Dallas Stars seize control of first round series versus Nashville

The Dallas Stars rebounded from a 2-1 series deficit, and now appear poised to win their first round series tonight at home.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Dallas Stars’ playoff exploits, then you’re probably well aware of a couple things. For one, despite having been down two-games-to-one at one point, the Stars have looked like the better team for longer stretches in the series. Second, if Dallas could just get their power play up and running, it would change the tone of the series drastically.

Well, those chickens have come home to roost pretty dramatically in the last two games. It started last Wednesday night. Down a game and desperate, the Stars played perhaps their most complete game of the entire season in drilling Nashville, 5-1. The formerly moribund power play exploded for three goals in the first period alone, turning what could’ve been a tense night into an extended party. Laughers typically don’t occur in the playoffs, but it’s glorious when it happens.

Watching that game, you couldn’t help but think this is what first-year head coach Jim Montgomery envisioned when the season started. This is the swarming overall style he wants them playing. The Stars executed the perfect game plan: defensively stifling, counterattacking, gritty, big-boy hockey that puts a catch in your throat because you know it when you see it. Their burgeoning identity has been admirably frustrating all season, by and large, but on Wednesday night it was intoxicating.

Saturday’s game was a somewhat different affair. It wasn’t quite as dominating as Game 4’s master class, but the end result was the same. After surrendering the first goal, the Stars asserted themselves and scored three straight before Nashville tried surging back. They got close, but Dallas was able to answer and then stave off every rally. The 5-3 win put the Stars within one game of advancing to the Western Conference semifinals.

More from Dallas Stars

So what’s to make of the dramatic turn in this series? Well, in trying to be as unbiased as possible, it’s probably safe to say that the Stars are the better team. They appear to be deeper, grittier in the dirty areas of the rink, and appreciably faster than Nashville as the series has evolved. In fact, the Predators have been unwillingly forced into taking undisciplined and costly penalties. It didn’t bite them early on, but the dam broke in Game 4 and provided the impetus for the Stars to apply even more pressure to their outmanned opponents. If there didn’t seem to be much distance between the two teams in the first three games, the exact opposite is true of the last two.

Of course, this isn’t to say it’s over. Sure, the Stars have a great chance to close this one out tonight at home. But an elimination game is the hardest one to win. This is especially true of a Predators squad that is battle-tested and only two years removed from a finals appearance of their own. As good as Dallas has looked throughout this series, there’s a reason Nashville’s been able to win two games. They’re a good, dangerous hockey team that the Stars cannot take for granted.

dark. Next. Dallas Cowboys Draft: 5 players worth trading up for

Still, though, if momentum truly exists in sports, then its embodiment lies in playoff hockey. Once a series starts to take on a particular tone, it’s just hard to alter its course. Ask the Tampa Bay Lightning. Once they coughed up a 3-0 lead in Game 1, they were doomed. It’s not always the “best” team that wins, it’s the one playing better at the time. If we’re being honest with ourselves, our eyes are telling us all we need to know about the way this series is headed.

Published on 04/22/2019 at 11:00 AM
Last updated at 04/22/2019 at 09:26 AM

Home/Dallas Stars