A couple of favorable bounces on shots by Joel Kiviranta and Ryan Suter against the Vegas Golden Knights turned what was expected to be a showdown between the leaders of the Western Conference into a comfortable win by the Dallas Stars. The unexpected offense, however, wasn’t the story.
The story was the shutdown defense. That, combined with the excellence that is Jake Oettinger showed a team (even without its top line center) that could up its game to playoff level against a quality opponent.
Dallas Stars Lineup
Jason Robertson (21) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Jamie Benn (14) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Ty Dellandrea (10)
Mason Marchment (27) – Luke Glendening (11) - Denis Gurianov (34)
Fredrik Olofsson (42) – Radek Faksa (12) - Joel Kiviranta (25)
Miro Heiskanen (4) – Colin Miller (6)
Esa Lindell (23) – Jani Hakanpää (2)
Ryan Suter (20) – Nils Lundkvist (5)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
With the success of Tyler Seguin centering the top line, the amateur cognoscenti have started to speculate about what to do with Roope Hintz when he makes it back to the lineup.