DALLAS — A 7-2 loss in the Stanley Cup Playoffs will make you ask a lot of questions, beginning with what exactly went wrong?
For the Dallas Stars, the tide started turning when star defenseman Miro Heiskanen took a puck to the face early in the second period and did not return.
The Seattle Kraken proceeded to score 4 goals in the subsequent 6:12 on the way to securing a 2-1 series lead. The first goal came as Heiskanen was on the ice with the injury, and Seattle scored on their next three shots.
By the time Heiskanen had been fixed up and could have returned, the score was 5-1 and it wasn't worth playing through it.
But, as Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said after the game, "[Heiskaken is] obviously a big piece, but that's not why we lost.
"That's on our group. We should be able to handle that adversity and respond to that. They were the better team tonight, no ifs, ands or buts about that."
According to Dane Lewis of the Locked on Stars podcast, the Stars had no discipline defensively and Jake Oettinger played the worst game of his career.
The onus was on the players who remained in the game to step up, and they quite simply didn't.
Oettinger posted a .706 save percentage in two periods before being pulled in favor of Scott Wedgewood, a performance Lewis refers to as "a nightmare."
Dallas dropped a lopsided affair in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild and went on to win, and Lewis argues Oettinger and the Stars need to demonstrate a similar ability to bounce back.
DeBoer echoed that sentiment after this latest setback to the Kraken.
"I think the good news is, it really mirrors our Game 3 in Minnesota," DeBoer said. "We were in the exact same spot, played pretty much the exact same game and responded the right way in that series, so we've got to make sure that happens here."
A full game from Heiskanen would certainly help.