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20/20: Stars take 3-1 lead with 3-1 win in Game 4

1 day ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

The Dallas Stars took a 3-1 series lead, fittingly, with a 3-1 in Game 4 on Tuesday. The game marked the return of Miro Heiskanen. Here is the 20/20. 1. Long before the Stars traded for Mikko Rantanen, Stars general manager Jim Nill told me he was extremely happy with what Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci bought to the Stars. In fact, Nill went as far to say that if the Stars didn’t make another move he’d be comfortable with how the Stars looked going into the postseason.
On fandom, the Mavericks lottery win, Jamie Benn, and what actually connects us to a team

1 day ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

This isn’t technically a hockey piece, but I’m sure it’ll connect somehow. The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Draft lottery last night, turning a 1.8 percent chance in the lottery into the No. 1 pick and the opportunity to draft Duke’s Cooper Flagg. For a franchise that botched so much with the Luka Dončić trade — a transaction where the Wikipedia article has more than 140 footnotes — and the ensuing public relations, it’s a second chance to win back some fans that they really didn’t deserve.
20/20: Mikko Rantanen, again, and the Stars are up 2-1 in the series

3 days ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

I’ve been a big believer that playoff momentum means nothing from game-to-game. And Game 3 of this series was a perfect example of that. The Dallas Stars were slower and dominated in a 4-0 Game 2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, then returned home on Sunday for Game 3 and put together a pretty impressive 5-2 victory to take a 2-1 series lead. Momentum means nothing, but maybe the 20/20 means something? I guess we’ll find out now. 1.
20/20: Jets and Hellebuyck even series

5 days ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

The Winnipeg Jets defeated the Dallas Stars 4-0 in Game 2 on Friday. The series is now tied 1-1. Here is the 20/20. 1. I was attending a coaching conference two summers ago, and one of the coaches at the conference described hockey as a game of 1,000 races. It’s something that’s really impacted about how I think about the game.
20/20: Mikko Rantanen does it again as Stars finally win a Game 1

1 week ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

Sorry for the slight delay on the deliver of this, I had a beer league game that coincided with part of Game 1 between the Stars and Jets — we unfortunately tied 4-4 — so I caught the game on my own personal tape delay after getting home. I had watched first period before my game, drove home and then watched the second period and third period by fast forwarding through all commercials and the intermissions — it’s actually one of the best ways to watch hockey.
On what to look for in the goaltending battle between Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger

1 week ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

In addition to the fact it features the Dallas Stars — one of the two teams we cover most here1 — the Stars vs. Jets series is one of the most intriguing for me as a goaltending nerd. I love the subplot battle between Jake Oettinger and Connor Hellebuyck, and everything it represents, which I wrote extensively about this morning over at D Magazine. Oettinger’s primary focus is beating Winnipeg and helping Dallas advance to a third consecutive conference finals.
20/20: Mikko Rantanen sleighs the dragon

1 week ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

Game 7, nothing better right? The Dallas Stars closed out the most entertaining game of the first round with a 4-2 victory in Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche. Mikko Rantanen was the hero. Here is the 20/20. 1. Mikko Rantanen sleighed the dragon. After all the talk and the chatter about how he was a Nathan MacKinnon merchant — the secondary piece, not the superstar — he sent his old team home with a memorable third period.
What we learned from Steve Yzerman's press conference on Tuesday

2 weeks ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman entered his press conference on the defensive Tuesday, opening the availability alongside head coach Todd McClellan with a written statement that lasted around five minutes. He committed to building through drafting and developing, he expressed optimism for younger players, he said Detroit needed more from it’s top players, and defended, again, how there wasn’t anything more he could have done at the NHL trade deadline.
On Wyatt Johnston's goal, the RVH, and an introduction to "The Panda"

2 weeks ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

A lot happened in Game 5 between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. The Stars won 6-2, taking a 3-2 series lead, and the series now shifts back to Denver for Game 6 in a series that’s been one of the most entertaining of the playoffs. But I want to focus on what happened in the first nine seconds of the game, because when I went back to watch the game this morning, I spent close to 15 minutes re-watching the opening goal by Wyatt Johnston.
How an 11-7 plan could look for the Stars when Miro Heiskanen does make his series debut

2 weeks ago | shapshotshockey.com | Sean Shapiro

Miro Heiskanen isn’t going to play Game 5 tonight for the Dallas Stars. He’s closer according to Stars head coach Pete DeBoer, Heiskanen has also been labeled as “day-to-day” for close to a week now. And with the series tied at 2-2, Heiskanen’s earliest return after injuring his knee on Jan. 28 and having knee surgery on Feb. 4 would be Game 6 on Thursday in Denver. Before we get into some deeper thoughts on this, we have to go through some of the facts and realities.