Dallas Stars Magical Season Comes To Untimely End

The Dallas Stars could not answer the bell when it mattered last night, and as a result they fell victim to a St. Louis Blues’ squad in game seven. The playoff run may be over, but the big picture for the Stars is something to rest in.

It’s over. 82 regular season games mixed with 13 intense Stanley Cup playoff games, and now the Dallas Stars are heading home for the offseason.

The Stars had been intertwined in a lively and high-tempered Western Conference semifinals series with the St. Louis Blues since April 29 and, like many other series had gone in the West, neither team wanted to budge.

With the two teams trading punches and picking up wins back and forth, the series finally shifted to the ultimate decider: game seven. After snagging a hard-fought game six victory in game six on the road, the Stars traveled back to home ice for the winner-take-all game.

When you have a young team like the Dallas Stars do, there is going to be a first time for a lot of things. First time scoring an NHL goal, first time winning in a shootout, first time qualifying for the playoffs, and yes, first game seven. A majority of the Stars lineup on Wednesday, including their captain, had never skated in a game seven at the NHL level.

That becomes a problem when every player on the opposing bench had faced a game seven the round before and had a better grasp of what it takes to pull through and come out on top. In the end, the Stars were assaulted 6-1 on home ice and painfully forced out of the Stanley Cup race.

Now that it is all said and done, the Stars are sitting on the outside, looking painfully in at the final five teams remaining.

Looking back, this was only one small, yet fatal step for the Dallas Stars in their 2015-2016 endeavor.  The Stars burst out of the gate early on in the regular season, taking names and turning heads early on as they climbed to the number one spot in the NHL by the end of 2015.

Dallas endured some hard times, sure. But they always found a way to “bounce back” (going to miss that saying more than you’d imagine) from their hardships, and by game 82 they had a chance to clinch the top seed in the toughest division and conference in hockey.

The Stars would finish the regular season on a 50-23-9 showing with 109 points, which was enough to award them the titles of Central Division champions and top dogs in the Western Conference. It had been one short year since the Stars were playing subpar hockey and missing out on the playoffs by a substantial seven points.

Going into this year after another busy offseason, not a lot of people knew how to exactly predict how the Dallas Stars’ season would pan out.

Some thought that they were bound for the Stanley Cup (close, but no cigar) after “rounding out” their roster with the additions of Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya, and Antti Niemi. Others thought that the so-called “goalie tandem” was a shaky idea to hope in. Then there were the defensive critics that believed the Stars defense was still far from leading the Stars to playoff contention.

Now that it is all over, it’s clear that their season panned out to be a decent mixture of all of those theories. Sure the defense was a little rough around the edges at times, but the Stars’ blue line underwent a massive improvement over the offseason that showed this past year.

The goalies may not have had their best career seasons, but both stepped up at appropriate times and did an excellent job at testing out a new experiment. The postseason was a bit of a rough patch for both, but we can talk about that later.

And their offense was once again one of the most powerful in the NHL. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Spezza led the charge, along with newcomer Patrick Sharp. But the Stars received another year of balanced attack, with all four lines contributing night in and night out. Rookies like Radek Faksa and Mattias Janmark reassured Stars’ fans that the Dallas farm system was still thriving.

The burning question now on everyone’s mind is no longer, “Can we win game seven?” or, “Who will we play next round?”. The question has now been simplified into two words: “Now what?”

Well, the offseason of course. The only problem is, it will take a couple of days for some of the true Dallas Stars fans to come to this conclusion. Unlike last season where the Stars were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention a few games early, this was sudden and somewhat unexpected. Therefore, it stings a little more. Or maybe a lot more.

But take courage, Stars nation. Much like how last season was a painful growing step that must be endured by all eventually great teams, this was another step in the process.

Since 2013-2014, the Dallas Stars have been involved in what you might call a “gambling rebuild.” The Stars have continually rotated through different players and strategies each year, seeing what works and what doesn’t. At times, they hit an unexpected stroke of luck (2013-2014). Other times, they gradually declined as the year went on only to end up out of playoff talks (2014-2015).

And finally they endured the season that everyone thought was meant to be. Turns out they were just two rounds off, but that is okay. It’s all a part of the process. With each passing season, the Stars are taking what fits and reapplying it and finding what is faulty and dropping it off. That’s how the game goes, and the Stars have been very lucky in the past few seasons.

More stars: Stars Quietly Slip Into Offseason With 6-1 Loss To Blues

All in all, this is a part of the bigger picture scheme. Sure, it hurts like hell on this rainy morning in Dallas. There will be no more Stars hockey until September, and that sucks. But take a step back and notice that things are still falling into place, and the team is growing with each year, hopefully in a positive direction.

It’s going to take some time to get through the denial and withdrawals, but that just means that your loyalty to the Stars is unlike any other. Keep that close.

The Dallas Stars will be closing up shop over the next few days before packing up and heading out for vacation. But while the players hit the beach or their hometown, Jim Nill and the rest of the Dallas Stars’ general manager staff will be manning the phones, working hard at building a bigger, better, and more effective roster for next year. How is that for encouragement?

Next: Stars Continue To Frustrate Doubters With Their Performance

It was an enjoyable season to say the least. They may be able to take away the Stars’ playoff aspirations, but they can never take away the season that pushed them into contention. That is something special. And if you ever need a proper pick-me-up in the next few days or during the summer, just take a look at the bigger picture. Something tells me you’ll like what you see.