Talk about the Pete calling the kettle black.
Dallas defenseman Roope Hintz did stuff to Nathan MacKinnon in Game 5 that would be a felony in 17 states. Jamie Benn and Mason Marchment spent the first week of this series trading Greg Louganis impressions.
The Dallas Stars aren’t so much a hockey team as a bunch of theater majors on skates. And yet after a bizarre 7-4 loss to the Avalanche in Game 6 late Thursday night at Ball Arena, Dallas coach Pete DeBoer had the nerve to sit in front of reporters and say this: “I give our guys credit, despite the fact that we had those bounces against us and some of the refereeing decisions.”
Did the referees cause the Avs to outshoot the Stars 48-23? Did the zebras conspire to bounce the puck off of two of your fourth-liners and into your own goal? Did the pinstripes open up the defense so you could gag away four straight goals after taking a 4-3 lead into the third period?
Please, Whiny Pete. Please.
Enlighten us.
“You know, they’ve continued to battle. I mean, that game’s 2-0 (Colorado),” said the Stars coach, whose team takes a 3-3 series back home against the Avs for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Saturday night. “It would have been easy just to mail it in and get ready for Game 7. And they refused to do that.
“That’s why I’m so disappointed by the bounces and some of the calls (that), you know, shouldn’t happen this time of year.”
And the press corps’ eyebrows raised again.
“So which calls were you referring to, exactly?” DeBoer was asked.
Suddenly, Smilin’ Pete turned a frown.
“I’m not getting into that,” DeBoer said quickly. “Watch the game tape.”
You brought it up!
With that, DeBoer left the stage, then the room.
Reporters scrolled their social feeds and decided Pete was referring to Avs defenseman Cale Makar bouncing off Dallas winger Mikael Granlund midway through the third period. Granlund went to the box for interference, and DeBoer went nuclear.
Your take on embellishments may vary, but watch the clip again: Right before Granlund and All Hail Cale collide, Stars d-man Thomas Harley appears to lift his arms and shove his stick in No. 8’s baby face.
No call? Nothing?
Typical.
Whiny Pete’s no dummy. His Stars can’t skate with the Avs when they’re healthy. So you look for every edge you can muster.
Tell your team it’s them against the world. Tell the media it’s us against the world. Plant a flag for Game 7 that the referees assigned to Saturday night can see from 800 miles away.
Because so far, the nicest thing you could say about the officiating in this series is that it’s been, ummm, subjective.
Dallas has looked like a different team in the American Airlines Center so far. And part of that’s because the games have been called there as if the officiating crew was just bused in from a rec league in Galveston.
“We’ve played (the Stars) enough to know that they’re a really good team and we feel like we are too,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, who’ll be looking to snap an 0-3 record in Game 7s with Colorado. “And we knew it was going to be a really tough series.
“And there’s no use crying about it — every year, it’s it’s not 1 versus 16 (seed) or 1 versus 8 (seed). You’re playing top teams in the whole league right out the gate and every round if you want to get to where you want to go. So you’ve got to play your best two-week stretches — and it’s almost like survival.”
Legends make their own puck luck. In the third period, Dallas center Sam Steel entered Ball Arena lore forever when he tried to shovel the puck out of the Stars’ slot and away from danger. One catch: He didn’t count on teammate Colin Blackwell skating into his line of fire.
Suddenly, the hockey gods gave the Avs the gift of two weird bounces. First, the puck caught Blackwell on the shoulder, then it caromed at Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, who was just as shocked as anybody to see the biscuit trickle over his shoulder and into the net.
“Oettinger’s making big saves, their team’s making some nice plays, we’re missing some nets from grade-A spots, and you’ve just got to keep doing it,” Bednar said, “and you’ve got to keep getting there, and eventually something’s going to break.
“Like (in Game 5), they get the first goal, and the second goal they got, those are lucky bounces, they earned them. (Thursday), we got them, we earned them.”
Just like that, the Avs led 5-4. MacKinnon was awarded the goal, even though he happened to be about 10 feet away.
“Honestly, Jared Bednar and I are not going to have a big impact on this game,” DeBoer said. “The players are going to decide that. Both teams know each other. It’s who goes out and executes and gets big games from the right guys.”
On that, we’ll agree. Big Val Nichushkin got so peeved during morning skate Thursday that he broke a stick. Mad Chu Chu is dangerous Chu Chu, as his first goal opened the scoring and his second tied things at 4-4 six minutes into the final stanza. Martin Necas finally notched a goal on a gorgeous Cale Makar feed, and the post denied him at least one more.
“No one gave us a chance to win this series,” DeBoer said, “and you know, here we are with one game at home to advance.”
No one?
“How do you fight that kind of narrative?” I asked Bednar later.
The Avs coach just laughed.
“Hadn’t they finished third overall in the league?” Bednar chuckled.
Sure had. Four more points in the standings than the Avs, last anybody checked.
“Listen — they’re playing without (Miro) Heiskanen, and they’re playing without (Jason) Robertson,” Bednar said, “and they’ve had other guys step up and elevate their game. They’re deep. This is a deep team. They finished where they finished for a reason …
“But we have our own narrative, too, right? We feel like we’re a team that can win. But you’ve got to go prove it.”
No Heiskanen.
No Robertson.
It’s 3-3.
And you’re working the refs, Pete?
“I think that, hey,” Bednar said, “you build a narrative for your team to grab onto.”
Even if it’s 100% baloney? DeBoer really needs to learn how to take a Hintz.
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