Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are back in the Western Conference Finals thanks to Matt Duchene's double-overtime goal to beat the Colorado Avalanche.

Dallas captain Jamie Benn tied things up at one goal apiece in the third period and the two teams were unable to break the deadlock in the first overtime period. With 8:18 on the clock in the second OT, Duchene was in the right place at the right time to deliver a dagger into the heart of his old team.

As long as you're not an Avs fan, you couldn't have scripted it any better.

Duchene spent eight and a half seasons in Colorado and requested a trade in part because he "wanted to play playoff hockey." There was plenty of schadenfreude when the Avalanche went on to lift the Stanley Cup in 2021-22, but the 33-year-old got a level of revenge Friday night.

It was also a fitting end because Mason Marchment had a winning goal waved off in overtime due to a controversial interference call on Duchene.

The Stars await either the Vancouver Canucks or Edmonton Oilers in the conference finals. Vancouver is up 3-2 in the series heading into Saturday's Game 6.

Dallas won the season series against both teams and finished with more points. The team and its fans will like its odds of returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2020.

The Dallas Stars have a comfortable 3-1 lead over the Colorado Avalanche after a 5-1 win Monday night.

After dropping the first game of the series, the Stars have bounced back to win three straight games and now have the chance to close out the series on Wednesday.

Center Wyatt Johnston was the story for Dallas Monday night as the second-year player notched a pair of goals in the win. The big performance came just hours before his 21st birthday.

His first goal came in the first period after a wrist shot gave the Stars an early 1-0 lead. He added another goal in the second period on a snap shot.

Dallas managed to take a comfortable 3-0 lead later in the second on a goal from Miro Heiskanen, but the Avalanche quickly answered back on a goal from Casey Mittelstadt.

The Stars put the game away in the final period after goals from Evgenii Dadonov and Sam Steel.

After the win, fans praised Johnston for helping the Stars gain a comfortable lead in the series.

The Stars are now in full control of the series and have the chance to advance to the conference finals for a second consecutive season on Wednesday with a win.

The Avalanche have a lot of work to do to overcome the 3-1 deficit, but it will start with a strong performance in Game 5. Colorado will be without a key player in Valeri Nichushkin, who was suspended for at least six months ahead of Game 4.

After winning three straight, Dallas has all the momentum. Now the Stars are looking to close things out.

The Dallas Stars have evened the series against the Colorado Avalanche after a 5-3 win Thursday night.

It was all Dallas through the first two periods as the Stars took a 4-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals from Miro Heiskanen and a goal each from Roop Hintz and Tyler Seguin. The Avalanche applied some pressure in the third period after goals from Joel Kiviranta, Brandon Duhaime and Valeri Nichushkin, but Dallas ultimately capitalized on an empty Colorado net to make it a two-goal game in the final minute.

The Stars did an excellent job of shutting down Colorado stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, who have had goals or assists in all of the Avalanche playoff games so far. Dallas prevented MacKinnon and Makar from notching any points on Thursday.

The loss left NHL fans confused by the lack of production from the two stars.

The Stars now head to Colorado with a manageable series after avoiding going down 2-0, but things won't be easy on the road. The Avalanche had all the momentum in the third period, but ultimately came up short in their comeback hopes.

If Colorado can put together a full game rather than waiting until the final period to show up, it should fare better in Game 3.

The best-of-seven series will continue on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions have been eliminated from the playoffs.

The Vegas Golden Knights dropped Game 7 of their first round series to the Dallas Stars 2-1 Sunday night, ending their season.

The Stars took a 1-0 lead early in the first period on a Wyatt Johnston goal, but the Golden Knights managed to answer in the second period after Brett Howden put one in the net on a tip-in.

Radek Faksa gave Dallas a 2-1 edge in the first minute of the final period, and Vegas never responded. The Golden Knights had a prime opportunity to even things up in a power play halfway through the third period, but couldn't capitalize.

After the loss, fans lamented the disappointing first-round exit a year removed from taking home the Stanley Cup.

Vegas had plenty of opportunities in the deciding game but never found the net outside of the second period, and now its season is over in the first round.

The Golden Knights have a long offseason ahead of them to figure out what needs to happen to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals, but the Stars are moving on to the second round to face the Colorado Avalanche.

The first-round series gave fans plenty of excitement, and if the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is anything like the past few weeks, it should be eventful.

The Golden Knights finally decided to stop playing with their food and put an end to these Western Conference Finals.

Vegas came out with a purpose in its 6-0 Game 6 win over the Dallas Stars on Monday night to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2018, its first year as a franchise.

Everything went the away team's way at the American Airlines Center in Dallas as the Golden Knights kicked off the first period with a three-goal explosion that basically gave them one foot through the door.

William Carrier gave his squad an early lead with a goal 3:41 into the game. William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar piled on later in the period to finish off an exquisite 20 minutes.

Vegas would get three more insurance goals from Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Michael Amadio to put the game out of reach and end Dallas' season after what had been a valiant effort in the last couple of games.

