Dallas Stars: Three Keys To Winning Game 7 Against St. Louis Blues

The stage is set for a winner-take-all matchup between the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. But as Game 7 approaches, let’s take a look at some potential keys to victory for Dallas.

The Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues will put their seasons on the line on Tuesday night as they meet up and duke it out in a Game 7 showdown. In a way, it’s a perfectly fitting way to go out.

Let’s rewind to Jan. 1, 2019 for a moment. The Stars are 20-16-4 with 44 points on the season and are on the border of the Western Conference playoff picture. They are in the midst of a home-heavy schedule and are desperately trying to get away from the clutches of mediocrity and build themselves into a legitimate playoff challenger. Oh, and their CEO just publicly tore into their top superstars (Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin) just four days prior for their “lacking” production.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues are sitting dead-last in the NHL standings and look lost. They have already been through a midseason coaching change, teammates have dropped the gloves with each other during practice, and the high hopes of them being a challenger for the Stanley Cup seem to have evaporated entirely.

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And now, both teams sit one win away from the Western Conference Final. Fascinating what all can happen in half of a season in the NHL, right? Both the Stars and Blues took their uninspiring starts and turned them into surging finishes that helped both lock up playoff spots in a crowded and tight Western Conference. It was an incredible bounce back job for both clubs.

The only problem with these two incredible comeback stories, though, is that one of them will have to be cut short in order for the other to continue.

And that’s where the focus now lies as Game 7 approaches on Tuesday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

These two teams have battled it out for six games. Much of that six-game slate has been filled with momentum swings and a load of back-and-forth action.

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Just look at the game-by-game breakdown. The Blues won Game 1 on home ice and seemed ready to answer any and every attack Dallas could muster up. But in Game 2, the Stars showed out in a full effort as they stole a win on the road to even the series. Game 3 was dominated by a strong will from St. Louis and an ineffective effort from Dallas. Game 4 was all Stars as they pushed it back to even and they followed it up with a win on the road in Game 5 thanks to a strong showing in net. And in Game 6, the Stars fell short of a clinching effort as the Blues dominated to even the series up one more time.

1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3. There’s no way it could be any closer going into Tuesday night.

And that’s what makes Game 7 so special. Both teams have earned the right to be here and battle it out one last time on one of the biggest stages in all of sports.

So, as the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues take the ice at the Enterprise Center on Tuesday night in a winner-take-all format, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of momentum in one direction or the other. The ground is even, as is the competition. All that’s left is to find out which team wants it more in the game that means the most.

But what are some potential keys for the Stars? What are some ways that Dallas can gain an upper hand and use it to push them into their first Western Conference Final appearance since 2008?

Let’s take a quick look at a few X-factors that could assist in determining the Stars’ fate.