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The Dallas Stars 2024 Playoffs Thread


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The stretch down the season helped his numbers but he’s 17th in GAA and not in Top 20 in save %. During our mid season slump he was awful and we’d win by out scoring teams.   He gets a lot of leash because he’s young and talented but he’s not that great and I’m concerned. 

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I was shocked you guys didn't go after better goaltending at some point during the season. No way you're going to win a Cup with Wedgewood stepping in for a slumping Otter.
 

Wedgewood is a terrible backup on a team as good as the Stars. Amazed we didn’t upgrade at that spot last summer.
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You guys act like there are Vezina trophy winners just sitting around waiting to be picked up LOL.  Otter is easily a top 10 goalie when he's on his game.  This team clearly needed defensive help in front of him and they got that at the deadline.   I personally have absolutely zero issues with the way the team was constructed this year given contract/cap limitations.  And now we have a "slumping" Otter after one poor game where he had shit help in front of him.  They had like 3.6 expected goals and he gave up 4 so now he sucks forgetting he was absolutely a key (if not the key factor) in winning the west the last month.  If any part of this team is slumping it's our top line.  Helleybuck has given up 11 in 2 games so guess he sucks now as well.

I'm not saying he doesn't need to play better to win this series, he absolutely does, but so do our top guys and defense.  Harley has been great this year but had a really poor game Monday as well. 

Edited by Skipper
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1 hour ago, C-Man said:


Wedgewood is a terrible backup on a team as good as the Stars. Amazed we didn’t upgrade at that spot last summer.

And yet Otter had to have a tremendous stretch of play just to have slightly better numbers than Wedgewood. I really don’t see a lot of difference between the two except Otter looks more talented. 

59 minutes ago, Skipper said:

You guys act like there are Vezina trophy winners just sitting around waiting to be picked up LOL.  Otter is easily a top 10 goalie when he's on his game.  This team clearly needed defensive help in front of him and they got that at the deadline.   I personally have absolutely zero issues with the way the team was constructed this year given contract/cap limitations.  And now we have a "slumping" Otter after one poor game where he had shit help in front of him.  They had like 3.6 expected goals and he gave up 4 so now he sucks forgetting he was absolutely a key (if not the key factor) in winning the west the last month.  If any part of this team is slumping it's our top line.  Helleybuck has given up 11 in 2 games so guess he sucks now as well.

I'm not saying he doesn't need to play better to win this series, he absolutely does, but so do our top guys and defense.  Harley has been great this year but had a really poor game Monday as well. 

And when he’s not on his game, like Monday night, he’s one of the worst goalies in the league. I just provided you a season’s worth of numbers that suggest he’s a borderline Top 20 guy. The defense in front of him is not bad, but is better with Tanev and clearly a healthy Miro and that skewed Otter’s numbers negatively. 

Bottom line, they need much more out of him, and now. We are right to be concerned. Hope Otter makes me eat crow. 

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1 minute ago, Rex Kramer said:

The defense in front of him is not bad, but is better with Tanev and clearly a healthy Miro and that skewed Otter’s numbers negatively. 

Bottom line, they need much more out of him, and now. We are right to be concerned. Hope Otter makes me eat crow. 

The defense was a weak link pre trade-deadline so that is a big part of it.  Tanev has helped significantly but let's not pretend we are 'elite' there.  After the NJ debacle in March, Otter gave up 2 or less goals in 10/11 games to end the season (not counting the empty netter against the Jets).  The Jets game was the only loss (we won at Col 7-4).   That level of play got us the 1 seed.  We almost certainly would have finished 3rd in the division with average goalie play down the stretch.   So I agree with your bottom line but we frankly need better play out of anyone to win this series and every series hereafter.   I guess I have equal concerns about top line play, defense and goalie right now.

It's kind of bullshit we can't ease into the playoffs against the Kings which i think would have gone 5 at worst. Our side of the bracket, in my view, has 4 of the top 5 teams in the West, but it is what it is.   I think very likely this suddenly healthy Vegas team makes it out of the other side of the bracket had Chicago not choked last Thursday so from that perspective, I think better to get them now.   But need to pick our play up significantly starting tonight or this run will be over quickly.

