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When it came to what the Dallas Stars did in Game 6, captain Jamie Benn said it was likely his team’s best performance of the Western Conference finals.

It was also the one that saw the Stars get eliminated in Game 6 of a Western Conference finals for the second year in a row.

Despite having three times the shots and owning the puck 75% of the time, the Stars fell short in a 2-1 loss Sunday to the Edmonton Oilers, who reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006.

“You could probably argue that was our best game of the series,” Benn said. “It just didn’t go our way.”

Entering Game 6, the goal for the Stars was to echo the comeback they mounted in the first round of the playoffs; after falling to a two-game deficit against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas ended up winning that series in seven games.

This time, the Stars had a 2-1 series lead before the Oilers scored a combined eight goals in their Games 4 and 5 wins, giving them a chance to clinch the series in six games. Otherwise, a Stars’ victory would have forced a Game 7 in Dallas which would have given Stars’ coach Peter DeBoer a chance to go undefeated in eight Game 7s in his career.

Instead? The Stars’ flight back to Dallas will be to start an offseason that will be powered by the reality they’re still in a championship window.

“We went through a gauntlet and beat some really good teams and knew we had something special,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “We lost to a team that we thought we could beat and sometimes, that’s playoffs. Sometimes, it’s that one bounce, that one goal, that one save. That’s why we all love it. That’s why it’s the hardest damn trophy in the world to win.”

Edmonton had a 2-0 lead by the end of the first after Connor McDavid deked his way to the net before firing a point-blank shot to beat Jake Oettinger before Zach Hyman scored a power-play goal with a little more than three minutes remaining in the frame.

Not only did the Oilers have a two-goal lead after the first period, but they did it by only mustering three shots while the Stars had 12.

The Stars would finish with 35 shots while the Oilers had 10. Natural Stat Trick’s metrics reveal that the Stars had a shot-share of 73.75 percent in 5-on-5 play while also having 10 high-danger scoring chances, something they hadn’t done since Game 3.

And they had three power-play chances compared to the Oilers, who just had one opportunity on the extra-skater advantage.

Yet it was the Oilers who came away with the win and a trip to the Stanley Cup final.

Even with their latest defeat, the fact the Stars lost in the conference final for a second straight season has strengthened the belief that they’re in a championship window. It’s a group that’s reached three Western Conference finals in the last five years for an organization that’s built its roster through the draft.

Benn was one of 10 players who were drafted by the Stars that played in Game 6. It’s a group that features younger talents such as Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, Oettinger and Mavrik Bourque, who made his playoff debut Sunday.

The 34-year-old Benn is one of 13 Stars players who are under contract for next season. Harley is among those who will remain under team control as he is a restricted free agent. Others such as trade deadline acquisition Chris Tanev, second-round series hero Matt Duchene and veteran forward Joe Pavelski are unrestricted free agents.

“I believe that yeah,” Benn said about the Stars’ future. “But I’m not really thinking about it right now. This a tough time.”

Seguin, who is also under contract for three more seasons, shared his reasons for optimism.

He cited how recent Stanley Cup champions have had to go through some painful defeats before reaching their goal. Seguin specifically mentioned how it took the Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning time to breakthrough.

Another team he mentioned was the one the Oilers will face in the Stanley Cup final in the Florida Panthers. They lost in the first round in 2019 and again in 2020 before reaching the second round in 2021 where they lost only to now be in a consecutive Stanley Cup final for the first time in team history.

“Unfortunately, you got to lose a lot to win in this league,” said Seguin, who won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins back in 2011. “I don’t know why it’s like that. Learn some lessons, keep this taste, and get ready for next year.”

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Sources: Knights land Marner, give star 8 years

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Sources: Knights land Marner, give star 8 years

Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights — with an eight-year extension in place, sources told ESPN on Monday. Forward Nicolas Roy will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return.

Marner’s new deal has a $12 million average annual value, according to sources. Marner, 28, was the biggest name entering Tuesday’s NHL free agency, and multiple teams were hoping to make pitches. Marner was the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer last season with 102 points — 36 more than the next-closest free agent. The winger was drafted by his hometown Maple Leafs with the No. 4 pick in 2015.

The Maple Leafs knew that Marner was looking to test free agency at the end of the season. Over the past few days, Toronto worked with Vegas, which was Marner’s preferred destination, on a trade. The Maple Leafs held Marner’s rights until just before midnight Tuesday.

Had Marner become an unrestricted free agent, he couldn’t have signed a deal for more than seven years.

Marner finished a six-year deal that paid him $10.9 million annually. Marner, who played for Team Canada at Four Nations and likely will make their Olympic team, has 221 goals and 741 points in nine NHL seasons.

