Golden Knights the first of many hurdles for Dallas Stars on run to Stanley Cup

Let’s do something crazy and start at the end. The Cowboys won their first Super Bowl over the Dolphins and the Mavericks have never played anyone besides the Heat in the NBA Finals, splitting those series. So in celebration of the 25-year anniversary of the Stars’ only Stanley Cup parade, how about Dallas and Miami getting together one more time?

How about Stars over the Florida Panthers in six games sometime around Father’s Day?

This is called getting way ahead of yourself, but only the athletes and coaches and those involved really have to stay in the moment, take things one shift at a time as it were. In this business, we can allow our minds to wander all the way to the finish line, but then at least recognize the folly of it. Picking how the Stanley Cup playoffs will finish is fun, and I’m sure others with an anniversary bent might look to the New York Rangers’ triumph over Vancouver 30 years ago — one of the best Final series ever — and say, hey, these teams are great, let’s do that again!

The thing is that getting there is the ultimate grind. It takes 16 wins in the NBA playoffs, too, but the team with either the best collection of superstars or the most important one generally walks off with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The Stanley Cup is something else entirely, and the fact that the Stars wrapped up the West’s No. 1 seed Wednesday is a great achievement — no doubt it’s the way to go — but it doesn’t necessarily mean squat when the games begin this weekend.

Let’s examine the major reasons why it‘s so difficult.

In this case, it begins with the defending Cup champs stumbling on the final night of the season, losing at home to the Anaheim Ducks, to fall into the second wild card. The Stars were silent about it, but they surely expected to get the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. The Vegas Golden Knights, owners of three wins over Dallas this season (two in OT) are no bargain. Include last year’s conference finals and Vegas has won seven of nine against the Stars. Whether or not captain Mark Stone will return to play from a lacerated spleen is anyone’s guess, but he was a key component of what Vegas accomplished a year ago.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer said his team was clearly relieved when it reached overtime against St. Louis on Wednesday because that, in itself, clinched the top seed. “But we wanted to win the game. The building was electric and we wanted to give the fans a win. That’s a lot of points, 113 points,” he said.

Indeed it is. Only New York had more. But the NHL is not a place where No. 1 seeds always thrive. Remember a year ago Boston had (get this) 135 points. The Bruins were 65-12-5. They were 34-4-3 at home. No one ever collected more points in an 82-game season.

They lost to Florida (which had 92 points) in seven games in the first round. A 43-point disparity meant nothing. The Panthers won the last three in Boston. Explain that.

You can’t.

The Stars had the home-ice advantage in the first two rounds a year ago but gave way to Vegas in the conference finals and the Golden Knights eliminated Dallas in six games. So this year, DeBoer’s team raised its game from 108 points — second best in the division — to 113, second only to the Rangers in the entire league.

”We want to have home ice as much as we can,” goaltender Jake Oettinger said, “and we’re going to have it unless we play New York in the Finals.”

It‘s what teams spend six months battling to obtain. And yet the record of home teams in last year’s playoffs? Try 41-47.

Vegas was very good (9-3) and the Stars weren’t bad at the AAC, needing the home crowd to get past Seattle in Game 7. They were 6-4. The rest of the league was 26-40 at home.

Explain that. You can’t.

The Stars have basically the same team as a year ago with a couple of nice upgrades like Matt Duchene being one of their six 25-goal scorers (eight Stars have 20 or more) and veteran Chris Tanev helping to guard the back end. But it’s important to remember that while Dallas reached the conference finals in 2023, it took a hard push to get there. They trailed Minnesota 2-1 before winning in six. They trailed Seattle 2-1 before winning in seven.

Then they trailed Vegas 3-0 before battling their way to a sixth game before conceding. Now they get Vegas again? To start?

Might as well beat the best to be the best. Dallas may have the rare ”opportunity” to knock off the last two Cup champions before they even reach the conference finals. That is why we call this the toughest championship in sports. And, as DeBoer said, “The NHL’s a long season. You get to the end, and now’s the fun part. What I love about the NHL is the parity, the battles to get in. There’s a reason some call the first round of the NHL playoffs the best two weeks in sports.”

No one needs to explain that.

Figure on the Stars to do their part, escape the Golden Knights and be on their way. But nothing about it will come easily, and half the fun of a series that will have 8:30 and 9:30 Central time starts beginning Monday may be after midnight, so get ready.

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