First things first: The entire hockey world sends heartfelt condolences to Mark Scheifele after the sudden passing of his father, Brad. Scheifele found the strength to play hockey on Saturday night, and even scored his team’s lone goal in the game. Once the game ended, Dallas and Winnipeg players alike consoled Scheifele.
This was far more poignant and important than the outcome of a hockey game. No made-for-TV pathos necessary.
Scheifele was in the penalty box when Thomas Harley scored the series-winning goal in overtime. The “hockey gods” have a cruel streak sometimes.
Now, onto the game itself. With their 2-1 win Game Six, the Stars advanced to the Western Conference Final for the third straight year.
Frustrating first period
The Dallas Stars dominated the opening 20 minutes. Dallas kept the Jets hemmed in their own zone throught the periods. They outchanced Winnipeg by a huge margin, including an 8-0 edge in high-danger scoring opportunities.
Nevertheless, the game was scoreless at the first intermission with a deceptive 6-4 shot total in the Stars’ favor. More telling, shot attempts were 27-12 to Dallas’ advantage. However, the Stars were unable to put most of their best chances on net. Tyler Seguin missed an open net. A would-be wraparound goal with Connor Hellebuyck out of position rolled off the stick blade. Open shots sailed wide or flew over the net.
We’ve all seen this movie before in hockey. Often, the team that saw one glorious chance after another go awry ends up lamenting the missed opportunity to forge a lead.
Second frame starts poorly, ends well
On cue, the Jets buckled down early in the second period. For the first time all night, the Jets tested Jake Oettinger (22 saves on 23 shots) . At 5:28, Scheifele turned a delayed penalty on Dallas into the game’s first goal.
As the stanza rolled forward, the Stars regained their equilibrium. Finally, at 11:12, Dallas fourth line center put a rebound under the crossbar to knot the score at 1-1. Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen collected the assists.
For the rest of the periods, Dallas retook control of the territorial play. Second period shots on goal favored Winnipeg, 12-7.
Tight-checking third period
On the whole, Dallas saw 22 shot attempts get blocked in Saturday’s game. High-danger chances favored Dallas, 6-2. Unfortunately, much like the first period, chances failed to amount to shots let alone goals. Third periods shots on goal favored the Jets, 7-4.
At 19:45, Steel gained a step on Scheifele. He had a clear lane to the net and puck control. In desperation, Scheifele hooked Steel to slow him down. By the NHL Rule Book criteria, a penalty shot was in order to restore the lost breakaway chance. Instead, the call was a hooking minor. Dallas took 1:15 over carryover power play time into sudden death overtime.
Finally, at 1:33, Harley pinched above the hash marks. Talking a pass from Seguin, Harley wired a shot past Hellebuyck (18 saves on 20 shots) to end the game and series.
What’s next
The defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers awat the Stars in the Western Conference Final. Game One is Wednesday at American Airlines Center. The Stars are 6-1 at home thus far in the 2025 playoffs.
