Best in the West: How the Dallas Stars Compare to WCF Teams

The Anaheim Ducks earned their ticket to the Western Conference Finals last night when Corey Perry scored in overtime to seal the fate of the Calgary Flames, ending their rather impressive season. The Ducks will face off against the Chicago Blackhawks, who swept the Minnesota Wild in the second round, in hopes of reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

The Conference Final match-up serves as a measuring stick for the other teams in the conference to compare themselves to, so let’s take a look at how the Dallas Stars fared in regular season play against the Ducks and Blackhawks last season.

Dallas vs Anaheim

The Stars went (1-1-1) in three match-ups with the Ducks, scoring six goals and giving up five. The three games served as a mini rematch of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoff First Round Series that saw Dallas fight, but eventually surrender a two-goal lead at the end of the third in Game 6 only to be eliminated by an overtime tally.

Anaheim is now and has been built around a duo that rivals the best in the league: Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. They’re both extremely talented forwards that have been shoe-ins for All-Star games and Olympic rosters alike. That success has made them targets on the ice and in the media and while Perry is one of the most cowardly players in the league in my opinion, it is hard to disregard his immense talent.

The two Ducks combined for six points in the three games against Dallas this season (3G, 3A), with Perry leading the way (2G, 2A).

Dallas is similarly built around a dynamic duo in its own right: Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. The two have become synonymous with the name Dallas Stars and at twenty-two and twenty-five respectively the young pair have taken the organization by storm. While Seguin and Benn haven’t yet become staples on All-Star and Olympic rosters, Seguin played in the All-Star game last season and Benn represented Canada in the Olympics last year, they are well on their way.

Seguin and Benn had four points in the three games against the Ducks (1G, 3A) with Art Ross winning Benn scoring all but one assist.

This season, the Ducks and Stars were relatively evenly matched and Dallas once again showed their ability to raise their play to the level of their opponent, which goes to show they can hold their own against the Western Conference elite.

Dallas vs Chicago

Dallas’ match-ups with the Blackhawks were extremely entertaining last season and they saw the Stars fight hard for their (2-1-2) record against them. The Stars had the misfortune of playing the Hawks at Madhouse on Madison three times on the second end of back-to-backs, once in November and twice in January. In those games the Stars earned three of the possible six points.

The Stars and the Hawks are teams that are fundamentally built in similar way. They depend on highly skilled, fast forwards to produce lots of offense and they put a lot of pressure on their goaltenders to support those offensive risks.

The key difference lies in defense.

Chicago has two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith, big-name Brent Seabrook, and underappreciated Niklas Hjalmarsson on their blue line. Together they make-up a great defensive core that supports Corey Crawford in net and helps them win championships. The Stars, on the other hand, don’t have a stay-at-home defender, nor did they have a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman last season.

That will change, but until it does the Stars will struggle to be as successful as the Hawks have proven possible.

Overall the Dallas Stars have key pieces that will be around for years to come, but they have to get their defensive game under control if they wish to compete for the title of Western Conference Champions, like Anaheim and Chicago, and eventually for the cup.

To be the best, you have to beat the best and Dallas has proven that they can, they just have to commit to doing it for a full eight-two game regular season and playoffs for the rest of the world to believe it.

As always, thanks for reading and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

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