Well, well, well. The Dallas Stars came out swinging with that spicy third-period glow-up! Down by two and looking a bit flat-footed heading into the final frame, they flipped the script with a jaw-dropping five-goal explosion, including three sizzling power-play beauties back-to-back-to-back. Tyler Seguin was cooking, dropping two goals and an assist like it was a Friday night pickup game. Miro Heiskanen and Mikael Granlund were out there slinging points too, and goalie Jake Oettinger? Cold-blooded in the crease with 24 saves. From being down 3-1 to skating off with a 6-3 W? That’s some cowboy energy, Dallas style.

On the flip side, the Oilers were cruising early on with Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, and McDavid all racking up points like it was just another day at the office. Skinner even came in with a slick shutout streak that lasted 142:42, until Seguin blew it up glove-side. Things went downhill fast in the third as Heiskanen kicked off the comeback, Granlund tied it, and Duchene turned chaos into magic for the lead. Then Seguin iced it again, and Lindell sealed the deal into an empty net. And now, while everyone’s buzzing about the Stars’ comeback party, the NHL fam’s a little shook over P.K. Subban’s wild ‘VR Breakdown’ of the game, folks are either loving it or side-eyeing it hard.

P.K. Subban really cranked up the heat and the headgear, tossing on ESPN’s shiny new VR headset to dissect Game 1 like a hockey Jedi. “Well, we’re going to break it down in virtual reality here,” he said, diving right into the Stars’ defensive mess-up in the second period—particularly the one that led to the Eva Bouchard goal. To him, it was the Dallas Stars’ “inexperience” that showed against a squad that knows “how to up their level of play.”

The VR experience took Subban and the audience to an animated rendition of the ice inside the American Airlines Center as he studied how the Stars’ Thomas Harley couldn’t break Draisaitl’s play when he had the chance to—that and a defensive delay from Robertson ultimately led to Bouchard receiving the puck out wide inside the right face-off circle from when he put the puck in the back of Oettinger’s net. All of this was shown through the eyes of Subban’s VR avatar, who seemed to be wearing a cute red sweater and moved from one face-off circle to the other with more speed than a slap shot. Some totally vibed with the whole futuristic vibe.

One hyped-up fan dropped, “Love to see @PKSubban1’s breakdown using VR. Really interesting way to present the game, well done @ESPN.” Like okay, we’re officially living in the future, and hockey’s not being left behind in the snow. While the world’s out here going full digital beast mode, the NHL’s cooking up its own tech glow-up. Think smart pucks, player tracking in real time, and the slick NHL EDGE analytics setup. All this wizardry isn’t just for show, it’s helping coaches get sharper, giving fans a juicier slice of game action, and making the rink feel like a live-action video game. But this was just the beginning!

Dallas Stars and Oilers’ game breakdown receives mixed feelings!

Back in the tech-hype haze of 2024, ESPN teamed up with Meta as the fourth wheel in the ESPN Edge Innovation Center dream team, promising fans a next-level virtual reality ride through the sportsverse. With the Xtadium app on Meta Quest offering a front-row pass to 180-degree highlight reels and immersive ESPYs red carpet glam, it all sounded futuristic and flashy. The cherry on top? An ESPN-branded world in Meta Horizon Worlds. But this time, while ESPN was out there bringing the VR to analysis, not everyone was sold.

Some fans? Yeah… not vibing with the pixelated future. One took it to the timeline and said it straight-up: “Never do that again @espn.” Another followed with a cold and cutting “Horrible.” Whether it’s the VR goggles giving folks vertigo or the tech just feeling a bit too try-hard, the response definitely wasn’t all high-fives and fire emojis. Seems like the digital dream might need a reality check before it scores with the crowd.

Not everyone’s out here throwing tomatoes at ESPN’s big VR leap. Some fans enjoyed the VR rendition of the Dallas Stars vs the Oilers game. One user dropped a little love with, “This was pretty good. Hopefully it gets more use during the series.” And honestly? That sentiment’s got some legs. Because let’s be real: history’s sprinkled with tech that once looked like pure nonsense, until it didn’t. From folks clowning the first bikes to people side-eying early iPhones, game-changers usually start out getting roasted. Like Chris Dixon once said, “The next big thing will start out looking like a toy.” And welp, now it’s ESPN’s turn to roll the dice in the kids’ aisle; this time with a headset strapped on.

Last year in March, ESPN commentators Drew Carter, Kevin Weekes, and Arda Öcal wore Meta Quest Pro headsets during a telecast of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Boston Bruins game—a new kind of immersion from the one offered by the motion capture suits they wore the previous year. Considering that, there’s no telling what ESPN will do next to make their game coverage more futuristic. And when it comes to fan support, they sure can count on this one fan who thoroughly enjoyed Subban’s foray into VR-powered analysis of the Dallas Stars’ play and simply wrote, “Loved it.”