NFL
By: Jesse Rosales
Weird times for playoff series in both the NHL and NBA this year. We just saw a sweep in LA by the Denver Nuggets, the Miami Heat have an opportunity to sweep the Boston Celtics, and the Florida Panthers have an opportunity to sweep the Carolina Hurricanes. The Dallas Stars have to be on high alert as they are currently down 0-2 in their own series with the Vegas Golden Knights. With a loss tonight, they too could be facing a series sweep elimination.
The Vegas Golden Knights are the number 1 seed in the West so it’s no big surprise that they are here, but the Dallas Stars have also been a front-running team all year. They have a top-tier goaltender in Jake Oettinger, young star offensive weapons in the likes of Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Miro Heiskanen, and veteran leadership with guys like Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin. This team has all the pieces to win the Cup, yet they find themselves down 0-2 in this series. Can they push through and get back into this series?
Dallas Stars’ “Star” Players Have Been Waking Up
Let’s be honest, Jason Robertson had a horrible second-round series. Not that he didn’t play with a lot of effort and contributed to the team’s success in ways that didn’t show up on the score sheet, but he definitely was not the offensive powerhouse that this team needs him to be. Fortunately, Joe Pavelski had a series for the ages and led the way for the team to beat the Seattle Kraken in 7 games. Against the Golden Knights, Robertson has played much better with 2 goals, 3 points, and a +2 plus/minus rating through 2 games.
He isn’t the only one doing it though. Roope Hintz has had a huge playoff run so far. Against the Golden Knights he has 3 points as well, and a league leading 22 points overall in the playoffs so far. Miro Heiskanen scored his first goal of the playoffs and Pavelski added another goal in game #1 to give him 8 total goals during the postseason. The Dallas Stars‘ offensive is playing well enough to win.
Dallas Stars’ Goaltending
At the beginning of the series, if I had the choice to pick between Adin Hill and Jake Oettinger, I would pick Oettinger 10/10 times without thinking about it. He has played well in the playoffs so far, but I truly believe at this stage of the season, your goalie needs to win you at least 1 game per series. We see it happening in the East as Sergei Bobrovsky has basically won his team’s entire series, not just games. In my mind to win 4 games in a series, you need your goalie to win one, your role players to win 1, and your star players to win the other 2.
Oettinger hasn’t done that yet obviously in this series, and his numbers are simply not good enough. In game #1 he had a save percentage of .892 stopping 33 of 37 shots. In game #2 the defense played better and he only saw 24 shots, but let in 3 for a save percentage of .875. It’s a combination of Oettinger and the Dallas Stars’ defensive core, but if they can’t get that number over .900 they are going to lose this series. On the flip side, Adin Hill has had over .917 save percentages in both of their victories.
Can the Dallas Stars Come Back and Win the Series?
Absolutely. The two losses were both in OT, which on some levels makes it painful knowing that you were that close to stealing both games in Vegas and are coming back to Dallas empty-handed. It could also be looked at as a confidence builder in knowing that this series could easily be 2-0 for Dallas coming home. They have to deal with the reality of the situation though. The fact is they are down 0-2 and anything less than them winning their next two games at home could spell the end of their season in short order.
I think the Dallas Stars fight back and this series goes to game 7. It’s the best thing in sports and specifically in hockey. Both of these teams deserve to be here and whichever team comes out of the West, will certainly deserve their spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports… it will become very clear tonight if the Dallas Stars are ready.
