The Blackhawks get the last laugh after the Stars attempt to “troll” them
The Blackhawks lost a hard-fought game to the Dallas Stars on Friday night. The final score was 5-4, Dallas scored the game-winning goal with 7 seconds left in overtime. The Hawks had a great third quarter and fought back from a two-goal deficit to tie the game right at the end of the third period. The Hawks taking this Dallas team to OT is an impressive feat. The team may not be getting a lot of wins, but they are fighting, they don’t quit.
The Hawks may have lost but they ended up getting the last laugh. Blackhawks insider Charlie Roumeliotis reported hearing a familiar song being played in Dallas. The Stars played Chelsea Dagger loudly after their OT win over the Blackhawks.
American Airlines Center is blasting Chelsea Dagger after Dallas beat Chicago in overtime. Ouch. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 30, 2023
Being excited about a hard-fought victory is one thing, but this seems a bit excessive. Especially after you realize that the Stars almost lost to a lottery bound team.
The Stars have their priorities very confused
The Stars surely aimed for this to be some sort of “burn” or “troll” towards the Blackhawks, but it backfired.
This Chelsea Dagger sighting is more of the same for this modern era of Stars hockey. As their social channels frequently taunt and mock the opponents they beat. These posts can be funny and entertaining and are also a smart way to drive social media engagement.
However, a quick search of other top NHL teams social channels shows that other contending teams don’t do what the Stars do. Teams like Las Vegas, New York and Boston don’t “troll” their opponents. Their content is completely focused on themselves. These teams are focused on trying to win playoff games, not making memes about beating teams with less than 30 points.
They are acting like a scrappy up and coming team with a bright future but no aspirations for the season, not a team who is currently tied for 2nd place in betting odds as the favorite to win the Cup.
Celebrating after beating a lottery team?
The Blackhawks are unfortunately one of the worst teams in the NHL this season. The Hawks have 11 wins on the season, the only team with less is the fantastically bad San Jose Sharks.
The Blackhawks have a ton of young players on their roster who have played 30 or less games in the NHL. These young players are developing, they haven’t reached their full potential. According to Hawks GM Kyle Davidson, the only goal this season was to see development from those young guys. The Hawks weren’t supposed to be good this season, it’s year two of a rebuild. Everyone knew that, but the Stars apparently didn’t get the memo.
On the other hand, the Stars are supposed to be a Stanley Cup contender, they sit in fourth place in the Western conference. They fancy themselves as being in the middle of a push for their second Cup.
Analysts are high on the Stars too. After a Western conference finals appearance last season, Dallas is looking primed to make another deep playoff run. The Stars were even able to take eventual champions Las Vegas to a game 6 last season.
Dallas has great goal-tending and goal scoring ability. They are easily one of the best teams in the west, yet they act otherwise. A champion typically doesn’t throw a party after beating a team headed for the lottery.
The Stars reaction is a perfect example of the “Bedard effect”
The Stars are contending, and they aren’t even the biggest story in the Western conference. That is arguably the Blackhawks, all thanks to Connor Bedard.
Connor Bedard continues to be the talk of the NHL. And that is making non-Chicago fans upset. Clearly the Stars are part of that group. Why else would they be so excited about beating an 11 win team?
Some NHL fans outside of Chicago think the league is talking about Connor Bedard too much. The NHL should be talking about Bedard as much as they can. The league needs to market it’s young superstar talent in order to grow the league’s fan base. It’s no secret that the NHL’s fanbase is the smallest out of the four major sports in the United States. Marketing the young players like Connor Bedard as “must see” is a good way to start remedying that.
So far, Bedard is the best rookie in the 2023 draft class. He is on pace to produce one of the best rookie campaigns in league history.
He is emerging as an elite offensive talent on a team that can’t really help him become his best self. The fact that Bedard is this good with so little around him should worry other fans.
Bedard continues to show his incredible talent night after night. This week alone, Connor Bedard scored his first ever Michigan goal, and an epic overtime game winning goal. He is earning the media attention he is getting. A player like Bedard either makes people watch the Blackhawks, or makes them envious because they wish they had him on their favorite team.
Everyone is either in awe of what Bedard is doing this season, or is mad that he is in Chicago. The Stars reaction to Friday’s game points to them being one of the latter.
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