Today, Blackout Dallas will be starting up a series for a second year. It was meant to start up at the beginning of July but with the NHL offseason mess, it had to wait. But now that there is a bit of down time, now is the time to start it up!
We have made a bracket, one like you would see for the NBA or NHL playoffs, of the 16 best games of the Dallas Stars 2013-2014 regular season. We’re sure you will agree entirely with the 16 games that have been chosen, and if not, then just play along and comment at the end with which one you feel should have been given a chance.
So, we will put a poll up for each of the next 15 days featuring two of the games going head-to-head, with a brief argument for why it should be considered. Then, you can go to the bottom and vote on which one you think deserves to move on to the next round. The poll will expire 24 hours after it is put up, just in time for the next bracket of games to be put up. At the end of the Sweet 16, we will announce the winners of the entire round and start up the Elite 8, and so on and so forth. This is our second year to do this. Last season we received a good reaction from the readers, so we are going to do it for the second straight year.
Round one is officially in the books, and the eight games have moved on. The next round is set and ready to go, and we have already started it.
Here is the next piece of the bracket and this playoffs: Dallas Stars @ Chicago Blackhawks January 18th VS. Arizona Coyotes @ Dallas Stars November 20th
Dallas Stars @ Chicago Blackhawks, 6-3 F:
The NHL must not have cared when they made the master schedule last offseason in regards to the Stars. Three of their back-to-backs went from home to the United Center to face off with the Blackhawks.
During the first two attempts, the Star were pummeled 6-2 and then lost 5-4 in overtime. The third time had to be the charm, right?
The Stars were coming off of a win against the Capitals the night before. Facing off against the soon-to-be Stanley Cup champions, the Stars were low on energy.
The Stars took an early 2-0 lead, only to hand it away to the Blackhawks, who tied it up moments later. Dallas scored late to take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. In the second period, only one goal was scored by Chicago to tie it up at 3. It didn’t look like the Stars would have enough to finish it off and get the victory.
But they had different plans. With three unanswered goals, the Stars pulled off a 6-3 win that not many assumed would happen. Kari Lehtonen stopped 41 of 44 and Cody Eakin tallied two goals and an assist.
Arizona Coyotes @ Dallas Stars, 3-1 F:
While the Penguins game was in the midst of a long winning streak through March, this game was simply the Stars trying to stay above water.
After starting the month of November with a record of 2-7, it was crucial for the Stars to establish more wins if they wanted to be taken seriously for the rest of the year.
Enter the Arizona Coyotes. On November 20th, the Coyotes visited the AAC for a matchup with their former Pacific Division rival. Just a week earlier, the Stars had received one of their two wins of November in Arizona when they beat the Coyotes, 4-3.
This game was coming on the heels of a three-game skid for the Stars. Lowly and almost out of hope, the Stars needed to do something for their home crowd, a crowd they had not won in front of since October 21st. They made sure to do it in dramatic fashion.
After falling down 1-0 late in the first, the Stars managed to make it to the end of the second still down goal. Now, the Dallas Stars are not a team that is known for their third period rallies. In fact, the Stars were usually the team that had a rally invoked upon them by another team.
So the third period stared them down, and they met the challenge head on. Just 19 seconds into the third period John Klingberg, who was still rather new to the NHL at the time, scored his first career goal. It was a slick one too. Check the video below. Not only that, but 33 seconds later Cody Eakin brought the Stars their first lead of the game. With 4:18 to go, Jason Spezza put the final nail in the coffin, giving the Stars hope once again with a 3-1 victory.
Now that you have been refreshed somewhat on the games, it’s time for you to let your voice be heard. Vote below on which game you think was the more entertaining. The poll will deactivate in 24 hours and the winning game will move on to the next round. Apologies to anyone using the mobile app as it does not currently support our polls. But we encourage you to find us online or through social media and vote there!
Be on the lookout tomorrow for the next edition of this series. The Stars had some memorable games this past season, but which one was the most memorable? You can help make this decision by casting your vote down below.
Next: Jason Demers Knows How To Pull Off A Leotard
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