John Gibson may or may not have been physically injured in the second period, but he most certainly was broken in a deeper, more psychological fashion.
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If you’re going up against one of the best goaltenders of the past two seasons, you’re going to feel unlucky. That’s about where the Stars were after 30 minutes, when a 3-0 lead had accumulated in spite of so much good work, so many chances.
And that’s not hyperbole. Jamie Benn had a golden chance from the slot, Brett Ritchie had hit a post, Jason Spezza might have tipped a Radulov feed off the post, Valeri Nichushkin couldn’t pot Spezza’s golden layup, Mattias Janmark got robbed on the backhand, and phew, I’m probably still forgetting a few of the great chances up to that point.