CALGARY, Alberta — After soaking in 48 hours of spurs exchanged in front of microphones and behind podiums, it took seconds for the Stars and Flames’ disgust for each other to come to the surface in an eventual 2-0 Stars win in Game 2 on Thursday night.
John Klingberg, he of the Game 1 postgame threat on Rasmus Andersson, was booed every time he touched the puck. Matthew Tkachuk engaged Klingberg 43 seconds into the game. Joel Kiviranta and Blake Coleman exchanged slashes and cross checks. Roope Hintz and Tyler Toffoli roughed each other.
Joe Pavelski took care of the scoring, potting his first goal of the playoffs with a first-period redirection of a Jason Robertson pass. Jake Oettinger was again great for the Stars, parrying away 29 Flames shots, including eight shots at 4-on-4, for his first playoff shutout in his second postseason start.
Michael Raffl added an empty-net goal with 1:09 left in the third period to salt the game away.
Now, after the Stars evened the best-of-seven first-round series at 1 on Thursday night, the hatred has two more days to marinate. Game 3 is Saturday night at the American Airlines Center.
Game 2 was a cousin of Game 1; resembling its weirdness and oddities, inheriting its goaltending and feistiness.
The first period turned up the temperature at the Scotiabank Saddledome, and not just from one of the 10 spigots of fire that are suspended above the ice. The Klingberg-Tkachuk dustup set the stage for skilled players to behave like barbarians. Elias Lindholm had four of the Flames’ 15 first-period hits. Klingberg chased hits, and was frequently first on the forecheck.
The demolition derby on the boards made it a period of mistakes. The Stars capitalized on one of Calgary’s errors.
Noah Hanifin’s failed clearance up the wall went directly to Robertson, who quickly spotted a lonesome Pavelski at the net-front. Pavelski used the back of his stick to lift the puck over and past Jacob Markstrom, who shut out the Stars in Game 1.
Only half of the first period was played at 5 on 5. And then so was the second period.
At a certain point, the open ice of 4 on 4 fed into an up-and-down few minutes. The Flames would lead a 3 on 1. Oettinger would make a save. The Stars would lead an odd-man rush. Markstrom would get tested.
For the Stars, everything came back to how they defended.
Team defense has been Dallas’ calling card in previous seasons. Before, it would be backstopped by Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin; this year, Oettinger. Clogging the middle and forcing dump-ins has become part of the Stars’ DNA. It’s why they fancied themselves postseason Cinderellas against the Pacific Division champions.
Just like Tuesday night, the Flames had trouble generating any sort of offense in the slot at 5 on 5. They didn’t register a shot on goal at 5 on 5 in the first period. They had just four in the second period.
Bodies populated the crease. Sticks disrupted passing lanes. Oettinger cleaned up the rest.
The Flames are deep enough and versatile enough to be able to play different styles of hockey. You want to run and gun? They employ two 100-point scorers. You want to rattle the glass? They’ll oblige, particularly their third pairing and fourth line.
But the Stars? They want these games.
Dallas wants to suffocate scoring, and strangle the neutral zone. In Game 1, they did that, but were beat by a slow start and a quick power play goal. In Game 2, they survived a third-period push by Calgary.
“We’ve just got to keep building,” Stars forward Luke Glendening said before the game. “It was Game 1. We hung in there, and we’ve got to be better tonight.”
They were, and now the series is headed back to Dallas tied all level.
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