtime of Game 1, only to be robbed by Alexandar Georgiev on both.

In Game 3 he got his revenge after driving the net and managing to convert a crossing pass from Evgenii Dadonov in tight despite having Andrew Cogliano draped all over him. A goal-scorer's goal from the 32-year-old vet.  

Seguin now has scored game-winners in two straight outings.

'STANKY' STEPS UP

Despite being a 21-year-old rookie with just 24 regular season games under his belt, Stankoven has seen plenty of time on Roope Hintz’s top line, which paid off when he scored his first two NHL playoff goals Saturday.

The first opened the scoring late in the first period following a stretch in which the Stars were killing off penalty after penalty and had gone ten minutes without a shot on goal.

“You talk about deadline acquisitions – we went out and got Tanev, but we also added Logan,” said DeBoer of the Kamloops Blazers star. 

“It was like getting a really good NHL player. We didn’t know that. He was a rookie and we hoped it would translate but you never know until you jump in. You never know when the moment might be too big for a young player but he’s handled everything we’ve thrown at him and excelled.”

He’s representative of the depth that made the Stars one of the Cup favourites this spring.

“We just have these guys that are stepping up at different times,” said Seguin 

“Johnny (Wyatt Johnston) almost won a series on his own against Vegas. We have Stanky coming in and playing his part and doing an incredible job. It takes a team to be successful at this time of year and it’s the team that’s doing it right now."