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Dallas Stars comeback finally runs out of gas in lopsided Game 6 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights
After limping into the Stanley Cup playoffs a year ago, the Dallas Stars went on a magical 2022-23 run. But as it does for 31 teams each season, that run eventually came up short.
The Dallas Stars became a true powerhouse team this season. Their blend of veterans, young core and youth merged together to produce a top team in the Western Conference.
In the postseason, Dallas knocked off the Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken to reach the Conference finals. After falling down 3-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Stars pushed back and came within one win of forcing a Game 7. But in the end, the comeback ran out of gas.
"Maybe one too many nights of us going to the well in an elimination game," Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said. "I think that was our fourth, I don't think Vegas has played one yet. Every time you go to an elimination game, it takes a toll physically and mentally. I just didn't think there was a lot left."
In Game 6, Dallas only mustered 23 total shots in a 6-0 loss. They were held to just 12 through 40 minutes.
Dallas Stars comeback eventually falls shorts in Western Conference finals
In a game like this, where a team has put so much into coming back and making this a series, one mistake is usually enough to derail. The Dallas Stars gave everything they had in games 4 and 5 in order to stay alive. They got the job done but as it went on, they didn't have much left.
If Dallas had come out and scored the first goal in Game 6, maybe they would have found a way to dig deep again and play well enough to win. But once Vegas got off to another early lead, the fourth straight game in which they scored first, the Stars deflated.
Early in the game, Vegas was buzzing. But Dallas found a way to push back and create a couple of chances of its own. As it has often been in this series, it came down to a missed chance on one end and an almost immediate goal on the other.
That is a deflating feeling in an early regular-season game, let alone Game 6 of the Western Conference finals with your season on the line. That deflation showed in the Stars body language and the way it played the remainder of the game.
"Real disappointed for our group," DeBoer said. "Not in our group, for our group. For the way the season ended. For the time, commitment, and energy that group put into the season, it shouldn't end that way. But that's hockey."
Yes, the Vegas Golden Knights are moving on to the Stanley Cup Finas, and deservedly so.
But the hockey world should also give the Dallas Stars a ton of credit for the guts they showed in bringing this series as far as they did. They made believers out of a lot of people, and this run will likely pay off for the franchise down the road.
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