The Stanley Cup Playoffs are not for the faint of heart. They will knock you down and drag you along, all while berating you to no end. The hockey postseason is built to destroy your soul, with only the fearless and strong prevailing.
In other words, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will change a person.
That’s not to say the incredibly taxing journey can’t be rewarding in the end. It absolutely can be for all those involved—but only one team will claim the ultimate prize once it’s all said and done. Whatever team is standing above the wreckage at the conclusion is truly the only one that can look back on the experience fondly.
So, that’s what we’ve all gotten ourselves into. And as I watched the Dallas Stars win Game 3 against the Winnipeg Jets yesterday afternoon by a score of 5-2, I reminded myself that there’s still a long road ahead in the pursuit of glory. Yesterday’s matinee victory was extremely satisfying, yes, but it also painted an extremely clear picture of just how difficult the remaining games in this series are going to be.
The 5-2 final score was not indicative at all of how gritty a win that was for the Stars. Had it not been for a (controversial) goal by Alex Petrovic in the third period, followed by a spectacular finish by none other than Mikko Rantanen, this game would have been a battle until the very end. But that’s not how the cookie crumbled yesterday, and the Stars are perfectly okay with that outcome.
A quick aside before fully diving into yesterday’s game: I apologize for not posting a recap of Game 2. A late-night game on Friday followed by a busy Saturday that started early meant no post was written for that contest. It was a horrid game from a Stars perspective, and honestly, not much needs to be said about it. Anyway, onto Game 3, which was much more pleasant to digest.
As William Shakespeare famously wrote in Hamlet, “To kick, or not to kick, that is the question.” Okay, maybe that’s not exactly what Shakespeare wrote 400 years ago, but it’s close enough. It’s certainly applicable to what happened yesterday in downtown Dallas. Did Alex Petrovic kick the puck into the net, and should the goal have been disallowed because of that?
Let’s focus first on that third period, which started deadlocked at 2-2. While Dallas never trailed in the game—it opened the scoring on a Roope Hintz goal in the first period, and after Winnipeg tied it, Thomas Harley snapped one in to regain the Stars’ one-goal advantage—it almost felt like a Winnipeg win was inevitable. I’ve watched enough Stars games over the years to know just how fickle a tie game can be. One second a team is holding steady, and the next, it’s down by two goals after being caught with its pants down a couple of times. That’s exactly what happened to Winnipeg yesterday.
It’s totally understandable that the Jets and their fans are irked about the Petrovic goal, which resulted from a “kick” by the Stars’ defenseman. Here’s the play in question:
According to everything I read regarding the specific rule, it felt like the Jets had some credence to argue that it shouldn’t have been a goal.
Here’s the rule:
A puck that deflects into the net off an attacking player’s skate who does not use a distinct kicking motion is a legitimate goal. A puck that is directed into the net by an attacking player’s skate shall be a legitimate goal as long as no distinct kicking motion is evident. The following should clarify deflections following a kicked puck that enters the goal:
A kicked puck that deflects off the body of any player of either team (including the goalkeeper) shall be ruled no goal.
A kicked puck that deflects off the stick of any player (excluding the goalkeeper’s stick) shall be ruled a good goal.
A goal will be allowed when an attacking player kicks the puck and the puck deflects off his own stick and then into the net.
A goal will be allowed when a puck enters the goal after deflecting off an attacking player’s skate or deflects off his skate while he is in the process of stopping.
The clause most applicable to the Petrovic goal is the second one, which suggests that if the puck deflected off Connor Hellebuyck’s stick and not anyone else’s, the goal should be disallowed. Of course, that wasn’t the case. The officials (after over seven minutes of deliberation with the Situation Room in Toronto1) ruled that while there was a distinct kicking motion, it was Hellebuyck’s actions that ultimately caused—or in their words, “propelled”—the puck into the goal.
If that doesn’t make much sense, here’s the NHL’s official explanation:
The Situation Room initiated a video review to further examine if Alexander Petrovic kicked the puck into the Winnipeg net. Video was then used to determine if the puck made contact with Petrovic’s stick prior to it entering the net. After looking at all available replays, video review supported the Referee’s call on the ice that Connor Hellebuyck propelled the puck into his own net.
Finally, here’s some thoughts from Elliotte Friedman:
Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast this morning that the league is really trying to stick with the calls made on the ice. Wherever possible, the NHL wants to avoid disallowing goals. It’s an understandable stance—taking goals off the board via video review isn’t fun for anyone, and it disrupts the flow of the game.
I’ll say this: It’d be hard to convince me that what Petrovic did with his skate was a legitimate kick. The spirit of the rule is to prevent players from intentionally using their skates to kick the puck into the net like a soccer ball. Unfortunately, the wording of the rule can be interpreted loosely enough to call what Petrovic did a “kick.” I call bull hockey on that. Yes, he angled his skate, causing the puck to go airborne, but I firmly believe he was trying to kick the puck to his stick and simply whiffed.
Oh well. It doesn’t matter anyway. The goal counted, and it gave the Stars a 3-2 lead. The Jets could protest all they wanted, but at the end of the day, it was their job to respond—and they didn’t.
Pretty much immediately after the officials upheld the Petrovic goal, the Stars struck again via Rantanen’s ninth (!) goal of the playoffs. It was his third point of the day—he assisted on the Hintz and Petrovic goals—bringing his postseason total to a league-leading 18 points (Connor McDavid, the best hockey player on the planet, is in second place with 16). The run Rantanen is on right now is unlike anything I’ve seen in Dallas sports in a long time. In recent memory, only Adolis García’s tear through the 2023 postseason compares to the heroics Rantanen is delivering.
With the score 4-2 and the American Airlines Center ready to explode, it was all over for the Jets. They put up a decent effort, but Jake Oettinger—who’s currently making a case to be the best American goalie—shut down any resistance Winnipeg mustered.
That added pressure by Winnipeg ended up biting them in the butt. They got caught behind the play after a turnover, which resulted in a two-on-one with Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov. After they couldn’t finish the play, Wyatt Johnston bore down on the net and finished the job to give the Stars an insurance goal.
There’s a lot that could be said about the Stars’ Game 3 win against the Jets. Now up 2-1 in the series, Dallas has a chance to take a stranglehold on this second-round matchup with a win tomorrow night. Given that the Jets have yet to win on the road this postseason, it’s certainly in the cards. Just remember: the Stars were up 2-1 on Colorado last round, and that series went the distance. Also recall last year’s Western Conference Final against Edmonton, where Dallas went up 2-1 and didn’t win another game as its season floundered to the finish line. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this time around.
The ball is in Dallas’ court, and it’s their job to pick it up and put it in the hoop (or the goal, since this is hockey and basketball still kind of gives all us DFW citizens a bad taste in our mouth for reasons). It won’t be easy—the Jets were the best team in the regular season for a reason—but it is doable. If the Stars can pull it off, then wow, we’ve got another special run on our hands.
And this one might be different—because this time, Mikko Rantanen is a Dallas Star.
The review took so long that the in-house entertainment team started playing “Free Bird.” By the time the officials made the announcement that the goal was good, the song had already reached the guitar solo.