Dallas Stars Continue To Prove Doubters Wrong
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars, with the public opinion set against them, stood tall and defeated the St. Louis Blues in game one of the Western Conference semis. This is starting to get repetitive.
The Dallas Stars are a frustrating team in many aspects. Not only do they execute a frustrating style of play at times that involves giving up big leads and decreasing the projected life spans of their fans, but they also have frustrating players on their team.
Antoine Roussel and Travis Moen meet the definition of frustration that involves getting under the opponent’s skin. But they also have players like Valeri Nichushkin and Alex Goligoski that hit spurts of downtime in their production that cause Stars’ fans to tear their hair out.
But you know how else they are frustrating? They always know how to stand tall against a doubter’s argument and tear it down. Even when the “doubters” are the majority of the media, analysts, and general hockey public.
Last night, the Dallas Stars welcomed the St. Louis Blues to the American Airlines Center to kick off their Western Conference semifinals series. The Stars had stumbled a tad but eventually advanced past the Minnesota Wild in the first round by route of six games, while the Blues took it down to the bitter end and bested the Chicago Blackhawks in seven.
Before the series started, it was projected to be one of the tightest of the second round, if not the tightest. Both teams had opposite styles of play which would clash nicely, with the Stars riding their high-flying offense and the Blues trusting their shutdown defense and goaltending.
Oh, what a fun series it was made out to be. And the first game followed script perfectly.
While the Dallas Stars ran possession and offensive attack as everyone expected, the game remained scoreless after one. When Antoine Roussel finally cracked the scoring open with a juicy rebound opportunity with 10:24 remaining in the second. Chances continued to go back and forth, until the Blues got the game back to even with a goal by Ken Shattenkirk with just 8:28 to go in the game.
Even with the tying goal being scored against them, the Stars would not go away. Radek Faksa, who is finally blooming into exactly the player Dallas hoped he would become, tallied what would be his second goal of the playoffs and the game winner with 4:44 left in the third, sending the American Airlines Center and the entire city of Dallas into an uproar.
So what’s wrong with that? That seems to be the exact opposite of frustration, at least for Dallas fans, right? Well, yes. But the thing is, not all Dallas fans and followers run on the belief that these Dallas Stars are destined for the Stanley Cup. Some of them run on the concept of realism, which is perfectly acceptable. And those fans put the Stars in the hole for this series and projected Dallas to be heading home by the end of this series.
That is just fine. Before the series began, the St. Louis Blues looked like the better team on paper. Considering the Stars would be without Tyler Seguin for at least the first few games, the Blues looked poised to take an early series lead and potentially close it out in six or a hard-fought seven games.
But after last night, it is clear that those presumptions are definitely not accurate, at least for now.
The Stars spent game one playing with unmatched confidence, firing 42 shots on net, and dishing out 32 hits. Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza, and the top two offensive lines for Dallas took the night off as Roussel and Faksa found the back of the net. Kari Lehtonen once again played as his new playoff self, sealing the victory by stopping 31 of 32. And the defense put on a wonderful show, laying the body on and keeping the Blues out.
“Honestly, I don’t think we care what anyone says about us,” Stars forward Jason Spezza told Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News after game one. “We have an idea of how we want to play, we work every day on making ourselves better, and that’s all we’re worried about. If we win, then people can analyze it all they want in the future.”
That’s just what those passionate, Cup-destined Dallas Stars fans want to hear. Come to think of it, the skeptic Stars fans are probably just as excited to hear it. After all, a win is a win, no matter how you look at it.
More stars: Three Ways The Stars Can Oust The Blues
This Dallas Stars team has done a lot of interesting things this past season. They’ve righted a lot of wrongs, and become a more fluid team in the process. But they have also proved a lot of doubters wrong in the process.
Back in June, the Stars were 66/1 favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season. Before the second round started, they had bumped up to 5/1 odds. Just a bit of a shift.
In Mike Heika’s article back on April 13th, he pointed out all of the wrongs the Stars had fixed in just one year’s time. Whether it was their record at home, their play in the Central Division, or their goals against average, there was plenty to improve on if they were going to be considered a Stanley Cup team. Well, how are they looking now?
Next: Stars Make Huge Statement In Game One
The Dallas Stars continue to do the opposite of what people expect, and this time it is paying off. They are the ultimate contrarians. They thrive off of what people say about them, and aim to do the opposite. So go ahead and continue to bet against them. Put your money behind the opponent. It seems to only be helping.