Dallas Stars Prospects: Texas Stars Look To Advance In Playoffs

The Dallas Stars aren’t playing playoff hockey right now, but their farm team is making up for it. After a thrilling first three games, the Texas Stars are one win away from advancing to the second round.

There is exciting playoff hockey going on in Texas right now. And though it isn’t the Dallas Stars that are playing it, they will likely benefit from it soon.

The Texas Stars are currently interlocked in an intense first round matchup with the Ontario Reign. It’s the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the 16-team postseason for the American Hockey League (AHL). And so far, they are doing a pretty good job.

Texas owns a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series over the Reign. After splitting the first two games in Cedar Park with a 4-3 overtime win on Thursday and 5-1 loss on Friday, the Stars headed for Ontario, California and picked up a 5-4 win in double overtime on Sunday night. Samuel Laberge scored the game winning goal moments after Mike McKenna, who served a brief stint with Dallas this past season, made a stellar stop to move his tally to 44-44 on the night.

Texas now owns the advantage in the series and could potentially close it out on Tuesday night in game four. The game will take place in Ontario and starts at 9:00 p.m. CST.

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The Dallas Stars farm team made it into the Calder Cup Playoffs this season after missing the cut in 2016-17. They finished in second place in the Pacific Division after turning in a record of 38-24-8-6 and 90 points on the year. They had the same number of points as the Tucson Roadrunners, but Tucson earned the first place spot in the division due to points percentage (which is the determining factor in the AHL, considering each team plays a varying number of games).

It has been a solid bounce back year for the hockey team from Cedar Park, and they don’t seem to be done yet, either.

If Texas can pull off the win on Tuesday night, they will advance to the second round and await the winner of the Tucson and San Jose series (which is tied at 1-1). They could also be the first team in the playoffs to advance to the second round. That would be pretty impressive in and of itself.

Texas is trying to capitalize on its positive postseason history this season. Since their inaugural season in 2009-10, the Stars have only missed the Calder Cup Playoffs once. They’ve been past the first round in three of their past six qualifications and played in the Calder Cup Finals twice. They won their lone championship in 2014 behind an overtime goal from Patrik Nemeth against the St. John’s Ice Caps.

Will they be able to add another Cup to the trophy case? There is still a long road to navigate and nothing is guaranteed. But they are definitely moving in the right direction at the moment.

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The Dallas Stars may not be able to consistently clench a spot in the playoffs, but at least their AHL team makes up for it, right?