Jamie Benn’s Mindless Game Misconduct Costs Stars In Ugly Loss To Vegas

The Dallas Stars had a very bad Tuesday night, and it started with their captain, Jamie Benn.

Dallas is on the verge of elimination after the Golden Knights took full advantage of the Western Conference finals with a resounding 4-0 win in Dallas, a victory that has Vegas one win from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.

It was an ugly night for the Stars and their fans, basically from the opening faceoff. A knucklehead decision by Benn in the first period set the tone for perhaps the worst game of the Stars’ season.

After Vegas took the lead just 71 seconds into the game, Benn momentarily lost his mind while battling Golden Knights captain Mark Stone. Benn muscled Stone to the ice as the two collided in the neutral zone, and then for some reason, Benn decided to cross-check the vulnerable Stone laying on the ice. The cross-check was high, too, catching Stone up near the neck and head.

The reckless play earned Benn a major penalty, and after review, the major not only was upheld but the officials also handed the Stars captain a game misconduct penalty, ending his night just 1:53 into the contest.

After that play, things really got away from Dallas. Ivan Barbashev cashed in on the ensuing 5-minute power play, and William Carrier scored a little over a minute after that to give the Golden Knights a commanding 3-0 lead. That was basically all she wrote as the Stars never really gave Vegas a push.

Clearly, the loss of Benn didn’t help, but Stars coach Pete DeBoer wasn’t about to publicly lambaste his captain after the game.

“I guess, let’s put it this way: He made a mistake, he feels really badly about, (and) I don’t think anyone in the building feels worse than he does about it,” DeBoer told reporters in his postgame press conference. “I’m not going to pile on him. He’s been a leader here for his entire career and leads by example every day on and off the ice. He made a mistake. Fortunately, Mark Stone is OK, and we have to live with the consequences, and the consequences were a big hole, but I’m not going to stand here and pile on tonight. I don’t think it does anybody any good.”

Benn has always been the sort of player who plays on the edge. He does, however, have an undeniable history of walking that line especially as it pertains to cross-checking. This certainly isn’t the first time he has used his stick in this manner.

As of Wednesday morning, the NHL Department of Player Safety had yet to make an announcement about possible supplemental discipline for Benn. It could help his case that he essentially missed all of Game 3, and the fact that Stone wasn’t hurt will be considered, too. It was still a pretty ugly incident, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Benn miss more time.

That would be a major blow for a Stars team that already is on life support. Game 4 from Dallas is set for Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.