The Dallas Stars are in the middle of a four-game West Coast swing that continues on Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers – the only game in the NHL tonight due to a wild and wacky schedule that seems to hit the NBA and NHL around Thanksgiving.
Last week, the Stars went 1-1-1, including a regulation 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders at home, a 4-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks, and a 3-2 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames.
Related: Cooley’s Brilliance Propels Flames to 3-2 Shootout Victory Over Stars
Over the three games, Mikko Rantanen was suspended, Jason Robertson continued his hot streak, and the Stars’ special teams were still weird. With all of the week-by-week ups and downs, the team continues to win games and sit in second place in the Central Division with a 13-5-4 record and 30 points.
Alright, enough setup. Here’s a look.
Rantanen Receives Automatic Suspension For Hit On Coronato
This is old news by now, but we have to mention it. The NHL suspended Rantanen for his hit from behind on Flames forward Matt Coronato on Saturday night. Rantanen was ejected from the game and assessed a five-minute major for boarding, fighting, and a 10-minute misconduct. This came four days after he was ejected for a similar play on Alexander Romanov against the Islanders. While everyone knew a suspension was likely coming, the reasoning behind it was a bit of a surprise.
On Monday, The Hockey Writers Staff put out a great piece breaking down both infractions, the suspension, and a season-long trend with Rantanen.
First, the suspension. Under Rule 23.6, when a player is ejected twice within 41 games and within the same season, he will receive an automatic one-game suspension. It could be argued that this rule bailed Rantanen out. I’m not saying he deserved more games, but that automatic game seemed to take further discipline off the table. Also, that this was Rantanen’s first suspension didn’t hurt his case.
Rantanen received 22 penalty minutes on Saturday, which catapulted him into first in the NHL with 57 total minutes. He has never been that kind of player. Sure, he’s a big man and has always played with a bit of an edge, but this is different.
Stars fans know that playing with a physical presence is a new trend after not having one under the previous coaching regime. With 28 points in 22 games, this new side hasn’t hurt Rantanen’s production, but he needs to take his foot off the gas and play more responsibly. (For more insight, please check out the previously mentioned article.)
Roberston Continues Hot Streak
If you’re a frequent reader of mine (thank you, by the way), then you’ve read this before. That’s because Robertson’s streak seems to be never-ending. In the first 11 games of the season, he had three goals and 14 points. The 14 points were good, but the three goals? Not so much.
He has now scored in six straight games, including two or more goals in three of them. In that stretch, Robertson has 10 goals and 14 points, for 13 goals and 28 points on the season. I’ll take a deeper dive into his incredible start to the season in another post. But there is one thing that I found really interesting from Saturday night.
At 6:44 of the third period, Robertson scored to cut the Flames’ lead to 2-1. When his teammates surrounded him for the post-goal huddle, he had an emotional release that we don’t see too often, and we saw him say, “Let’s go.”
He seems like one of the more unenthusiastic goal scorers in the NHL. Frequently, he scores a goal like we all drink water: with zero emotion or enthusiasm. I made a pass in beer league, and I shouted with more emotion, while simultaneously looking for scouts in the stands. On Saturday, while it was short-lived, it was different, and it was awesome. Robertson is a leader in the dressing room, no doubt, but that brief moment on Saturday showed him bringing that leadership to the ice.
Stars’ Power Play Is Good Until It’s Not
The Stars’ special teams have been bizarre all season, and that continued last week. In three games, the Stars went 0-for-9 on the power play and 9-for-11 on the penalty kill, which is the exact opposite of how their special teams have unfolded so far this season.
Despite a bad week with the man advantage, the Stars rank second in the NHL, with a 29.3% success rate. Yet, there’s no denying that their power play let them down on Saturday.
With the game tied 2-2 late in the third period, the Stars had a 5-on-3 power play from 17:34 to 19:34, and a normal 5-on-4 power play that briefly bled into overtime. The Stars were down 2-0 early in the period, stormed back, and took all of the momentum away from a Flames team that deserved two points up to that point.
Now, Rantanen is a big part of their power play success, and he was ejected in the second period. Ok, fair enough. Still, with talents like Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin, and Miro Heiskanen, the Stars should be able to take advantage of a key moment like that.
How Much Does Keeping Up With the Avalanche Matter?
I bring up the two straight Western Conference Final losses to the Edmonton Oilers a lot, and for obvious reasons. In total, the Stars have lost three straight Conference Finals, making that the hump they can’t get over.
However, it’s easy to forget that the Colorado Avalanche have been eliminated by the Stars in back-to-back postseasons, and if the Oilers are the hump the Stars can’t get over, the Stars are the hump the Avalanche can’t get over.
As a Stars fan, there’s a lot to be excited about. The team has the second-most points in the NHL with 30 (tied with the Carolina Hurricanes), they’re in second place in the Central, and have done all of this with injuries to some of their best and most important players. Yet, when we look at the standings, there are the Avalanche, sitting atop the division, the conference, and the league, with 37 points and only one regulation loss. That’s right, one. They are 16-1-5 in 22 games, and show no sign of slowing down.
Does this matter to the Stars? I’m not in the dressing room, so I can’t say. But it shouldn’t matter one bit. In the last three seasons, the Stars have won the division, and they have finished in second place twice. In 2023-24, the year they won the division, they were just one point away from being the best team in the NHL.
Now, what is the common denominator between these three seasons? That’s right. They lost in the Western Conference Final. The Florida Panthers were an eight-seed team the year they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. They won their division the season they won their first Cup, but ranked third in the division last season. What is the common denominator between these three seasons? That’s right. They made it to the Stanley Cup Final and won twice.
My point is that the Stars have been a dominant Cup contender for three seasons now, and they are at the point in their evolution where the only thing that matters is the playoffs and how they are playing once the playoffs start. Who cares about the Avs? Let them do whatever they’re going to do. They have two of the best players in the world, sure, but they also have their own postseason demons to slay.
While the Avalanche’s success might overshadow the Stars’ success for the rest of the league, it shouldn’t overshadow it for you. The Stars are having a great season, and they will be just fine.
Stars & Oilers Take Center Stage on Tuesday
The Stars continue their West Coast road trip on Tuesday night when they face the Oilers. Any time these teams play each other, there’s going to be talk about a Western Conference Final rematch (literally heard it on the radio as I was typing this), and that’s all well and good. But right now, these teams are in two different places, and their postseason histories don’t really matter.
The Oilers are 10-9-5 and sit two points back of the Utah Mammoth for the last playoff spot. In the last 10 games, they are 4-4-2, compared to Dallas’ 7-2-1 record. It’s been a rough start to the season for the Oilers. The Hockey Writers have great writers covering the Oilers who have been talking about this for months (check them out). All I’ll say is that the Oilers need to focus on two points, not on a rematch, and I assume they will do just that.
For the Stars, while they have had a great start, there are still things that need to be cleaned up, including the penalty kill, recent power play struggles, and allowing the first goal, to name a few. They need to come out and pounce on a team that is still trying to find itself. Oh, and they will have to do this without Rantanen.
Related: Oilers’ Stuart Skinner: There Is No More Defending Him
Regardless of how this game looks from each team’s perspective, we are in for one heck of a night. With Thanksgiving on Thursday, the NHL has broken away from its typical heavy schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesday and Friday, there will be 30 games combined, which leaves Tuesday with one contest. The Stars and Oilers will steal the show on Tuesday, and we can expect a great, great game.
