2 Takeaways From Stars’ 6-1 Game 3 Loss

After winning Game 1, the Dallas Stars have gone down 2-1 in the Western Conference Final to the Edmonton Oilers, and have been outscored 9-1 in the last two games, including a 6-1 loss in Game 3 on Sunday afternoon.

It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what’s gone wrong for the Stars. There’s been a little bit of luck on the Edmonton side, but overall, the Oilers have been faster, stronger, and more physical, and it’s shown up on the scoreboard in a big way.

In these playoffs, there has been talk about how fragile the Winnipeg Jets were on the road. Well, the Stars haven’t been much better. After the Oilers got away with a blatant penalty in the first period, they immediately scored two goals, and the Stars never recovered.

Let’s dig a little deeper with two takeaways from the afternoon that was in Alberta.

No-Call in First Period Sinks Stars

In the first two games, the third period of Game 1 was really the only one in which the Stars were the better team, and that was only because they were on the power play for most of it. They may not have been the better team in the opening 20 minutes on Sunday, but it was as even a period as we’ve seen in this series so far. That is, for the first 13 minutes or so.

Evan Bouchard opened the scoring for the Oilers at 14:02. Moments before that, Oilers’ defenseman Brett Kulak was not called for delay of game after clearing the puck over the glass. It was ruled a deflected puck, which, after the replay, it clearly was not. In real time, with bodies blocking the view, it’s understandable that the refs missed it, at least to a point. But they missed it. That is not a debate or an opinion. They missed it, and the Oilers scored almost immediately after. Connor McDavid then scored 26 seconds after that, and the Stars couldn’t recover.

There are penalties in hockey, and in any sport, that can be subjective or in the eye of the beholder. Delay of game in the form of clearing the puck without it being deflected is not one of them. It is black or white, and the refs straight up blew it. Everyone is going to say that’s not why they lost the game. No one wants to give the refs credit for dictating the outcome, including the refs. However, in this case, that 60-second stretch is what put them in a hole that they could not dig out of, and the refs are, in part, responsible for that. This is not a Stars cheerleader piece; that’s just the truth.