[BoLevi]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Yeah, they probably do.

L.A. was declining as the season went on, especially after losing Doughty. If the season was 10 games longer, I doubt they would have made the playoffs. They were saved by the bell. A little more runway and Vancouver would have passed them, possibly Vegas too.

The Stars were 5th overall in the conference for the second half of the season. The position both teams finished was skewed by the first half of the season, but if you want to know which was the better team on day one of the playoffs, it was Dallas. Granted, we aren't talking about huge differences in points for the second half, it was pretty tight, but the label of "wild card team" unfairly makes it sound like Dallas was barely a playoff team while L.A. better. I would say that they were probably more or less equal caliber until you factor in that Oettinger put in the best playoff series goaltending performance in a generation.

Weren't the Stars 30-15 with JO in net this year?