This will be part of the conclusion to our playoff coverage this season. It stings for me even to write this article because I wish we had a Game 7 back at the American Airlines Center, so we could cheer the Stars off the ice if they lost.
However, the Minnesota Wild deserve to take on the Colorado Avalanche to decide who the top dog in the Central Division will be in the Western Conference Finals. Even though the Minnesota Wild were the third seed in the Central Division, they were a bit better than the Stars in the first round.
They really improved over the course of the season, and it all started with the Quinn Hughes trade. I think the Stars took credit for the Wild making the trade because it happened after we played them. That was just the first step the Wild took in making the team better.
While the Wild improved their defense early in the season, they needed to get physical, and that's where they improved at the NHL Trade Deadline with the acquisition of Nick Foligno from the Chicago Blackhawks. We also can't forget Michael McCarron, whom the Wild got from the Nashville Predators. His two goals really helped out the Wild in the series against the Stars.
Let's move over to the Stars' side of things now as we look at what really tripped them up in the first round of the playoffs. First of all not being able to score even-strength goals tripped up the team as the Wild were able to capitalize.
If a team wants to win the Stanley Cup, you have to be able to score with the extra man and at even strength. Dallas couldn't do both and that's how it affected the Stars on the offensive side of the puck. While it was nice to see Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston score, Mikko Rantanen and others were completely absent. The lack of offense wasn't the only thing that didn't go the Stars' way.
Taking a look at the defensive side of their game, if you are unable to clear the puck, you'll lose games in the postseason. The number of times the Stars tried to clear the puck and failed as the series went along led the Wild to capitalize on the power play and even strength. That led to Matt Boldy's overtime winner in Game 4.
The last thing that didn't go Dallas's way was Glen Gulutzan's reluctance to make changes throughout the series. First off, the fact that Dallas even reached the postseason with all their injuries in the regular season speaks to Gulutzan's ability to make changes. However, he didn't do that in the postseason.
However, I have to question why he relied on the same lineup over and over again. I know he changed the lines in Game 2 to focus on the penalty kill since the Wild have a great power play. His reluctance to wait to shuffle the lines before Game 6 is mind-baffling. Michael Bunting was amazing in Game 6, and Dallas could have won some of the close games if he were in the lineup.
Small things throughout the series made the Wild just a bit better than the Stars. The fact that Dallas was eliminated after the first round should not take away from all the accomplishments they made during the regular season. Fans have to be okay with losing in the postseason. It makes you wonder if fans really had high expectations after making three straight Western Conference Finals? The jury is still out on that question as the Stars watch the second round from the couch.
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