Toronto general manager Brad Treliving has stayed busy this week, re-signing John Tavares and Matthew Knies while trading for Utah forward Matias Maccelli earlier Monday.

Roy, 28, is a center who is entering Year 4 of a five-year deal that pays him $3 million annually.

Ahead of the Marner trade, the Golden Knights created cap space by sending defenseman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators on Monday.

The deal makes Marner the highest-paid player on Vegas, however, center Jack Eichel ($10 million AAV) is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible to sign an extension this summer. The Golden Knights might not be done this offseason. According to sources, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is expected to go on long-term injured reserve, which could create more flexibility.

Sign-and-trades ahead of free agency are becoming a trend for NHL teams that know they will not sign their coveted player; last season, the Carolina Hurricanes dealt Jake Guentzel‘s rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning before he signed a seven-year deal.

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Sources: Panthers keeping Marchand, Ekblad

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Sources: Panthers keeping Marchand, Ekblad

Hours after re-signing Aaron Ekblad, the Florida Panthers kept another integral piece of their Stanley Cup team by re-signing Brad Marchand to a six-year contract extension, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.

Marchand’s deal has an average annual value of $5.25 million, sources told Kaplan.

Coming to terms with Ekblad on an eight-year extension worth $6.1 million annually left the Panthers with what PuckPedia projected to be $4.9 million in salary cap space.

There was the possibility that Marchand, 37, could have left the Panthers for a more lucrative offer elsewhere considering there were teams that had more than enough cap space to sign him.

Instead? Marchand, who arrived ahead of the NHL trade deadline from the Boston Bruins, appears as if he will remain in South Florida for the rest of his career.

Acquiring defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks and then adding Marchand were two decisions made by Panthers general manager Bill Zito with the intent of seeing the Panthers win a second consecutive Stanley Cup as part of a run that now has included three straight Cup Final appearances.

Marchand, who was a pending UFA entering the final day before free agency begins Tuesday, used the 2025 postseason to further cement why the Panthers and other teams throughout the NHL would still seek his services. He scored 10 goals and finished with 20 points in 23 playoff games.

For all the contributions he made, his greatest came during the Cup Final series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Marchand, who previously won a Cup with the Bruins back in 2011, opened the series with a goal in the first three games. That includes the two goals he scored in the Panthers’ 5-4 double-overtime win to tie the series with his second being the game-winning salvo.

He scored two more goals in a 5-2 win in Game 5 that allowed the Panthers to take a 3-1 series lead before returning to Sunrise, Florida, where they closed out the series with an emphatic 5-1 win.

Capturing a consecutive title created questions about whether the Panthers can win a third in a row. But there was the understanding that it might be difficult given there was only so much salary cap space to re-sign Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand.

Knowing there was a chance they could lose one, or more, of them, Zito laid the foundation to retain the trio. He began by signing Bennett to an eight-year contract worth $8 million annually on June 27 before using Monday to sign Ekblad and Marchand.

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Sources: Provorov nets 7-year deal from Jackets

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Sources: Provorov nets 7-year deal from Jackets

Ivan Provorov decided to forgo free agency, with the veteran defenseman finalizing a seven-year extension Monday worth $8.5 million annually to remain with the Columbus Blue Jackets, sources told ESPN, confirming earlier reports.

With free agency slated to start Tuesday, the 28-year-old was one of the most notable defenseman who had a chance to hit the open market.

Provorov’s decision to stay with the Blue Jackets comes shortly after it was reported that Aaron Ekblad also avoided free agency by agreeing to an eight-year extension to remain with the Florida Panthers. That now leaves players such as Vladislav Gavrikov, Ryan Lindgren, and Dmitry Orlov among the more prominent pending UFAs who could be available should they fail to strike a deal with their current teams.

Retaining Provorov comes months after a season that witnessed the Blue Jackets shed the title of being a rebuilding franchise to one that could challenge for the playoffs in 2025-26.

Four consecutive seasons without the playoffs created the idea that the 2024-25 campaign could be another challenging one. But a six-game winning streak in January saw Columbus post a 22-17-6 record to create the belief that a turnaround could be in order.

The Jackets closed the season with another six-game winning streak but fell short of the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot, which went to the Montreal Canadiens by two points.

Provorov would finish with seven goals and 33 points in 82 games while his 23 minutes, 21 seconds in average ice time was second behind Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski.

Re-signing Provorov comes in an offseason that saw the Blue Jackets also strengthen their bottom-six forward corps by adding Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche.

PuckPedia projects that the Blue Jackets now have $20.957 million in cap space ahead of free agency.

TSN was first to report news of Provorov’s decision.

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