Joel Kiviranta played 16:59 and led Dallas with four shots in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to New Jersey. He was listed on a line with Wyatt Johnston, who had one shot, and Mikko Rantanen, who had none. The distribution left an awkward gap: one winger supplied nearly a quarter of Dallas’ 18 shots, and the attack had no second wave behind him.
Kiviranta’s four shots arrived at different points of the game, which makes the total more meaningful than a late flurry against a comfortable opponent. His snap shot at 3:29 of the first period was Dallas’ first shot on goal. At 11:46, he sent a backhand at Connor Hellebuyck.
In the third period, Kiviranta tested him at 7:18 and again at 11:19 with a tip-in. Hellebuyck stopped all four.
Kiviranta kept appearing in the shot column as the game progressed, giving Dallas attempts early and late rather than collecting all four after the result was settled. A team can survive one player having a busy shot night. It cannot expect that player to furnish the entire attack four attempts at a time.
Rantanen’s line is especially stark because his zero in the shot-on-goal column needs a little explanation without being softened. He played 17:29 and did get a backhand off at 15:47 of the first period that hit the crossbar. In the second, he missed above the crossbar at 10:54.
Those events count as attacking attempts, but neither required a save. Rantanen’s crossbar attempt came close to changing the score. Dallas still needed attempts from him that Hellebuyck actually had to save.
Johnston had one shot in 20:44. Jason Robertson had three, including attempts stopped at 9:29 of the second period and 2:32 and 10:09 of the third. Roope Hintz added two, and Tyler Seguin one.
Robertson’s three at least made Hellebuyck work more than some of his teammates, but the overall picture remained thin. Dallas did not lack names capable of shooting; it lacked enough of those names arriving in the shot column often enough to make Kiviranta’s activity part of a larger attack.
New Jersey’s defensive work deserves credit. The Devils finished with 60 shot attempts and 27 shots on goal, while Dallas had 38 attempts and 18 shots. Twenty Dallas attempts were blocked or missed, a total that says nothing by itself about their quality, but it does help explain why Hellebuyck faced such a manageable evening.
In his first appearance for New Jersey after arriving from Winnipeg, he made 17 saves on 18 shots. He handled what reached him, including every Kiviranta shot, without being forced into a heavy workload.
Dallas did find its only goal from Justin Hryckowian. At 16:08 of the second period, he redirected Tyler Myers’ point shot, with Colin Blackwell also receiving an assist. Hryckowian finished with one shot and three blocked shots in 14:56, and the goal was his second in two games.
