Mikko Rantanen’s zero shots on goal was more revealing than his zero points in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to New Jersey. The Dallas winger did put two attempts toward the net: a backhand hit the crossbar at 15:47 of the first period, and another shot missed above the crossbar at 10:54 of the second. Neither became a save for Connor Hellebuyck.
That is precisely the problem. Dallas produced attempts, but too many ended before the Devils’ goaltender had to deal with them.
Rantanen played 17:29 and finished without a shot on goal. Wyatt Johnston had one in 20:44, while Joel Kiviranta led the listed Kiviranta-Johnston-Rantanen line with four. Jason Robertson had three on the other listed line with Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin.
Kiviranta’s four were useful volume, but the distribution left Dallas asking one winger to supply the visible activity while Rantanen and Johnston combined for one shot on goal.
Dallas kept losing attempts to blocks and misses before they reached the goal. Dallas had 38 total attempts and 18 shots on goal, meaning 20 attempts failed to become on-net shots. That gap is not a measurement of chance quality. It is a measurement of how much unfinished work stood between Dallas and Hellebuyck.
The first-period sequence illustrated the issue without requiring a grand theory. New Jersey’s Cody Glass blocked a Johnston attempt at 11:51. After Rantanen hit the crossbar at 15:47, Hintz tested Hellebuyck at 17:20 and Thomas Harley did so at 19:17, but Dallas still finished the period with only six shots on Hellebuyck.
The Stars were getting pucks toward the net; they were not consistently making the goalie part of the play.
New Jersey’s defense deserves credit for the obstruction. Dallas’ 20 missed or blocked attempts were not simply self-inflicted errors, and the Devils finished with 60 attempts of their own. Hellebuyck handled 17 of Dallas’ 18 shots, including the shots that did arrive.
In his first appearance for New Jersey after his trade from Winnipeg, he gave the Devils a strong night, particularly on slot chances that the Devils’ coach credited him with handling. But a goaltender cannot be blamed for shots that never reach him, either.
The special-teams ledger offers no convenient escape hatch for Dallas. New Jersey scored all five goals at even strength. The Stars killed all three Devils power plays, while Dallas received no power-play opportunity.
That penalty-killing performance prevented the deficit from growing through a different channel, but it did not solve the five-on-five problem. Nico Hischier scored twice, Jesper Boqvist scored once, and the Hughes brothers added one apiece while New Jersey repeatedly converted the kind of sustained attacking pressure Dallas struggled to build.
