The Dallas Stars will welcome either the Edmonton Oilers or Vancouver Canucks to the American Airlines Center in Texas on Thursday night, and one thing is for sure: the Central Division champions will be well-prepared for their second consecutive Western Conference Final.
The Stars bowed out to the eventual champion Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the 2023 WCF, but the squad has at least one thing going for them ahead of another chance to play for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final: rest.
“We were starting to run on fumes here at the end of this round,” head coach Pete DeBoer said after a thrilling second-round series win against the Colorado Avalanche, per the Associated Press. “You can fill your tank up pretty quickly with a four- or five-day break. So a critical break for us.”
The Stars outlasted the Avalanche in six games in their second-round series, taking a 3-1 lead and losing Game 5 at home before dispatching their divisional rivals on a Matt Duchene double overtime winner at Ball Arena in Denver.
That happened back on Friday night, meaning Dallas will have a full five days of rest before the West Final kicks off on Thursday. For either Vancouver or Edmonton, it will be a two-day break after Monday night's winner-take-all Game 7 in British Columbia.
And that should give the Stars a slight advantage heading into Round 3, especially with the club having home-ice advantage and a couple days off to recover in Texas.
“I feel like I got a lot of energy, but yeah, at times, you need some rest,” said emerging star Wyatt Johnston, who leads his team with seven goals in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He added: “We played two really, really good teams. It's not easy to win even one game in the playoffs, let alone a full series. We obviously have a lot of confidence, and we obviously know it's not easy, but it's definitely good to be able to beat two really amazing teams so far.”
Stars believe they can beat anyone after knocking out last 2 champions
The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023; the Avalanche, 2022. But this time around, there will be a new champion after the Stars impressively dispatched both teams en route to the Final Four.
It's the second consecutive WCF for Dallas, who are looking to advance to the Final for the first time since 2020.
“It’s the best league in the world in my mind,” DeBoer said of playoff puck, per NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika. “It’s the best place to work. I said it last year when we lost to Vegas. If we couldn’t win, there was a bunch of men there that I coached that I really wanted and hoped would win. You know, I think you see that around the League. If you can’t be doing it, there’s a lot of other people there that you develop relationships with over the years in this league that you would like to see win.”
DeBoer is one of those people that is being rooted for across the NHL. He's been to the playoffs nine times in 16 seasons as s coach, and has been to at least Round 3 seven times. He's also a perfect 8-0 in Game 7's.
But none of that will matter when the puck drops in Dallas on Thursday night, as DeBoer and his Central Division champions look to knock out whatever Canadian team stands in the way of a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
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