With a win in Edmonton Wednesday night, the Stars could take a commanding 3-1 lead and stretch their playoff road win streak to four.
The Dallas Stars spent the 2023-24 regular season working to gain home-ice advantage through the playoffs. They did that by winning both the Central Division and Western conference, and finished second behind the New York Rangers for the President's Trophy, ensuring the advantage through the Western Conference Final.
But the Stars' greatest success this post-season has been in unfriendly environments. They took two of three in Vegas against the Golden Knights in the first round, swept three games against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver in the second round, and won Game 3 in Edmonton Monday night to take a 2-1 lead over the Oilers in the WCF.
That translates to a 6-1 record away from American Airlines Center versus a 4-5 mark at home, an impressive mark against some of the top home teams in the league.
Vegas posted a 27-12-2 mark on home ice during the regular season. The Avalanche went 31-9-1 to claim the NHL's best home record, while Edmonton finished 28-9-4 at Rogers Place.
The Stars have a chance to keep the road momentum going and take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Final Wednesday in Edmonton. After a slow start to Game 3 Monday, Dallas overcame a two-goal deficit and stole a 5-3 win, thanks to a Jason Robertson hat trick.
Goalie Jake Oettinger has been especially dominant on the road, going 6-1 with a 1.42 goals-against average and .956 save percentage. Far from being intimidated by hostile environments, he embraces the challenge of taking the crowd out of a game.
"Everyone in here likes to play the villain and shut the home crowd up," Oettinger said prior to Game 6 against the Avalanche.
The Stars have made a habit of doing that all season. They finished with the best road mark in the NHL during the regular season (26-10-5). They are the only team in the four major professional sports to have less than three road losses since March 1, boasting a 14-2 road record over that span.
The Young Guns Are Thriving
Stars forward Logan Stankoven has only been with the team since late February, but he has seen enough to assess the road success, particularly in the playoffs.
"It just goes back to the leadership group, a lot of older guys on the team that have played in big games over their careers," Stankoven told reporters Tuesday. "There just seems to be no panic in the room no matter the score or how many games we're down in the series. I think everyone kind of looks to those guys. When they're speaking, we listen."
That veteran presence is rubbing off on several of the younger players. Robertson leads the Stars in points during the playoffs (6-10-16) as well as assists (10). At 24 years, 310 days, Robertson became the fifth youngest player in franchise history to record a hat trick in the playoffs. He's also the second-youngest player in franchise history to do so in the round before the Stanley Cup Final, joining the Minnesota North Stars' Dino Ciccarelli, who accomplished the feat in 1981.
It was the sixth hatty in Dallas team history and the 10th in franchise history.
With a goal in Game 3, forward Wyatt Johnston has eight in the post-season, equaling Mike Modano and Brad Palmer for the second-most in franchise history in a single post-season by a player before the age of 22. Ciccarelli tops that list, scoring 14 during the 1981 playoffs.
Defenseman Miro Heiskanen also reached a milestone in Game 3 by scoring his 16th career playoff goal. Heiskanen overtook Sergei Zubov and Craig Hartsburg for the most post-season goals by a defenseman in franchise history.
"It's hard not to kind of soak it all in," Johnston said of the playoff experience. "It's what pretty much all of us dream of growing up, playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs... At the same time, you want to make sure you're dialed in and not letting all the distractions get to you."
Projected Lines:
Stars head coach Pete DeBoer announced Wednesday morning that Craig Smith would be a healthy scratch, with Radek Faksa penciled in.
Robertson-Hintz-Seguin
Marchment-Duchene-Pavelski
Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
Dadonov-Steel-Faksa
Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Tanev
Suter-Petrovic
Oettinger
Updated Start Times
On Tuesday, the NHL released start times for Games 5, 6 and 7 of the Western Conference Final. All times are Central.
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Puck drop for Wednesday's Game 4 is 7:30 Pm CT and can be viewed on TNT.