In the moments when the Stars needed to be their best this postseason, they simply dug themselves into a bigger hole.
In their first elimination game of the playoff run in Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars were minutes away from their season ending, in a 2-0 hole in the third period, before Mikko Rantanen’s heroics extended their run a few more weeks.
But there wasn’t a third-period hat trick to save them in Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night, when a 3-0 deficit just eight minutes into the game turned into a 6-3 loss and the end of their season.
Thursday may have been the Stars’ worst start to a game of the playoffs, and that’s saying a lot given how many poor starts they’ve had.
The Stars gave up the first goal in 15 of their 18 playoff games this year, including all five in the Western Conference finals against Edmonton. They led for only 14:02 all series, and against an Oilers team with such a dangerous counterattack, it was a recipe for disaster.
“We chased every single game in this series and that’s a tough way to play hockey against that team,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer. “It was the story of the entire series.”
If that was the story of the series, maybe it was only fitting that it’s how the Oilers punched their ticket back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season.
Dallas was on its heels just 2:31 into the game after rookie Mavrik Bourque drew into the lineup for the first time in 14 games and committed a high-sticking penalty less than two minutes into the contest.
The Stars’ penalty kill, which had been shaky all series, left Corey Perry alone in the slot for the second game in a row. He converted both times.
“We’ve got to get a kill there,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to get a save. We’ve got to get something.”
And when the Stars needed a save again less than five minutes later, they didn’t get one then, either.
Mattias Janmark beat the Stars defense to get some space in the slot, and Stars goalie Jake Oettinger allowed his second goal on the Oilers’ second shot.
That was the last shot he faced all night.
When Casey DeSmith took over in net, it didn’t get much better, as the Oilers made it 3-0 just 58 seconds later.
The Stars eventually woke up and brought the game within one goal on two separate occasions, but their push led to Edmonton’s success at the other end, which was their downfall in all five games this series.
One play summed up their problems perfectly. The Stars had cut the Oilers’ lead to just 3-2 late in the second period, but after a push to tie it up in the Edmonton zone, a loose rebound landed at center ice, and Connor McDavid, of all players, ended up with a breakaway.
He doesn’t miss those.
“It’s a lot easier playing with the lead,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “We had some good pushes there, but seemed like they responded every time we scored.”
DeBoer admitted he felt Edmonton was the better team in the series, more skilled than the team they lost to last year and deserving of their spot in the Stanley Cup Final. But because of the Stars’ inability to build leads in the series, the Stars’ offense never got to show its full potential.
If they had gotten one penalty kill, or scored one goal during their countless first-period chances this series, the result could have been different.
“I would have liked to have seen if we could have gotten them in a hole, how they would have responded,” DeBoer said. “We never did.”
More on Stars’ season ender
— Five thoughts from Stars-Oilers Game 5: A familiar ending to Dallas’ season
— Ugly exit in Western Conference finals raises plenty of questions for Dallas Stars
— Connor McDavid’s breakaway goal was ‘game over’ for Game 5, Stars’ season
— National reaction to Oilers eliminating Stars: Benching Jake Oettinger ‘unforgivable’
— Why did Pete DeBoer bench Jake Oettinger? Stars coach explains early goalie swap in Game 5