Welcome to Further Review, SB Nation’s in-depth video analysis of notable goals in the NHL. Hockey is a weird sport. Amazing and baffling goals tend to happen. We’re here to break them down for you. If you see a particular goal you want us to examine, drop us a note at @SBNationNHL on Twitter.
Here’s how 6 Dallas Stars gave up the strangest playoff goal in recent memory
Let’s break down the strangest goal of the playoffs so far.
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
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For some reason the Dallas Stars seem to attract crazy goals.
In the first round, Antoine Roussel turned a puck into a magical jumping bean to beat the Minnesota Wild. But now the Stars' opponents are even starting to get in on the absurd action.
So we turn to the first goal the St. Louis Blues scored in Game 4 on Thursday. You're not supposed to have six players on the ice. It's illegal. The Stars did anyways for a good 20 seconds.
And the Blues scored.
Here’s an extended highlight of the play that the good folks at NBC were kind enough to share with us:
Okay, so you're telling me that Vladimir Tarasenko was left wide open while the Stars had six players on the ice that no referees saw?
This makes no sense. So let’s make some sense out of it.
THE DIAGRAM
Thanks as always to Mike Darnay for drawing this up.
That’s just a taste of how the goal was scored. To really understand how one guy beat six defenders, we have to figure out why so many Stars were on the ice in the first place.
THE CHANGE
If you’re like any normal human, your eyes are following the puck at the bottom of the screen. But the wackiness begins at the top left corner. I narrowed in on the Stars change at the bench to give you a better idea of what happened.
You're going to see Radek Faksa (#12) leave the ice. Brett Ritchie (#25) hops on first, followed right behind by Vernon Fiddler (#38) and Travis Moen (#27). Moen is the last guy, and you can see him hesitate, take a move back to the bench and then jump into the play.
He was totally confused, and had good reason to be. Ales Hemsky (#83) takes a long shift here, and Moen assumed he had already left the ice. He hadn't. Moen didn't recognize that, the play got swept back up ice and suddenly SIX Dallas Stars are flying around out there. How no referee noticed this is beyond me.
Okay, so that accounts for the plethora of guys in green and white. How did Tarasenko get left wide open?
THE HIT
The answer is simple. Ritchie came onto the ice, made a straight line to Tarasenko and the puck and dumped him in the offensive zone. And away the Stars went with a 3-on-2 chance they created by breaking the rules.
AND NOW THE UNBELIEVABLE PART
As if the rest of this made any sense.
So the Stars have the puck in the offensive zone. That’s great. You know what wouldn’t be great?
A) if they turn the puck over
B) all six of their players enter the zone at that exact moment
C) if Vladimir Tarasenko is suddenly nowhere to be found
Welp.
THAT’S NOT GOOD
The Blues’ best player is currently somewhere near the Stars’ blueline. I don’t know exactly where because the cameras never bothered to show that part of the play for replays. But there’s no doubt that he’s cherry-picking, waiting for a turnover and a free chance on net.
Even I, as a Stars fan, can’t begrudge him for that for two reasons. First, maybe he recognized the Stars had a billion men on the ice and thought the play would be whistled dead. And secondly, IT WORKED.
Moen turned the puck over ...
... and because all six of the Stars players were up ice, Tarasenko was free to capitalize.
Here’s another look, which gives you a better sense of how deep the Stars were and just how lonely Tarasenko was behind the play.
So you should blame ...
All of the Stars. Not just Hemsky, who took a long shift, or Moen for misreading the play and staying on the ice. The Stars had six guys on the ice to the Blues’ four. And they got away with it. If anything, they should’ve scored.
Instead, you collapse one lapse in judgement on top of another and you get the rarest of goals: a breakaway against six defenders.
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