An electric atmosphere at the American Airlines Center greeted the Dallas Stars when they returned home after two losses in Anaheim, and the Green Machine did not disappoint the sellout crowds.
On Monday night, the Stars were grossly outshot by Anaheim, especially over the first half of the game, but Kari Lehtonen was more than up to the task, stopping everything that came his way with any part of his body necessary (including his head on at least two occasions). Dallas fed off the Big Finn's defensive heroics and began to use their speed more and more as the game went along, most notably at the end of the first when Jamie Benn came out of the penalty box and slammed home a rebound with under a minute left in the period.
Now, I noted to myself at the first intermission that the Stars simply looked weaker (the score line notwithstanding) than they had in Game 2 in Anaheim. My way of thinking was that the team was being more conservative with the puck in an effort to eliminate some of the turnovers that had been their undoing in Anaheim. The thought hung with me through the first few minutes of the second, but one of my comrades noted that, while Dallas was being outshot, the amount of time they had spent on the puck and the amount of time that they were spending in the Anaheim zone was relatively consistent. The men in green simply weren't getting as many shots off as their opponent was.
My friend's suspicions were confirmed, as the Stars appeared to be going back to their roots (i.e. speed and lots of it), even though the shot deficit was not being overcome. They generated numerous odd-man rushes and quality chances to no avail until Valeri Nichushkin, after missing the net on two open shots earlier in the period, took a drop pass from Tyler Seguin and ripped a wicked wrister through the legs of Frederik Anderson for a 2-0 advantage at 17:15 of the period. From then on, the Ducks appeared unable to take a punch (both figuratively and literally), and the game became very chippy. Both sides had come into the game eager to hit each other, but the tensions started to boil over as the second intermission approached. Most notable was a scrap between Antoine Roussel and Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, who was wearing a facemask after taking a Tyler Seguin slap shot to his jaw in the waning moments of Game 1.
Roussel and Ryan Garbutt had been routinely vilified by Ducks fans after Games 1 and 2, but this scrap pushed some fowl supporters over the edge. Despite Getzlaf throwing the first real "punch" (six actually), the Stars have been endlessly accused of targeting the Ducks top players, most notably Getzlaf with his injured jaw. Personally, I find this incident no less egregious a violation than Corey Perry spearing Jamie Benn in the groin early in Game 2. The Ducks clearly made playing physical a primary part of their game plan in order to throw the inexperienced Stars off their game. Unfortunately for Bruce Boudreau, Lindy Ruff has made the intimidation factor part of his strategy as well. Simply put, this is the playoffs. Both the Ducks and Stars had better be ready for anything over the course of these final two or three games.
The other major storyline from this game stems from an incident midway through the second period involving former Star Stephane Robidas and the aforementioned Garbutt. As you can clearly see in the following video, Garbutt dove for a puck near the Anaheim net, but he made contact with Robidas' right leg, tripping the veteran defenseman. As a result, Robidas' leg was pinned beneath Garbutt as Robidas fell to the ice, resulting in his right leg, the same one he horrifically broke on this very ice as a Star back in November, fracturing. 'Robi' as he is affectionately known in Big D, received a standing ovation and a chant from the Dallas faithful, a classy tribute to an even classier player. Godspeed to his recovery process, which will require another surgery.
In all, Lehtonen made 37 saves en route to his first playoff shutout and win. He would earn First Star of the Game honors for his effort. Garbutt would rub a little salt in the wounds of Ducks fans by scoring an insurance goal off a rebound in the third period, thus making the final score 3-0.
It was, without a doubt, one of the best sporting events that I have ever been to. It was, to say the least, one loud proud crowd at the AAC.
Game 4 was mighty different...
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