Despite ‘our best game,’ Stars ousted in Game 6

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.”