Last Night in Texas Hockey: The Unsung Hero

Look, I forgot how stressful playoff hockey was. Game one of Colorado vs. Dallas was not fun for a multitude of reasons. The Stars added a notch to their winless streak, and they primarily played better than Colorado for a majority of the game. The Stars have also lost eight consecutive game ones in the playoffs. Not great! But I felt great about game two for some reason.

Last night in Texas Hockey: the unsung hero struck in overtime.

First Period Thoughts

The energy in the crowd was exceptional game one and they brought it back for game two. I thought there would be a quick score in this game, but that wasn’t the case.

Colin Blackwell got his first playoff start of the run in game two. I’ve been a big proponent of playing him as often as you can even though he is undersized on an entirely undersized fourth line. Blackwell gives the team juice night in and night out, and he did that Monday night just like he’s done dozens of times this season.

Blackwell is a pest to the opposing team, and almost always gets in their heads every game. On what I believe was his first or second shift, he played beyond the whistle and made sure to give a few shoves to the Avalanche player that was clearly bothered by whatever Blackwell was doing. It won’t ever show up on the stat sheet, but give me ALL the Colin Blackwell playing time. Love that guy.

Unfortunately, Colorado got a power play off of a Mason Marchment tripping call and Nathan Mackinnon capitalized quite quickly with around 11 minutes left in the first period. Stars were down 1-0 in the first and I needed something to cheer me up.

Enter Tyler Seguin.

The power play began with just over two minutes left in the period, and I’ve never needed something more in my life to happen than a Stars goal. The first unit got one good look (they hit the post from what my ears could tell me in the rafters of the press box), but that was it.

As the power play began to dwindle down, Esa Lindell got on the ice for a power play. Yep, Esa Lindell on the power play, baby. Just before the puck made its way around to Seguin, the Stars created a ton of pressure and I was sure something good was going to happen.

Seguin, from his patented right circle sniped one home and got the game back to even before heading to first intermission.

Overall, the first period was not nearly as good as game one’s first period. The Avalanche had open shots a ton, and were creating their normal amount of pressure. Luckily, Jake Oettinger plays for the Dallas Stars.

Outside of the power play goal from Mackinnon, Oettinger made several great saves and stifled their offense when the Stars defense couldn’t. Otter has been a playoff riser in his short career, even though he’s been one of the top five goalies in the NHL for the last couple of seasons. If it weren’t for Otter, this game would have been out of hand quite quickly.

Second Period Thoughts

Last night in Texas Hockey I felt comfortable going into the second period. The Stars weren’t playing as good as the Avalanche and they were tied, but not for long.

Your Norris Trophy winner in 2026 will be Thomas Harley and there’s a reason for it.

The fourth line was grinding for the puck the whole possession and I had a strong feeling that there was a goal coming just three and a half minutes into the second period.

Sam Steel finally got out of the scrum and found an open Harley. Harls fumbled a bit but regained his footing and the puck and fired one right side past Mackenzie Blackwood. For the first time in four periods I felt like the Stars were starting to get a feel of how to score on Blackwood since he’s been exceptional to start the playoffs.

The one goal lead lasted exactly 62 seconds as the Stars had their normal trouble of getting the puck out of the defensive zone. Colorado was left with a free shot at Otter and they made it count. I miss Miro Heiskanen so damn much.

The rest of the period was tilting towards Dallas. Penalty after penalty was called, and the Stars couldn’t get a power play goal. They had a five on three advantage for seven seconds, and the next power play was another dud.

Right after time expired on the power play, Colorado pulled a Mush from the Winnipeg game earlier this season. It was honestly an incredible goal so credit to him, but the Stars were down once again in this game. 3-2 headed to the third period and I forgot how stressful playoff hockey was.

Third Period Thoughts

Boy, oh, boy. This series may kill me. The third period was a bunch of nothing for about eight minutes for the Stars. No exceptional chances, and no juice from the fans in the arena. Lian Bichsel got a good lick on Mackinnon after the puck was already frozen and that got the crowd going a bit.

Soon after that the Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn, and Evgenii Dadanov line was on the ice and Jamie may have killed a man with a hit on the boards. Still unsure of the status of that Colorado young man, but that is exactly what you want to see from Jamie.

The puck was dug out and Wyatt got it in just enough free space to fling the puck at the net. Good things happen when you create chaos in front of the net and Daddy punched it passed Blackwood to knot the game at three.

It was gross. It was dirty. And it was exactly what the Stars needed with just under ten minutes left in the third period.

Seguin nearly had the game tying goal a shift or two before that from nearly and identical spot as his goal. The Stars were chaos creators in the third period, playing on their toes instead of their heels. It was a much needed change of pace for this game but more importantly the series.

The Avs got a power play from a tripping call on Mikko Rantanen with under two minutes to go in the third period and I’ve never clenched my jaw harder than I did to end that period. Otter was outstanding to end that period and the penalty kill did just enough to keep the score level headed to overtime. Playoff overtime hockey is quite possibly the best and worst thing to experience as a hockey fan, and Monday night I got just that.

Overtime Thoughts

Any time playoff hockey goes to overtime, there is one tweet, and one tweet only that I think of from 11 years ago.

There is simply no other way to describe it. You play five on five hockey (barring penalties) the whole time until someone scores a goal. The games, theoretically, could go on forever with no end in sight. Luckily that was not the case for the Stars Monday night.

Overtime is like a 14 hour brain surgery, but it’s just your central nervous system telling you you’re incredibly nervous and anxious. Last night was one of the best overtime periods I’ve ever witnessed on TV or in person. The puck was in both ends, with several chances for both the Stars and Avalanche to end it.

Oettinger stood on his head for nearly 17 minutes until the fourth line got out there to wreak havoc on the Avalanche.

The puck was in and out of the Stars defensive zone until one bounce went their way and Colin Blackwell got some free ice to get control in the offensive zone. He skated from his left over to the right side and fired a shot where Sam Steel was tied up with a defender in front of the net.

Blackwood was bumped a bit by that and wasn’t truly able to see anything. The puck stood still as two Avalanche players couldn’t get to the puck faster than…yep, Colin Blackwell.

Blacky roofed the puck right side and with arguably the cleanest shot on goal for either team sent American Airlines Center into a frenzy. Blackwell has been instrumental for the Stars this season, and last night was a culmination of everything he’s offered his team all season long.

The fourth line was on the ice for the Thomas Harley goal earlier in the second period and the game winner in overtime. Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said that some times in these playoff matchups you spend so much time scouting the superstars and big names on the other team that you don’t spend too much time on the fourth line grinders like Colin Blackwell. That’s how you win playoff games, with all four lines getting after it.

The series is now tied 1-1 as they move the series over to Colorado, and I can finally just sit on my couch and stress out about these games for a few days instead of wearing a suit and sitting in the rafters. Playoff hockey, man, there’s nothing like it.

Last night in Texas Hockey: the unsung hero struck in overtime.