Does Dallas' Run Feel Strange?

[GlitchMarner]

I'm not really sure how to describe it and I certainly haven't watched the Stars a ton in the playoffs. It kind of seems/feels odd that a team that is getting nothing in the way of scoring from its top centre is a game away from reaching the SCF.

Their metrics like SAT% close and USAT% close for the playoffs aren't bad but are nothing to write home about. When I do watch them, a lot of the time it feels like the game can easily go in the other team's favor.

Not to take anything away from the Stars. They deserve credit for having gotten this far. But if they win it all, it'll certainly feel like an unusual and rather unconvincing Cup win to me... though maybe that won't be the case if they dominate the SCF.

Click to read more...

 

[Mrfenn92]

While surprising to me, they play good defense, have had good to great goal tending and really have a team built for playoff hockey. Basically western conference version of the isles to me.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Dallas - Isles SCF can you dig it

 

[LT]

Never thought I’d see the term “unconvincing Cup”, but here we are.

History won’t care. We’ll either lose and get forgotten or win and people will forget/not care how. That’s how it goes with every team.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Dallas is doing what they need to do to win.

Against Calgary, Dallas matched their style and grinded away.
Against Colorado, Dallas matched their style and played high octane offense.
Against Vegas, Dallas matched their style and played strong defense/goaltending.

Strong leadership, lots of depth, good enough goaltending which has turned into strong goaltending this latest series.

When you can constantly roll four lines, it bodes well for going deep in the playoffs.

Not really sure how any of this is "unconvincing" when the majority said both Colorado/Vegas were going to man handle Dallas. Seems pretty convincing they can take out the best in the West.

What appears to be happening, is that certain teams that rely only on scoring to win games, are surprised that teams can grind away a different way. Generally coming from Eastern Conference fans.

 

[JackSlater]

It feels a little strange to me, mainly that I don't think that Dallas is all that good. The only thing that really matters is winning though, and Dallas has done a very good job on that front to this point. Win the Stanley Cup and none of the opinions surrounding the win matter.

 

[Mr Positive]

It's not that strange.

Remember that St.Louis adding O'Reilly really stunk for a while, but when the team came together they went on a crazy hot run, and won the cup.

Dallas was always a stacked team that underperformed. On paper, they are great. They also added Pavelski, Perry, Sekera, and it likely took some time for everyone to gel. They have a lot of good veterans.

I'd say Pavelski has stepped up at center to help the team. That really was a huge loss for San Jose this year.

The team also had some good young players that caught fire.

Dallas feels like a team who is all in. They are like Washington where it feels like this is many of these vets last chance at a cup, or another cup

 

[JT Kreider]

Of course it is strange. This whole postseason has been.

 

[Kranix]

I'm not really sure how to describe it and I certainly haven't watched the Stars a ton in the playoffs. It kind of seems/feels odd that a team that is getting nothing in the way of scoring from its top centre is a game away from reaching the SCF.

Their metrics like SAT% close and USAT% close for the playoffs aren't bad but are nothing to write home about. When I do watch them, a lot of the time it feels like the game can easily go in the other team's favor.

Not to take anything away from the Stars. They deserve credit for having gotten this far. But if they win it all, it'll certainly feel like an unusual and rather unconvincing Cup win to me... though maybe that won't be the case if they dominate the SCF.

Don't worry about made up gobbledygook. Are they winning the games? yes.
They're deep on paper, and they have guys that are clutch.
Really good top 4 defencemen. Good goalie.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

Maybe it’s strange in the fact that the backup goalie has been starting all the games, but he’s been great and the team is solid.

I’m not surprised that they’ve won at worst 4/7 games twice in a row, and likely a third. Perhaps a tad fortunate that they saw a lot of Colorado goalies 2 and 3 but again, they are playing their backup too and you can only play who they put in front of you so full marks to Dallas for putting themselves in the position that they are in.

 

[Fatass]

Vegas has a very good team; this series is not over.

 

[Mr Positive]

Of course it is strange. This whole postseason has been.

