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Greg Wyshynski, ESPNJun 1, 2024, 01:03 AM ET
CloseGreg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
DALLAS — Like the majority of the Dallas Stars, Matt Duchene is seeking his first Stanley Cup championship. But after their Game 5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night, he’s searching for reasons the conference’s top seed is one loss away from elimination.
“We haven’t had our best for other than probably Game 3,” he said after the Oilers’ 3-1 win gave them a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals. “We’ve been a bit disjointed offensively this whole series.”
The Stars averaged 3.59 goals per game in the regular season. They’ve scored two goals or less in their three losses in the series.
Forward Tyler Seguin said the Stars aren’t “connected” as a five-man unit on the ice. Duchene said they didn’t retrieve enough pucks in the offensive zone — and when they did, Dallas was far too tentative in setting up for scoring chances against Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner (19 saves).
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“Sometimes when you want something so bad, you want to try and be too perfect. We need to trust our game,” Duchene said.
The Oilers, in their second straight victory, controlled play for the majority of the game. They limited the Stars to four shots on goal in the first period, and Dallas went 9:43 without a shot on goal in the second.
Dallas coach Peter DeBoer was asked about what one reported called a “lifeless” second period, and he responded by calling the description an attack on his team’s character.
“You can sit here and question our character if you want. You know what? I’m not going to do it. You go ahead and write whatever the f— you want,” DeBoer said.
The coach said Edmonton played “a perfect road game” in shutting down his team.
“If you’re going to draw a road game, that’s pretty much what you want to do, right?” DeBoer said. “They want to come out, get two power-play goals early in the game, get the lead and then defend well all night. So it’s tough to crack…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40254080/top-seeded-dallas-stars-facing-elimination-peter-deboer-heated-question
Author : Greg Wyshynski
Publish date : 2024-06-01 06:38:32
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