The Dallas Stars immediately put themselves behind the 8-ball last night in Game 3 of their Western Conference Final series against the Vegas Golden Knights thanks to the selfish actions of captain Jamie Benn, who cross checked Vegas forward Mark Stone. Benn had already hit Stone, who fell to the ice and subsequently decided to deliver a dirty cross check while the latter was in a vulnerable position.
Benn, who has three goals and 11 points in 16 postseason games in 2023, received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for his actions. The Stars had already been trailing 1-0 early in the game thanks to a goal from Jonathan Marchessault, and Vegas would add two more goals on their lengthy power play en route to a 4-0 win and a three games to none series lead.
And afterward, Stars head coach Peter DeBoer said that his captain made "a mistake".
"Let's put it this way: [He] made a mistake, he feels really badly about it," DeBoer said in his postgame media remarks. "I don't think anyone in the building feels worse than he does about it. I'm not going to pile on him. He's been a leader here through his entire career and leads by example every day on and off the ice. [He] made a mistake.
"Fortunately, Mark Stone is okay, and we've got to live with the consequences, and the consequences was a big hole. But I'm not going to stand here and pile on tonight. I don't think it does anybody any good."
Forward and longtime Benn teammate Tyler Seguin echoed his coach's sentiments, saying that it was a collective effort as a group that would fall well short.
"Jamie's one of the, if not the best, captain in this league, top leader," Seguin said. "Collectively, we lost as a group tonight."
Benn is expected to have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety prior to Game 4 which takes place Thursday night.
