Dallas Stars Do What Needed To Be Done, Force Game 7
By Josh Clark
Just when you thought things could not get any more stressful and exciting, the Dallas Stars won game six last night in St. Louis and are now one win from the Western Conference Finals. Talk about resilience.
Going into game six on Monday night, a lot of people didn’t know what to think. Sure the Dallas Stars were facing elimination after losing a heartbreaker at home in game five and the St. Louis Blues were carrying plenty of momentum around with them.
But who was going to walk away victorious? And would there be a game seven back in Dallas on Wednesday? So many questions leaving Stars fans hanging in the balance.
All throughout Monday, I had all different people asking me if the Stars would pull it out. The funniest part was, I had a different answer for each one of them. “They’re going to win by a mile,” or, “It’s gonna be a tough one to win,” and finally, “The Blues just have too much momentum going in their direction,” were all viable answers that I would rotate between.
This was primarily because I did not even know what to think going into a game that could be the decider. As game six began, it was clear that I should have stuck with the first answer only. Matters Janmark, Vernon Fiddler, and Jason Spezza all scored early to give the Dallas Stars a dominant 3-0 lead after the first period, leaving the entire St. Louis crowd speechless.
But then the final 40 came along, and the Stars did the thing again. Acknowledging that they had a huge lead, Dallas decided to sit back and take a load off, giving the Blues plenty of open ice to work with. St. Louis strung together some wonderful chances, taking 37 total shots in the game. The Stars, on the other hand, put six shots combined on net in the final two periods.
So how did this extremely lopsided effort come out in favor of the Dallas Stars? Mainly because of the strong, almost unbelievable effort by Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen put together nothing short of the best playoff start of his career, stopping 35 of 37 and making three or four breathtaking saves in the final few moments of game six to keep the Blues at bay.
All that being said, the Dallas Stars are now on their way back home to what hopes to be a strong crowd to see if they can win at the American Airlines Center, something they have struggled with this series, and close out this series on a high note.
All in all, it feels like this was destined to happen. Well, maybe not destined. But everyone (except maybe a couple of Blues fans) wanted this series to reach a game seven. The series was simply too entertaining to end a game early.
So, as all quality hockey teams do, the Dallas Stars made sure that they would not be bested in game six. They showed resilience mixed with tenacity, and received some great performances from the players that needed it most (belated happy birthday to Mr. Fidds). The Stars continue to bounce back in the most unlikeliest of situations and scenarios, and that’s something to be proud of.
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But now they cannot bounce back anymore. Now they hold the advantage, however slight it may be, and they must learn in the next few hours how to play with it. There is nothing left to bounce back or recover from. The Stars have to do something they have not done all series: win two games in a row. Are they up for the challenge?
“We’re having a blast in here,” Dallas Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski told the Dallas Morning News. “Just a bunch of guys digging deep for each other. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Next: Stars Perseverance Is Unmatched When Facing Adversity
Who’s up for a little game seven action for the first time ever at the American Airlines Center. Stars fans, it’s about time y’all sent a message to the team and the NHL. Fill that barn on Wednesday night. Arrive early, be loud, and wear victory green. This is your team, and they have a real shot at doing something great. Now prove it.