I’ve literally spent second intermission looking exactly like this meme on my bedroom floor.
The Stars played disastrously this Game 3. Did they have their moments? Yeah but they had a lot more bad plays than good ones. It’s currently 1-5 going into the 3rd and all I wish is that we remembered how to defend. Things were good in the first two minutes and then everything went to shit – let’s review.
The Lightning got 2 goals off the bat. One came from Steven Stamkos, their Captain who hasn’t played since February. Jason Dickinson got Dallas within one that period on a short-handed goal. After Dickie’s goal, they played some great hockey. The Stars dominated the remainder of the 1st but that did not last long.
I loved the end of the 1st, I was like “wow, okay, we’re awake now! Let’s get them.”
The Dallas Stars, quite literally, said “fuck you, Hams, no happiness for you tonight”.
In the 2nd period, the Lightning put up 3 unanswered goals. THREE. Disastrous changes and useless penalties lead to the their fall here and it was so frustrating to watch. Alexander Radulov needs to get his shit together and stop taking O Zone penalties because dear LORD. I know these refs are shit but if you’re known for taking dumb penalties, do your best to avoid even looking like you’re committing one. It wasn’t just Raddy’s fault or Khudobin’s, they looked like dead fish again. They were uninspired and frustrating to watch. We’ve seen them defend like a team fighting for the Cup, they did it just 20 minutes prior, but they came into the 2nd looking so messy that it cost them 3 goals.
This brings me to my bedroom floor, crying with frustration.
We’re at about midway through the 3rd and the Stars decided my sanity is worth something. They’re alive once more but time is short. A shot from Miro the Hero, credited to Dickinson, made it past Vasilevskiy and we finish with a 2-5 hockey game.
The Stars keep playing this “too little too late”game. They were more awake in the late 3rd than I think they were at all in the 2nd. They’ll push back but they won’t have time to actually execute enough to get the win. Game 4 is Friday and we have Game 5 Saturday. Friday is a must win: get your heads up, get angry, get smart, get scoring (Tyler, Jamie, Alexander, I’m looking at you).
No more penalties, no more bullshit. Stamkos didn’t play after his goal tonight and he could be out again – the Lightning will be shaken once more. Shake their confidence enough and come back as that Game 1 team to take control of this series.
We got all the boys hitting hard so lets start getting them on the score sheet.
We need it now. Bishop could be back Friday and that will be a coin flip for Dallas. They can’t have any more messy games- this isn’t the regular season! There is no time and space, just fucking win. It was just Game 3 and I’ve seen teams come back from worse but time moves quickly past you. We’ve been in this position before though. In the opening round against the Flames, we went down 2-1 and came back to beat Calgary. We’ve don’t it before, we can do it again.
Was I a mess in the 2nd, praying for a goal? Yeah, of course I was, I am a sensible die-hard Stars fan. But, I still believe in my boys and I know they’re better than this. We’ve seen it time and time again. Tomorrow is a new day and Friday is a good day to win a hockey game.
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