In a rematch of last year's Western Conference Final, Dallas will take on the defending Stanley Cup champions beginning Monday.
In a rematch of last year's Western Conference Final, Dallas will take on the defending Stanley Cup champions beginning Monday.
The final day of the NHL regular season can be almost as riveting as the post-season. While the Eastern Conference playoff matchups were set, the West still had some questions to answer regarding playoff positioning.
The Dallas Stars clinched the top seed in the conference in their final regular-season game Wednesday. The only question remaining was who their first round opponent would be: the Vegas Golden Knights or Los Angeles Kings.
That question would be answered Thursday. Vegas fell 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks in their regular-season finale. After a scoreless first period, Anaheim scored on a power play at the 15:35 mark of the second period before the Knights tied it with their own power play tally late in the frame. The Ducks then went on to score three unanswered goals in the third, including an empty-netter, to close out the season.
All eyes then turned to the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks contest that same evening to determine who Dallas would face in the first round. The Kings needed just one point to set up a Stars-Vegas rematch, while a Chicago win would mean the Kings would be the Stars' opponent.
The Blackhawks struck first before L.A. tallied three consecutive goals in the second. The Stars and their fans began preparing for the possibility of a Vegas rematch.
Not so fast. Chicago made things interesting by scoring three straight goals of their own in the third and took a 4-3 lead. After pulling goalie Cam Talbott late in the period, the Kings found the net to tie the game and send it to overtime, thereby assuring a Stars-Golden Knights rematch of last year's Western Conference Final. Los Angeles scored the winning goal just six seconds into the overtime, although the victory was anticlimactic at that point.
Some of the Dallas players stayed away from the excitement, while others were as glued to their media devices as the fans.
"I had a hard time falling asleep last night just thinking about everything," forward Matt Duchene said after practice Friday. "This is a really exciting time of year, and these are the kind of times where you're gonna miss them when you're done playing. I try and have that perspective as much as I can. It's going to be fun."
DeBoer has as much of a personal interest as anyone in this series. He coached the Golden Knights for three seasons before coming to Dallas prior to last season. Vegas went to the Western Conference Finals in consecutive seasons under DeBoer, losing in the 2019-20 bubble to, ironically, the Stars. Now, DeBoer gets a second chance to knock off the Golden Knights, this time in the first round.
"I think it's going to be an absolute war on the ice," DeBoer said Friday. "You've got two big, heavy, hard teams that are both trying to get to the net front and protect their net front. It's gonna be a big, heavy, hard series. At the same time, you've got a lot of speed and skill on both teams, too."
The Stars and Golden Knights met three times during the regular season, with Vegas winning all three contests, outscoring Dallas by a combined score of 11-4. The first two meetings were decided in a shootout and overtime, while Vegas dominated in a 6-1 win in the third game. However, all three matchups occurred between October 17 and December 9, and a lot has changed for both teams since then.
At the time of the December 9 meeting, the Golden Knights were the top team in the NHL. But numerous injuries contributed to the club taking a nosedive to 14th, while the Stars have enjoyed greater success over the last couple of months. Their scoring depth, along with the acquisition of defenseman Chris Tanev and the resurgence of goalie Jake Oettinger have all contributed to both a Central Division and Western Conference title.
"It's hard to look at (Vegas's) recent results and say, 'This is what we're getting'," DeBoer said.
The Golden Knights are is hoping captain Mark Stone and forward William Carrier will be able to return off the long-term injured list (LTIR) in time for the series. Stone, who has been out since February, has 53 points (16-37-53) in 56 games this season. Carrier, who hasn't played since March 25, has eight points (6-2-8) in 39 games. He scored two goals in the Western Conference Final against Dallas last season.
The Stars know better than anyone that regular-season success against an opponent doesn't always translate to beating them in a postseason series. Dallas went 1-0-2 against the Golden Knights in 2022-23, only to bow out to them in six games in the conference finals. That, coupled with the failure to win any of the three games against them this season will certainly be on their minds when the series gets underway Monday at American Airlines Center.
Here is the schedule for the first-round series. * if necessary / all times CT.
Game 1 | Monday, April 22 at 8:30 p.m. | American Airlines Center | TV: BSSW, ESPN
Game 2 | Wednesday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. | American Airlines Center | TV: BSSW, ESPN
Game 3 | Saturday, April 27 at 9:30 p.m. | T-Mobile Arena | TV: BSSW, TBS
Game 4 | Monday, April 29 at TBD | T-Mobile Arena * | TV: BSSW, TBD
Game 5 | Wednesday, May 1 at TBD | American Airlines Center * | TV: BSSW, TBD
Game 6 | Friday, May 3 at TBD | T-Mobile Arena * | TV: BSSW, TBD
Game 7 | Sunday, May 5 at TBD | American Airlines Center * | TV: BSSW, TBD
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