Dallas Stars avoid their worst loss in more than 20 years and exorcise a Las Vegas demon

From the ticket taker, to the hot dog vendor, to the owner, to the coach and the general manager, no one close to the Dallas Stars organization wanted to touch the topic of the consequences of a Game 7 defeat.

The amount riding on the outcome of the Stars’ Game 7 against the Las Vegas Golden Knights in their first round playoff series on Sunday night far exceeded the norm.

The coach wasn’t going to be fired, and neither was the general manager; this one was entirely on the players. For the last several years the Stars have been the “Stanley Cup” winner that just hasn’t quite been good enough to actually win the Stanley Cup.

At some point, even if you’re getting close, any organization looks inward and asks themselves, “What are we doing wrong?” (The exception to this rule is the Dallas Cowboys).

Stars owner Tom Gaglardi loves this sport, knows just enough to be dangerous, and there is a good chance he would have pushed to do something dramatic. The Stars had not been doing anything wrong, they just weren’t quite good enough.

No team exposed that reality better than the Knights, the defending Stanley Cup champion who ended the Stars’ season in the 2023 Western Conference finals. If the Stars were going to ever prove to the rest of the NHL, and themselves, they are worthy of a Cup run, they had to get by this team.

A team of computer scientists could not have constructed two teams any closer. They are literally one goal apart. In the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Stars were on the right side of that goal.

The Stars defeated the Golden Knights 2-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to advance to the Western Conference semifinals to face the Colorado Avalanche.

The Stars trailed this series 0-2, and should have been knocked out but advanced on for a reason. This is a good, well built team that just desperately needed a few things to break right in order to move on to the next round.

“Talking to their team, (Las Vegas) wanted back-to-back and they felt like they had the team to do it. A lot of people after the second game agreed with that,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said after the win. “There was a lot on the line for us, too, just because of the season we had.”

A small understatement. The Stars had the most points of any team in the Western Conference, and earned the No. 1 seed for the playoffs. When the one seed goes out in the first round, hell isn’t too far behind.

“It would have been really disappointing to be out in the first round,” DeBoer said. “It wouldn’t have been as disappointing for me this year compared to last year to lose to Vegas, just because of how great of a team they are. The disappointing part would have been all of the work we put in this year, and how we played over the course of the season, to earn the No. 1 seed.

“To get that draw, and to get ousted, would have been hard to swallow.”

Had the Stars lost on Sunday night, it would have been this team’s worst playoff loss the spring of 1997. That season, the Stars had the second-most points in the conference, but lost in Game 7 of their first round series at home against the Edmonton Oilers.

A fortunate third period goal from Stars forward Radek Faksa 44 seconds into the third period was the final margin, but the Stars won this game thanks to team defense, and a goalie, that did not give Vegas any opportunities but maybe three.

“It was a relief,” Faksa said of his game-winner.

Relief. Not joy. Relief.

The players knew what was on the line.

By coming back to defeat the Golden Knights, the Stars avoided what would have been a horrible month of May. And probably June, too. A lot of veterans would have been looking at their phones, and maybe a few staffers, too.

By coming back to defeat the Golden Knights, the Stars can move forward knowing all of these disaster scenarios are off the table.

By coming back to defeat the Golden Knights, the Stars advance to play this franchise’s most celebrated rival, the Colorado Avalanche.

By coming back to defeat the Golden Knights, the Stanley Cup the Stars covet is theirs to win.

Even though it was the first round, and they were playing the eight seed, the Dallas Stars just cleared the team they had to beat to prove to themselves, and probably their owner, too, they can do this.