DALLAS — The biggest soccer game in the world on Sunday was played in Spain, where Barcelona beat archrivals Real Madrid 4-3 in the “El Clasico” to all but secure the league title. The game was a beauty.
The biggest soccer play in North America was on a sheet of ice, as Alex Petrovic’s kick-in goal was allowed to stand. It was ugly, but tilted momentum to the Dallas Stars in what became a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
The delay for the review on Petrovic’s winning goal at 3:51 of the third period took longer than treaty negotiations, was argued post-game by head coaches Scott Arniel and Pete DeBoer — shockingly, the losing coach was against the decision, while the winning coach was all for it — outraged Jets fans and fueled media coverage.
It was a big moment.
But the Jets handled it poorly.
On the next shift, 49 seconds of running time after the contentious goal, Mikko Rantanen made it 4-2 for the Stars at 4:40 when the Jets were unable to defend a three-on-three rush. And a couple more coverage mistakes by Winnipeg allowed Wyatt Johnston to make it 5-2 at 14:06 as Dallas completed its impressive rebound from Friday’s 4-0 loss in Game 2.
American Airlines Center echoed late in the game with chants that “Otter’s better!” mocking Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck for a performance inferior to Stars starter Jake Oettinger.
At least, Hellebuyck did not get hooked and made it to the end of a road game for the first time in four tries these playoffs.
Hellebuyck was actually pretty good, but unlucky when he paddled the puck into his own net from Petrovic’s kick, causing the long delay and a ruling that, technically, seemed to contradict Rule 49.2(i) of the National Hockey League’s rules tome.
But he still wasn’t good enough, and neither was his team in the final period.
If the Jets are to prove themselves the better team, then they’re going to have to find a way to stop the Stars’ best player because Rantanen, who finished with three points on Sunday, has been involved in 14 of Dallas’ last 16 goals over five games stretching back to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And they are going to have to be mentally stronger and execute better than they did in the final 16 minutes.
Argue all you want about the legality of Petrovic’s winning goal, but the path to victory for Winnipeg still revolves around Hellebuyck and Rantanen.
“Well, it’s the best performance I’ve got to witness, standing where I’m standing with a guy on my team, for this extended period,” DeBoer said of Rantanen’s run. “But, you know, for me, he’s just getting started. He’s just warming up here. I think he’s on a mission.”
Maybe the Jets will intensify their mission if they genuinely think they lost Sunday due to an officiating injustice.
Game 4 is Tuesday night in Dallas.
“The rule states that if the puck gets kicked, if it hits a body or a stick of anybody else other than the goaltender, it counts as a goal,” Arniel said in his post-game press conference. “It hit our goaltender’s stick and went in the net. That is no goal. So they said that Helly propelled the puck in, and I haven’t seen the word ‘propelled’ in the rulebook.”
In his cross-examination, DeBoer told reporters: “I’m not sure that’s how the rule reads. I think the rule reads that if, I believe, the goalie is making a play on the puck, that it’s a goal. So that’s the difference. Is it just deflected off him, or is he trying to make a play with the puck? And I think they got it right.”
After making an excellent initial save on Rantanen’s deflected shot, Hellebuyck tried to steer away the puck booted back at him by Petrovic, but accidentally bumped into his own net. Hellebuyck acted like he knew he’d just scored an own-goal, lying on his back in the crease and slapping his gloves together.
What’s inarguable is that the Jets got some things wrong after the goal.
“Either way, there’s no excuses,” Winnipeg sniper Kyle Connor said. “We had to be ready to play whether (the review) was short or long. Obviously, a big momentum changer. They were able to get that one, and they scored on the next shift there. That’s something that, obviously, momentum swings happen in a game, and we try to turn more into our favour. But it’s just the way it happened, and they were able to gain chances off that.”
Rantanen said the favourable review “obviously gave us energy. But I think no matter which way it goes, we are pretty good at keeping it even keel and just keep working. I think we had a pretty good third before that even, so I think we would have still played well. But who knows what happens after that?”
The Jets, who had rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, ran out of answers in the third period when they managed just eight shots on Oettinger and struggled to generate much on a late six-on-four power play.
“I thought we played a heck of a hockey game,” Arniel said. “We played a really good game. Man, that (review) took a long time. I’m not sure why. Obviously, it’s a big moment. But at the end of the day, we have to be ready. They came out and jumped on us. We have to be ready for that next shift, and we gave up that quick one. But I like a lot of what we did.”
On Hellebuyck, who surrendered the five goals on 26 shots, Arniel said: “He had to make some big stops. Him and Oettinger, they were going kind of toe to toe. There’s a lot of good looks both ways. But we’re going to be judged — our whole team we’re going to be judged, not just Connor — by what happens on the road. We’ve got to win. They came into our building and took home ice away from us (in Game 1); we’ve got to win here. And so everything that we have is going to be pushed into Game 4 here to get this thing evened up going back into our building.”
The Stars are 4-0 in the playoffs after a loss.
“It was big, it was a response,” DeBoer said. “I talked to our group today; it’s the best response team that I’ve coached in my time here. It’s one of the reasons why we haven’t had extended losing streaks around here.
“There’s an honesty to the group and the leadership in the group. They’re willing to accept hard coaching. You don’t have to sugarcoat it with them, which is nice. Some teams, some coaches. . . you have to be careful not to hurt feelings and things like that. I don’t have to worry about that with our group. If (Stars captain) Jamie Benn is the first guy in line to accept criticism, then everyone else kind of falls in line. They’re willing to go there without pushback, and I think that’s always a part of fixing what’s wrong.”
No excuses.
Marchment Madness
The third-period talking point overshadowed a remarkable second-period incident that saw Dallas forward Mason Marchment, angry about a non-call after he was cross-checked behind the play by Mark Scheifele, reach out with his stick and lightly rap referee Graham Skilliter on the leg as the Jet skated to the bench. Skilliter chose to ignore the incident rather than eject Marchment with an “abuse-of-officials” call.
“I saw the interaction,” DeBoer said. “I saw him give him a tap on the shin pads. I didn’t understand, I don’t know, the context of what happened. You know, is it a friendly tap. . . or was he just acknowledging that he was there? I don’t know.”