But it's not like this final 4 is strange. Each conference has one obvious team, Tampa and Vegas. The Isles and Stars are lower, sure, but interesting. This Isles roster almost won the division last year, and have a great coach. It's less strange than the runs that the Devils and Rangers went on in recent years. It's rare for the final 4 to just be the top 4 teams of the regular season.

 

[Elysian]

I doubted this Stars team all the way through game 7 of the 2nd round, thought for sure that was when they'd be out of it. At this point, I don't doubt them. That's what feels strange to me. I'm not even worried about what else happens, they've far exceeded my expectations, which also feels strange.

 

[Kranix]

They played the style that can take you far all year.

 

[KingsFan7824]

The Kings got through the Hawks and Rangers in 2014 with 0 goals from Kopitar in either series.

Dallas currently has 2 D that are scoring at 90 and 60 point paces. They've got 4 F's that are scoring at 37, 33, 33, and 29 goal paces. Plus a random hat trick in a Game 7 too. As long as the goals are coming from somewhere, I guess what Seguin does or doesn't do doesn't matter much, if we're talking team glory.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I think it’s because how they are winning and the make up of Dallas. A defenceman has been their top scorer by five points and a 34 year old backup journeyman is shutting the door and keeping them in games

 

[JT Kreider]

But it's not like this final 4 is strange. Each conference has one obvious team, Tampa and Vegas. The Isles and Stars are lower, sure, but interesting. This Isles roster almost won the division last year, and have a great coach. It's less strange than the runs that the Devils and Rangers went on in recent years. It's rare for the final 4 to just be the top 4 teams of the regular season.

How is it strange for a team to went to 3 ECF's in 4 years?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Dallas is weird.

Heiskanen is a monster, Benn looks like he's turned back the clock 5 years and they've gotten contributions from up and down that lineup.

We're likely not having this conversation if Colorado didn't have a billion injuries, but it is what it is. Dallas has played well enough to be in the position they're in and they've shown that they can win both the high scoring shootouts and the tightly checked 1 goal games.

 

[Ghost of Kyiv]

As a fan of the team, I'm loving it. But yeah, they're not particularly great so in the back of my mind I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Weird feeling.

 

[DFC]

They're just not an exciting team, and there's no thrilling narrative around them. Which is kind of awesome. They just stay steady and win games.

 

[Gurglesons]

As a fan of the team, I'm loving it. But yeah, they're not particularly great so in the back of my mind I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Weird feeling.

Dallas should have been in the WCF last year and has been a team many expected to make a run over the past couple years.

I’m not sure why anyone is surprised by this run, especially when earlier in the year they went nuclear and looked like the best team in the league for a month.

 

[CherryToke]

It's not strange at all. Defense wins championships. Quick puck movement and production from the backend is extremely valuable in the playoffs

 

[nbwingsfan]

The weirdest part to me is they're doing do well despite using their backup goalie and their #1C playing terrible.

Not something you see happen

 

[Kcb12345]

It shouldn't be that surprising. Only thing I'd maybe consider surprising is Khudobin being the starter and them getting this far, which I thought was for sure gonna end up killing them (could still, but hes been great this far)

But the reason I say it shouldn't be that surprising is a much worse Stars team took the Cup champs to double OT game 7 last season (that was basically all Bishop, but still).

Now they've added Pavelski, Perry, Sekera, Gurianov, and have Heiskanen and Hintz in their 2nd years now. They also have a better 13th forward in Kiviranta.

Also important to add that it's nice to have a healthy Oleksiak for this run. Unfortunately looks like Hintz and Faksa might miss some time though which is gonna sting. Now I'll be honest though, I did not expect this team to get past Colorado. I did not expect them to score goals like they did in the first 2 rounds, and I did not expect them to go up 3-1 on Vegas. So it's a bit weird, but like someone else mentioned, I think the Veterans on this team realize that this might be their last chance at a Cup, so why not go all out.

 

[featherhawk]

Its a team that has a lot of talent and veteran leadership sprinkled with some high talented youth who has a hot goalie and a coach that has buy in...

they most certainly have a sense of being a team of destiny at this point in time. What remains to be see is if they will close off Vegas and be able to ride that wave well enough to beat Tampa...