Now that I look back at it, I have to say, I definitely overlooked the Stars. They may have barely made the playoffs, but they were a legitimately tough challenge who really took it to the Flames at times.
When you really dissect this Dallas team, you’ll see that they were built for the playoffs similar to Darryl’s Kings from a decade ago who just managed to squeeze into the playoffs but seemed to hit another gear and transform into playoff monsters.
Remember, with basically the same core, they went to the Stanley Cup finals just 2 seasons ago and that was without the aide of Jake GOATtinger. They also took the eventual Stanley Cup winning Blues to OT game 7 in round 2 of the 2019 playoffs. Is it crazy to think the Stars could’ve been finalists in 2019 as well? Very possible as they were basically the St Louis Blues disguised in green sweaters. Same style, very heavy, grinded out wins.
So that’s 4 series wins in their last 2 post seasons (almost 5), losing only to maybe the best team of this decade in Tampa and St Louis, where they came within one goal of eliminating the Blues. So they definitely weren’t an easy out when you dive a little deeper.
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