Dallas Stars fans have been one of the most spoiled fan bases over the last three years. This marks the third straight season that they will head to the conference finals and again face the Edmonton Oilers. The series is now over after six games after narrowly beating the Winnipeg Jets in overtime. Thankfully, the Stars have earned some much-needed rest before they face a red-hot Oilers team. How exactly is this year different from past ones, and will Dallas overcome their conference finals curse?
On paper, this series was a quick and painless end to Dallas’ season. They started down 3-0 before they could muster their first win. They would rattle off one more before getting blown out 6-0 in Game Six to send them packing. This was all in the midst of a Jamie Benn suspension resulting from a dirty play on Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone. However, this series could have very easily gone the other way for both teams, and in an alternate universe, it would have been Dallas hoisting the Stanley Cup.
This was a much tighter series than the box score may suggest. The first two games went to overtime, ones that Dallas very much had a chance of winning. If they even split one of those two games, this series has a much different narrative. Of course, the Benn suspension played a role as well; taking out a productive and physical player in the playoffs is never a recipe for success.
Jake Oettinger, fresh off his infamous playoff performance from the year prior, looked human against Vegas. At just 24, it was apparent that he was still green and new to a playoff environment. Nonetheless, the Stars were a young and upcoming team, so this conference finals finish was by no means disappointing.
This year was much more of a disappointment by Dallas’ standards. They failed to take advantage of an Oilers team with little depth and an inferior goaltender. After taking a 2-1 series lead and almost a 3-0 one, the Stars lost three straight. The losses weren’t pretty, either, as the scoring completely dried up. In the final three games, they only managed to score four goals.
A big takeaway that came from this series was that Stuart Skinner outplayed Oettinger. Despite Skinner’s inconsistencies, he was able to outduel Otter down the stretch. He only let in more than three goals once, and held the high-flying Stars to one goal in two games. Another factor in this crushing loss was the Stars’ power play, which went scoreless over six games. That’s not even close to a winning formula, and it made the road to victory that much harder for Dallas.
Of course, the result of the season was a positive one; the core was progressing, and they did some real damage in the postseason. The took out the juggernaut Golden Knights in round one, as well as a quality Colorado Avalanche team. Many believe that Dallas simply was too beat up in the first two rounds to compete with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
It’s another rematch between the Stars and Oilers, although this year feels different. The teams have seemingly swapped identities, at least in the playoffs. The Oilers, commonly known for their high-end talent and lack of depth, have gotten key contributions from multiple bottom-six guys. On top of that, the defensive core looks incredibly solid despite missing shutdown defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
Dallas has also flipped their identity, for better or for worse. Usually, a team heralded for its depth, the addition of Mikko Rantanen at the trade deadline has taken much of the pressure off the depth guys. Perhaps too much pressure, as now it is the Rantanen and Roope Hintz show, and everybody else is struggling to find consistent production. Sound familiar? That’s because it is a very similar headline that was spun against the Oilers last year. Will the result be the same?
They say the third time’s the charm. Hopefully, that proves to be true with the Stars, who have an amazing opportunity. If they can get past the Oilers, they will have a clear shot at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1999. But first, they need to overcome a very good Oilers team, which won’t go down easily.
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