Mavrik Bourque led the Stars with a four-point night. His performance began with an individual effort early in the second period, stealing a pass and scoring to jump start the first comeback. He added a second goal five minutes later and an assist four minutes after that.
Experimentation in the Lineup
The game was played within certain constraints. Lian Bichsel and Adam Erne were sitting out, so three of the Stars’ depth defensemen were starting in Heiskanen’s absence. Michael Bunting and Radek Faksa were also put back into the lineup. That naturally led to experimentation.
Arttu Hyry was playing wing rather than his usual centre. Michael Bunting was up on the Johnston/Rantanen line, and Tyler Myers was playing on a pairing with Esa Lindell. Early on, those combinations caused problems.
According to Gulutzan, a couple of bad line changes cost them goals. The Stars were pretty disconnected at times, but considering how different this lineup was from what they’ve been rolling, some chaos was understandable, especially early on.
Bourque’s Impact
In the midst of the chaos, the Stars’ lead conductor was Mavrik Bourque. His four-point night began with an individual effort early in the second period, stealing a risky pass and scoring all by himself to jump start the first comeback. He would add a second goal five minutes later by going fearlessly to the net to find a rebound, putting Toronto on their heels.
Bourque added an assist four minutes after that, kicking off a sequence that led to Robertson’s goal. Of all the combinations in the lineup, these three might have had the most recent experience with one another, and it showed. Duchene wound up with three assists, while Robertson had two points of his own.
After the Stars went down early in the third period, it looked like the game would end in defeat.
Reflections on the Win
“I think it’s a game against a team that has some skill, but they’re playing a little bit loose, and they had a really good first,” Matt Duchene said. “We weren’t great, but they came out firing. Then we were able to get a couple quick ones. I mean, we stuck with it. I think that’s the good part.”
Nobody is going to hang a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner after allowing five goals, but as Duchene went on to say, you never know what sort of game you might have to win in the playoffs. The Stars were able to persist and come away with the win in a wild one.
When the result of a game doesn’t actually matter, this is probably the best approach a coach can take. Rest the players you can, and try out some looks that you might end up needing down the road. Playoff runs are (hopefully) long, and you never know when you’ll need to ask a player to do something different. If you can gain even a passing familiarity before crunch time necessitates such a move, this was the game in which to do it.