What Went Wrong: The Stars at Night are Big and Bright...but NOT During the West Final

You know, I have a knack for exposing frauds in sports. That knack isn't limited to the NHL, it's in all leagues. I've used that word quite a bit as a hockey fan. I've used that word to describe the Boston Bruins big time, the Florida Panthers (though they keep getting long runs somehow), and this year pretty much showed us that the Winnipeg Jets are in that "fraud" category. I have never used that word to describe the Dallas Stars.

Maybe I should have?

As every sports fan knows, "fraud" is used to describe a team that looks good externally, but internally, they are flawed in quite a few of the wrong places. I'll be honest, I never really thought to consider Dallas frauds. After all, this was the team who the Colorado Avalanche were fighting with for first place in the Central Division. Dallas decided to double down on this whole "first place" thing and finish as the best team in the entire Western Conference. Now, history has taught us that the Stanley Cup Playoffs could care less about how good your record is (ask last year's Bruins), but even so, Dallas looked like they had few to no flaws in their game.

And then the first round started.

The Stars let a sputtering Vegas Golden Knights team waltz in their place and beat them. Twice. Yes, LTIR, I know. Even so, this was not last year's Vegas team. The fact that they needed all seven games to beat out the Golden Knights should have been telling. Next up was the Avs. Again, the Stars started late in that series. Yes, it was 1-1 after two games this time. However, the Game One loss came after the Stars were up 3-0 (marking the second time this year that they blew such a lead against the Avs), and they barely survived Game Two after having that same lead. While Dallas did win Game Three, the series became less of a challenge after Valeri Nichushkin fell off the wagon. So Dallas survived that.

Once the Edmonton Oilers ousted the Vancouver Canucks, I said, "Well, the Stars have an easy road to the Cup Final." Yet they lost Game One at home again. Dallas hasn't won a Game One since the bubble in 2020. They did win Games Two and Three, and it looked like the Oilers would fail again...until Dallas blew a 2-0 lead in Game Four. It was followed by yet another home loss in Game Five, and Game Six was just pathetic. Dallas outshot Edmonton 35-10, yet still ended up losing. Oh boy.

Let's get one thing straight. Jake Oettinger is not to blame for this. The man finished with a 2.24 GAA in this playoff run. That tells me that Otter was left hanging yet again. What is it with his luck against Alberta's franchises? Two years ago, Otter had 64 saves in Game Seven against the Flames, yet lost because his team couldn't piece enough shots together. In this go around, Otter's on the losing end of Game Six because Dallas' shots weren't going in. Yes, he gave up two goals on 10 shots. Even so, Dallas had 35 shots. You mean to tell me three of those shots couldn't have went in. Oettinger got let down again. Plain and simple.

One of the many players who underperformed during this run was none other than Matt Duchene. At least Duchene can leave this run saying, "Hey, I eliminated my old team in the playoffs!" That was literally the last thing he did. No points in the West Final after putting in that goal to eliminate the Avs, and he finished with six points in 19 games. Other underperformers include Mason Marchment (five points in 13 games), Evgeni Dadonov (seven points, played every game), and Roope Hintz (eight points in 15 games). The biggest underperformer was Joe Pavelski. Remember the postseason he had last year. Not even close to that this year. Played all 19 games--four points (G/3 A).

Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, and Miro Heiskanen finished tied with 16 points, and in the case of Johnston, ten of those points went in the net. However, their efforts, as well as Oettinger's, were wasted. Having the #1 seed means home-ice advantage for the long haul. Six of Dallas' nine losses were at home. That was a big problem. I've mentioned the Cup window with some other teams, but never Dallas. That's usually because someone knocks them out eventually. If this team does have a Cup window, it's closing...fast. The Avalanche won't remain vulnerable, and as much as I hate to say it, neither will the Golden Knights. The Oilers can now be placed in the conversation after this year, and the Canucks look like they'll keep up their momentum in future years. So yeah, their future Cup chances took a hit with this ousting. They have some work to do this offseason.

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