DALLAS — The Dallas Stars were knocked out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Vegas Golden Knights with a 6-0 loss in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center on Monday.
Dallas, which fell behind 3-0 in the best-of-7 series, was able to avoid elimination twice before falling apart in Game 6, when it allowed three goals in the first period.
Dallas (47-21-14) finished the regular season in second place in the Central Division, one point behind the Colorado Avalanche. The Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild in six games in the first round and the Seattle Kraken in seven games in the second round before losing to the Golden Knights.
The thin one
Potential unrestricted free agents: Evgenii DadonovF; Max DomiF; luke glendeningF; Joel KivirantaF; Federico OlofssonF; Joel HanleyD; dylan wellsg
Potential restricted free agents: ty dellandreaF
Potential 2023 Draft picks: 5
[RELATED: Complete Golden Knights vs. Stars series coverage]
Here are five reasons why the stars were removed:
1. Game Meltdown 3
Game 3 was lost shortly after Captain Stars jamie benn received a cross penalty in mark stone 1:53 into the first period. Benn received a serious and in-game misconduct penalty for the infraction, and the Golden Knights were able to score on the power play, increasing their lead to 2–0 en route to a 4–0 win. Dallas needed a win not to fall behind 3-0 in the series after losing the first two road games in overtime. Only four teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings in 1942 (final), the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975 (quarterfinals), the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins in 2010 (quarterfinals) and The Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in 2014 (first round), have been able to come back from 3-0 down to win a series, and no team had ever done so in a conference final. The Stars managed to extend the series to six games, but ultimately ran out of fuel.
2. Lack of complementary punctuation
The Stars were able to get past the first two rounds of the playoffs despite the advance jason robertson scoring two goals in 13 matches. Robertson led Dallas with 109 points (46 goals, 63 assists) in 82 games during the regular season. He found his scoring touch in the conference final with five goals in six games, but everyone else went cold. Tyler Seguin I had no reason and neither wyatt johnston. roope hintz he had two assists in the last five games of the series, and Benn had one goal in four games. Dellandrea scored twice in a 4-2 win in Game 5 after being a healthy scratch in the first two games of the series, but that was the extent of his offensive contribution.
Video: What’s next for the Dallas Stars after elimination?
3. Power Play Issues
The Golden Knights are known for taking few penalties, averaging 2.7 per game in the playoffs, and they only gave the Stars 11 power plays in six games. Dallas went 2-for-2 in a 3-2 overtime win in Game 4 to avoid elimination for the first time, but scored just one power play goal in the other five games. The Stars finished the series 3 of 11 with the man advantage, which isn’t a terrible percentage (27.2 percent), but they needed to produce more. Drawing a few more penalties would have helped too.
4. Oettinger outclassed
jake oettinger he was expected to make the difference in the series, but ended up being outclassed by adin hillthe Golden Knights’ fourth choice in net this season behind Robin Lehner, logan thompson and laurent brossoit. Oettinger allowed seven goals in the first two games, a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 1 and a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 2. He was removed after allowing three goals on five shots in the Game 3. Two strong performances in Game 4 and a 4-2 win in Game 5 helped the Stars get back into the series, but Oettinger allowed six goals on 29 shots in Game 6, which was more than enough to Hill and the Golden Knights. Hill made 23 saves in Game 6 for his second shutout of the playoffs. Oettinger finished the postseason with a goals-against average of 3.06 and a save percentage of .895. Hill has a 2.07 GAA and a .937 save percentage since he replaced Brossoit, who suffered a lower-body injury in Game 3 of the second round.
5. Overtime Fights
Often overtime games are determined by a rebound, so losing the first two games of the series may have more to do with bad luck, but the Stars couldn’t find the next goal to win Games 1 and 2. If they had been able to win at least one of the two OT games and win a part along the way, things might have turned out differently. But brett howdenThe 1:35 overtime goal in Game 1, which he scored off Oettinger, and chandler stephensonThe 1:12 rebound goal in Game 2 essentially put the Stars in a must-win situation in Game 3. They couldn’t win Game 3 and fell into a 3-0 hole, which proved too deep. .
