The Dallas Stars entered Tuesday night in hopes of securing a playoff spot and made it happen with a big win against the Philadelphia Flyers. But the way in which they went about securing the spot was the most impressive part.
A magic number of one can sometimes be a daunting scenario for an NHL team on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs. And for a team like the Dallas Stars, it very well could have served as a challenging enemy.
The Stars closed out their March schedule this past Saturday in Vancouver. It was the final contest of a four-game road trip and provided Dallas with an opportunity to finish the swing on an undefeated note against a struggling opponent.
But the game offered much more than just a chance at going 4-0-0 on a late-season trip. The biggest implication for the Stars as they entered Saturday night was the opportunity to secure a spot in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their magic number sat at two, meaning that a win against a sub-.500 Canucks team would officially punch their ticket.
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That didn’t happen. The Dallas Stars fell into a 2-0 hole early in the first period and entered the third with a two-goal deficit to close. But the resilience that they had shown two nights earlier in Edmonton surfaced yet again as the Stars notched two goals late in the final frame to push the game to overtime. They eventually made it to the shootout, but dropped in the eighth round as Markus Granlund finally found a way to break Anton Khudobin and Mattias Janmark couldn’t answer.
Though the Stars didn’t officially clinch, one point was important. It trimmed the Stars’ magic number in half and pushed their playoff odds to 99.9 percent.
And that’s where things could have gotten tricky.
When a team’s magic number sits at one, there’s a certain sense of confidence that can creep in. The Stars had three more games left on their regular season schedule. All three contests were against teams well outside of the playoff picture and Dallas only needed one of the six available points to secure their spot. On top of that, any point lost by the Arizona Coyotes would also push the Stars over the mark.
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And when all of those promising scenarios mix with the fact that the Stars’ magic number couldn’t drop, there was plenty of room for Dallas to play with less emotion and energy and focus instead on next week. After all, it would have required an awful miracle for them to fall out of the picture.
But they didn’t let that false sense of security creep in. The Stars didn’t rest on their impressive comeback bid in Vancouver and take it as a clincher. They didn’t wait around for the Coyotes to lose a game (even though Arizona did lose on Tuesday night) so they could be propelled into the playoffs without having to grind it out.
Instead, they welcomed the Philadelphia Flyers to the American Airlines Center and trounced them in a 6-2 routing in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,532 fans. And with that, they officially locked up a playoff spot.
You can call the win a lot of different things. First off, it’s a clinching win. It could also be labeled as a statement win with an exclamation point attached. It included the best first period by the Stars this season and was a win that reestablished hope and potential for their playoff journey.
In the most important game of the season, the Stars broke droughts, set records, and took full control.
It all started just 94 seconds into the game when Jason Dickinson scored his first goal since Dec. 3, 2018 when he opened the scoring against the Edmonton Oilers. That’s 38 consecutive starts without a goal. Dickinson now has six goals and 21 points through 65 games this season, all of which are career-highs for the 23-year-old forward.
“That was a rough stretch,” Dickinson told Sean Shapiro of The Athletic following the game. “That one felt really good.”
Less than three minutes later, Esa Lindell scored a power play goal in front of the net on a pretty feed from Mats Zuccarello. Lindell’s goal was nothing short of a highlight reel as he scored between-the-legs in a fashion that would make Connor McDavid applaud.
“I was so close last week when McDavid pulled that I guess I learned quickly something from it,” Lindell told Shapiro after the game. “Yeah, not happening often.”
He just turns around like it was no big deal. #GoStars pic.twitter.com/lM3rVpMMcL
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) April 3, 2019
Lindell now has 11 goals and 32 points in 80 starts, all of which are also career-highs.
By the end of the first period, the Stars owned a 2-0 lead as well as a shooting percentage of 40 percent. It seemed as though they carried all of the momentum and that a playoff spot was all but imminent.
But the Flyers came clawing back. Oskar Lindblom scored early in the second period and Shayne Gostisbehere notched a power play goal a few minutes later. Just like that, the Stars were in a 2-2 deadlock as Philadelphia increased the pressure.
The Dallas Stars didn’t back down, though. They uncorked another offensive assault in the final four minutes of the period as Alexander Radulov and Tyler Pitlick scored to reestablish the lead at two. It was Pitlick’s first goal since returning on Saturday from a wrist injury that caused him to miss 30 games. By the end of the second period, the Stars had four goals on 13 shots and owned a 4-2 lead.
Pucks and Pitchforks
And though that would have been a perfect opportunity to sink back into a more defensive mode and protect their lead, Dallas kept pouring it on. They outshot Philadelphia 17-10 in the final frame, killed off two penalties, and received more goal support from Blake Comeau and Radulov as they pushed the lead to 6-2.
As the final horn sounded, there was no doubt about which team deserved to win. The Dallas Stars pulled off a big 6-2 win in a critical game and officially solidified their spot at the postseason table.
But it’s how they went about doing it that’s important. Had the Coyotes lost to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon, the Dallas Stars would have entered Tuesday’s game with nothing to play for except added motivation. And even if the Stars had lost to the Flyers on Tuesday night, they would still be playoff-bound on Wednesday due to Arizona’s loss on Tuesday.
The Stars didn’t worry about the potential outside factors, though. Instead, they focused on their own game and delivered a throttling performance.
Dickinson broke a goal drought and helped reignite his confidence in the process. Lindell scored a jaw-dropping goal and continued building on a career year. Zuccarello got his first home game in as a Star and continued to drive the Dallas offense and power play. Pitlick got back on the scoresheet in his second game back in the lineup. Radulov broke his career-high in goals with a two-score night and now sits at 29 on the year.
"“It feels good. It was a little bit of an ugly game there in the second period with so many whistles. It was hard to get any flow going. I like the way we came out in the first period and the third period and seized it. We came out to take that spot in the playoffs.” – Jim Montgomery"
The power play went 2/6. Khudobin continued his brilliant year with a 32/34 night in the crease and made a few critical stops midway through the game that kept the score even before the Stars unloaded another offensive surge. And finally, the Stars received contributions from their entire lineup and cruised to a dominant win.
That’s an incredible way to secure a playoff spot. Instead of just coasting into the postseason with another overtime loss or a loss by the Coyotes, the Stars took matters into their own hands and blasted the Flyers.
It’s a win that can encourage as well as boost confidence and morale, and it’s a win that the Dallas Stars needed.
And here we are. The 2018-19 Dallas Stars are playoff bound and have two more games on their regular season schedule to further build motivation before the real show begins next Wednesday.
Tuesday night’s win proved that they aren’t complacent. In an intense and crowded playoff race over the past month, the Stars have shone. They are 10-4-1 in their past 15 games and have an opportunity to not just enter the playoffs, but do so on a surging note.
The win against the Flyers was simply another handful of sprinkles on top of the playoff race sundae.