It may have taken 80 games, but the Dallas Stars got it done on Tuesday night. They secured a victory against the Philadelphia Flyers and officially punched their ticket to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Dallas Stars are playoff bound. And for the first time in three years, the road to the Stanley Cup will go through Texas. Take a moment to absorb that in its entirety.
After starting the month of March with a dominant 9-4-0 record, the Stars entered their final game of the month on a three-game win streak. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot sat at two and a win would officially punch their ticket to the postseason. All they had to do was defeat the Vancouver Canucks to close out their road trip and the month.
That didn’t happen, though the Stars fought hard. They clawed back from a 2-0 deficit and forced the game into overtime and the shootout, where they eventually fell just short of a second point. But they managed to cut the magic number in half and did a lot of positive things along the way.
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The Stars didn’t receive any help on March 31, either, as the Arizona Coyotes, who sat ninth in the Western Conference, won their game and kept the Stars from clinching.
And so, it was all in the home team’s hands as the Stars welcomed the Philadelphia Flyers to town. All they needed was a point. But they ended up getting so much more.
In one of their most impressive performances of the season, the Dallas Stars tied a season-high in goals and blasted the Philadelphia Flyers 6-2. The intensity was high, but the Stars answered the bell.
Jason Dickinson broke a goal drought less than two minutes into the contest. Esa Lindell scored on a power play goal a few minutes later thanks to an assist from Mats Zuccarello, who skated in his first game back from a five-week injury. Alexander Radulov netted two goals of his own. Blake Comeau and Tyler Pitlick also chipped in with goals.
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The power play went 2/6. Dallas had a shooting percentage above 30 percent through two periods. And in the final period, the Stars outshot the Flyers 17-10 and scored their final two goals to solidify the 6-2 victory.
When the Dallas Stars needed to step up, they did. That’s what good playoff teams do. As a result, they are headed back to the postseason after a three-year absence.
It’s the 15th time in franchise history that the team will participate in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but will be just the third time in the last 11 seasons.
Their last visit to the playoffs was in 2016. The Stars won the Central division and Western Conference regular season titles that year and posted a 50-23-9 record with 109 points. They also advanced to the second round, but fell just short in game seven against the St. Louis Blues.
But that was the past. This season, the Dallas Stars sit at 42-31-7 with 91 points. And with four potential points left on the table, they aren’t finished just yet.
Tuesday night proved that. In a big game, the Stars followed through and secured their spot at the postseason table. In head coach Jim Montgomery‘s first season as an NHL head coach, he’s turned a team stuck in mediocrity into a playoff contender.
Two games remain in the 2018-19 regular season for the Dallas Stars. But those games will simply be an opportunity to build confidence as the Stars prepare for the next step, being the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It’s been three years too long, but playoff hockey is finally coming back to Texas. And for a Stars team that is surging at the moment, it couldn’t be happening at a better time.