 

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I went back and looked at the 4 goals Otter let in:

1. First goal was on the pp on a tip that no goalie would have stopped

2. Second goal was terrible coverage from the defense and was a bang-bang play that again, was not otter's fault

3. Again on the pp, point shot deflected by VGK and cleaned up by them, instead of our D. Again not anything otter could do

4. Point shot again that Otter never saw.

I'm not about to excuse Otter's play completely, but the team in front of him was the letdown this game, not him. At least two of the shots he never saw and the other two were just atrocious defensive breakdowns. I think otter will be fine if the team plays better in front of him

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2 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I went back and looked at the 4 goals Otter let in:

1. First goal was on the pp on a tip that no goalie would have stopped

2. Second goal was terrible coverage from the defense and was a bang-bang play that again, was not otter's fault

3. Again on the pp, point shot deflected by VGK and cleaned up by them, instead of our D. Again not anything otter could do

4. Point shot again that Otter never saw.

I'm not about to excuse Otter's play completely, but the team in front of him was the letdown this game, not him. At least two of the shots he never saw and the other two were just atrocious defensive breakdowns. I think otter will be fine if the team plays better in front of him

This is where I am.  

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5 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I went back and looked at the 4 goals Otter let in:

1. First goal was on the pp on a tip that no goalie would have stopped

2. Second goal was terrible coverage from the defense and was a bang-bang play that again, was not otter's fault

3. Again on the pp, point shot deflected by VGK and cleaned up by them, instead of our D. Again not anything otter could do

4. Point shot again that Otter never saw.

I'm not about to excuse Otter's play completely, but the team in front of him was the letdown this game, not him. At least two of the shots he never saw and the other two were just atrocious defensive breakdowns. I think otter will be fine if the team plays better in front of him

I thought he should have stopped the 2nd shot from the arena although was a clear defensive fuck up that put him in that situation.  Never saw a replay so maybe not as bad as I thought live.  I never saw a replay of the 4th either but heard that point made by someone either post-game or yesterday on the ticket.  Otter also had some good saves after they let in 4 that kept us in the game.  I'm feeling a bounce back performance across the board for this team tonight.   Hopefully from the refs as well.

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2 hours ago, Skipper said:

I thought he should have stopped the 2nd shot from the arena although was a clear defensive fuck up that put him in that situation.  Never saw a replay so maybe not as bad as I thought live.  I never saw a replay of the 4th either but heard that point made by someone either post-game or yesterday on the ticket.  Otter also had some good saves after they let in 4 that kept us in the game.  I'm feeling a bounce back performance across the board for this team tonight.   Hopefully from the refs as well.

All of their goals were high skill plays that would have eluded any other goalie. I can maybe make an argument for the second goal, but it was so bang-bang I don't know how he could have reacted better. Bottom line, this loss was not otter's fault.

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Bigger issue for the Stars, imo, is how to generate offense when not on the rush against Vegas. Dallas’ net is fine. It’s just tough to score on Vegas when they are blocking shots and closing on the man with the puck so quickly. This is when you need forwards to win puck battles to begin cycling the puck, and try to move Vegas’ defense into poor positions. 

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54 minutes ago, Vertuzzi said:

Bigger issue for the Stars, imo, is how to generate offense when not on the rush against Vegas. Dallas’ net is fine. It’s just tough to score on Vegas when they are blocking shots and closing on the man with the puck so quickly. This is when you need forwards to win puck battles to begin cycling the puck, and try to move Vegas’ defense into poor positions. 

we scored 4 times, 3 that counted. that's despite taking half the game off. minimize turnovers and be sound defensively, like we have all season, and we'll be fine offensively. what we can't do again is let vegas get a lead and turtle, because that is how they close out games. 

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1 hour ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

we scored 4 times, 3 that counted. that's despite taking half the game off. minimize turnovers and be sound defensively, like we have all season, and we'll be fine offensively. what we can't do again is let vegas get a lead and turtle, because that is how they close out games. 

2/3 of the goals were off the rush. Third goal was just a throw on net and see what happens goal (which isn’t a bad play considering Thompson looks shaky). Like I said in my previous post, Dallas’ issue was not being able to set up any offense in the Vegas zone. Dallas plays great when they cycle the puck but they weren’t able to do that in game 1. Vegas totally shut down their side of the ice by blocking shots and quickly exiting the zone. I will also say, while Jason Robertson is a nice player, that kid needs to toughen the fuck up and go win a few puck battles. Would love to see more greasy play out of him. 

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2/3 of the goals were off the rush. Third goal was just a throw on net and see what happens goal (which isn’t a bad play considering Thompson looks shaky). Like I said in my previous post, Dallas’ issue was not being able to set up any offense in the Vegas zone. Dallas plays great when they cycle the puck but they weren’t able to do that in game 1. Vegas totally shut down their side of the ice by blocking shots and quickly exiting the zone. I will also say, while Jason Robertson is a nice player, that kid needs to toughen the fuck up and go win a few puck battles. Would love to see more greasy play out of him. 

That’s been my quibble with him. Great regular season player but can’t be counted on in the playoffs (yet!) when you’ve got bite and scratch for goals when the rink shrinks.
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