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The Dallas Stars continue to play their best hockey of the season at the perfect time. Fresh off blanking the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 on Wednesday night, the squad has won eight games in a row to vault into first-place in the Western Conference.
That's a franchise record; no Stars team has ever won more than seven consecutive contests, dating back to when the team moved from Minnesota back in 1993-94. In the waning weeks of 2023-24, that is no longer the case.
“There’s been a lot of great teams in this organization over the years, so to have the longest win streak is pretty cool,” star goaltender Jake Oettinger said after shutting out Connor McDavid and his Oilers, per The Associated Press. “And hopefully we can grow that as much as we can.”
With just two weeks left in the regular-season, the Stars are the Western Conference frontrunners and just one point back of the New York Rangers in the President's Trophy race. At 48-19-9 and without a defeat since March 15, is this the team to beat in a stacked conference?
The question must be asked, especially as the Stars have six games left on the schedule — with four against non-playoff opponents. Clearly, this team has as good a chance as any to finish at the top of the table. That's even more true after a seriously convincing win over the Oil.
Stars looking to return to Stanley Cup Final for 2nd time in 5 years
Dallas is looking well-positioned to make a deep run in the West, especially if they can win the conference and secure home-ice advantage for at least the first three rounds.
Back in 2020, the Stars marched all the way to the Stanley Cup Final — their first since winning it all in 1999 — before bowing out to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
The Bolts would go on to play in the next two SCF's, winning two of them, while the Stars haven't returned since. They did make it to last postseason's Western Conference Final, losing to the eventual champion Vegas Golden Knights in six games.
But four years later, there's belief in Texas that this team can return to the peak of the sport.
“Absolutely a lot of credit to Dallas Stars. They’re playing really good hockey, they are a really good team,” said Oilers bench boss Kris Knoblauch, per AP.
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“Coming here was a challenge for us and we came up short. I thought it was a good test to see how good we are, and we still have some work do to to catch up to them.”
Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston also make franchise history
Jason Robertson has been excellent for Dallas after a relatively slow start to the season, while Wyatt Johnston has looked electric throughout his sophomore NHL campaign.
Robertson is up to 77 points in 76 games, while Johnston has already scored 30 goals — and 61 points — in the same span. And both players accomplished impressive franchise feats in Wednesday's blowout win.
“Jason Robertson (0-1—1) and Wyatt Johnston (1-1—2) each hit season milestones to help the Stars establish a franchise-record eight-game winning streak and maintain a three-point lead atop the Western Conference standings,” stated NHL Public Relations.
“Johnston scored his 30th tally of 2023-24 and joined Brian Bellows (35 in 1982-83 & 41 in 1983-84) as the second player in Stars/North Stars history to record a 30-goal season prior to their 21st birthday.
“Robertson notched his second consecutive 50-assist season and became just the sixth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat, joining Bobby Smith (4 from 1979-80 – 1982-83), Dennis Hextall (3 from 1972-73 – 1974-75), Mike Ribeiro (2 from 2007-08 – 2008-09), Neal Broten (2 from 1989-90 – 1990-91) and Craig Hartsburg (2 from 1981-82 – 1982-83).”
Certainly impressive company for both players, who continue to make up one of the league's most prolific offenses in 2023-24.
The Stars will complete their final two road games of the regular-season this week; they'll head to Chicago to play the Blackhawks on Saturday before making a trip to the Mile High City to play Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche the next night.
