Welcome to the last day of our Lore Week here at Blackout Dallas. We have gone over some interesting topics this week. We talked about everything from Mike Modano to the Mooterus Jersey. It's been a fun week going over some of the most iconic things in Dallas Stars history. We are going to wrap up by talking about the infamous Pantera song later tonight. However, let's shift our focus to the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff run.
It happened during one of the darkest moments in recent history, the COVID-19 Pandemic. The world came to a virtual standstill and shut down. I remember the night they shut down the NBA, and most of the other sports leagues followed suit. However, I appreciated how the NHL and the NBA finished their seasons by implementing all the necessary safety protocols. It would give people something to do while everyone was told to stay home for two weeks.
The Dallas Stars were one of the few teams that got to continue their season in the bubble. After taking some time off, the team was ready to bring a smile to the city of Dallas, following all the horrible things that had happened. The one thing I remember about watching these games was that the Stars were laser-focused on making the Stanley Cup Finals. They had nothing to lose and had a lot to prove since they were down Ben Bishop.
Anton Khudobin was considered the playoff hero for the Stars in the bubble and coined the iconic phrase, "We're not going home." The team and the fanbase rallied around that as the team made the Stanley Cup Finals after a fantastic overtime goal from Denis Gurianov to eliminate the Vegas Golden Knights from the bubble. Little did the fanbase know that the Stars would hire Pete DeBoer to be their next head coach a couple of seasons after this.
Even though the Stars came up short against the Tampa Bay Lightning, hockey was re-ignited in the DFW Metroplex after their historic run. It stung to see Jamie Benn sit in the locker room all by himself. The Stars were so close to winning their first Stanley Cup since 1999. It's one of the toughest trophies to win in sports. Even though the Stars didn't come away with the Stanley Cup, the fanbase will forever remember their Stanley Cup run, which gave the city of Dallas something to focus on other than COVID-19.