Dallas Stars Get Just What They Wanted For Christmas
By Josh Clark
It’s finally Christmas Eve, and the Dallas Stars were able to close their five-game homestand out last night with a win over the Kings. But the win could mean much more than just two mere points.
Remember when the Dallas Stars took on the Boston Bruins in a shootout at TD Garden? Chances are if you have been a Stars fan for at least three years, you remember it explicitly.
It was November of 2013. The Stars were in their first year under new GM Jim Nill and had been sporting their bright green jerseys for no more than a month. The winds of change were definitely still imminent and encircling the Dallas Stars squad.
Dallas traveled to Boston to take on the Bruins in the early part of November, and they were bringing some familiar faces back to Beantown. In the 2013 offseason, Nill made waves in the trade market when he acquired forwards Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley from Boston in exchange for Loui Eriksson and a few prospects.
It ended up being the blockbuster trade of the offseason, and it was still very evident on November 5 when the two new Stars returned to the place where they had won a Stanley Cup two years prior.
The two teams ended up going to a shootout, and you can probably guess which two Stars scored to win the game for Dallas. Yes, it was Seguin and Peverley. As boos rained down on both from the stands, they each found a way to snipe a shot past Tuukka Rask and effectively silence the city.
Immediately after the win, Daryl “Razor” Reaugh said one word to describe the finish: storybook.
The word perfectly embodied the game itself as well as how it ended.
And after last night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, the one word that kept coming to my mind as I wrote the post game report was “storybook.” Even after three years, it still rings as true as the bell from the movie Polar Express (here’s a fun little Christmas reference for ya).
Last night, the Dallas Stars closed out their five-game homestand in dramatic fashion, besting the Kings in overtime. Yes, you read that right. Overtime.
It was a game of incredible suspense and plenty of milestones. Radek Faksa scored his tenth career goal. Tyler Seguin tallied his eleventh goal of the year and jumped back into the top ten in the NHL points race. Esa Lindell scored his first overtime game-winner. Kari Lehtonen stopped 29-31 in his first appearance since December 11th.
The Stars notched just their second overtime win in nine attempts this season (2-7). They also finished their “critical” homestand with seven of a possible ten points. And finally, Dallas hopped back to a .500 record with the win (14-14-7).
“You always want to win the last game going into any break,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “And that was a tough game tonight. That’s a really good team over there and we stuck it out right to the end.”
The win pushed Dallas to just three points out of the final wild card spot with a game in hand and six points out of third place in the Central Division. With 47 games still to go in the season, it’s evident that anything could still happen.
But the win last night definitely carried some holiday magic behind it. It was a triumphant victory that had all that is good buried within it.
Next: Stars Break Overtime Curse, Knock Off Kings 3-2
The biggest question will be whether this Christmas miracle can carry on for Dallas. Not just to Arizona on the 27th, but throughout the rest of the year. There’s ground still to be gained and a lot left to be done.
But the Dallas Stars can spend the next few days relaxing in the win and preparing to hopefully replicate it on Tuesday. Merry Christmas indeed, Stars fans.