The Stars didn't have much of a response for most of the night.

Goalie Adin Hill once again had a terrific night in the crease as he continues a surprisingly excellent postseason after stepping in for Laurent Brossoit. Hill saved all 23 shots that he faced in the win

NHL Twitter was in awe of how dominant and in control Vegas was in the biggest game of its season.

Vegas will now return to the Stanley Cup Final and hope that it gets a different result than what happened in 2018 when it lost to the Washington Capitals in five games after a dominant postseason run.

The Golden Knights will take on the red-hot Florida Panthers, a No. 8 seed that started playing their best hockey of the year at the perfect time, eliminating the No. 1 overall seed Boston Bruins in the first round.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is set for Saturday, June 3 at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn made a shocking decision in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final, cross-checking Mark Stone in the jaw in the first period. That led to not only a game misconduct penalty that ended his night but also a two-game suspension.

It could have been the final act of his season after the Stars fell into a 3-0 hole in the series against the Vegas Golden Knights. But the team has rallied to force a Game 6, and Benn is grateful his season isn't over.

"I was praying we were going to play two solid games just to get another chance and another kick at it here. I'm really proud of the guys," he told reporters Monday. "It sucks watching, especially in playoffs. The guys had two gutsy efforts. Character wins and a lot of confidence in this room."

While Benn's actions could have created resentment among his teammates and been costly, it instead seemed to rally them, similar to when the team didn't want to see Joe Pavelski's season come to a premature close after he suffered an injury in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Minnesota Wild.

"We didn't want the season for him to end like that," Stars forward Radek Faksa told reporters. "We talked about Pav's injury and how we wanted to get him back in the series. We talked about the same thing with Jamie—that we have to do anything to get him back in the series. And we did."

Head coach Peter DeBoer added that Benn's actions were an aberration.

"Listen, what happened with Jamie... he's not a suspension-a-month guy. He plays a physical, clean game all the time. He crossed the line one night. It's a nonissue," he told reporters. "I don't think it's fair to paint him with that brush based on one incident. He's always been a clean, physical, intimidating player. And he's going to jump right back into that [tonight]."

The Stars are attempting to become the first team in NHL history to erase a 3-0 deficit in the conference final. The last team to do so in the Stanley Cup playoffs was the Los Angeles Kings in 2014.

That attempt comes at the same time the Boston Celtics are attempting to become the first team in NBA history to erase a 3-0 postseason deficit. Game 7 of that series is on Monday night.

The Florida Panthers await either the Stars or Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.

After being on the verge of flatlining, the Dallas Stars' heartbeat grew a little bit stronger Saturday night.

The Stars got a heroic effort out of an unexpected place in the form of winger Ty Dellandrea, who came up with two huge goals in the third period to help lead Dallas to a 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

After going down 3-0 to start the series, it has now brought two games back and has struck some fear into the heart of Vegas as they try to avoid being the fifth team in league history to blow that type of series lead.

The Golden Knights struck first in each of the first two periods but each time the Stars were up to it with a response, setting the stage for a masterful third period by Dellandrea, who had just one postseason goal going into this game.

The Stars were also able to overcome a pretty strong performance by Vegas' goalie Adin Hill, who came up with 30 saves on the night.

It was always going to be a tall task for Dallas to go get a win on the road and they came through big time. It is now on the way to potentially make history in the postseason.

NHL Twitter couldn't help but be in awe of Dellandrea's clutch performance when his team needed it most.

In a development that probably no one saw coming, Dallas will now have an opportunity to force a Game 7 on on their home ice in Game 6 and will need something big out of star Tyler Seguin, who has struggled much of this series.

While the pressure will still be on the Stars, as they are on the brink of elimination, Vegas has to be feeling the heat now too, as it is flirting with the wrong side of history.

Game 6 is set for Monday night at 8 p.m. ET.

The Stars have some life.

After falling behind twice in the first two periods, Dallas avoided a sweep against the Vegas Golden Knights on its home ice thanks to an overtime winner from Joe Pavelski.

When Vegas' Jonathan Marchessault scored midway through the second period to give his team a 2-1 advantage, it looked like the Golden Knights had punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final and followed up the Florida Panthers with a sweep.

But Dallas was unwilling to lay down as Jason Robertson found an equalizer in the closing minutes of the period to knot things back up.

And thanks to some excellent goalkeeping from both sides in the third, neither team was able to get a winner in regulation.

Just over three minutes into overtime, Dallas played the power play to perfection, and Pavelski took full advantage, sinking one of the biggest goals of his career.

And NHL Twitter was loving every second of it.

Pavelski saved the Stars for a night, but there's still an immense mountain to climb as they are down 3-1 in the series. They are looking to become the fifth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit.

The last team to do it was the Los Angeles Kings nine years ago against the San Jose Sharks.

There may be no tougher task than the next one, going back to T-Mobile Arena and having to beat the Golden Knights on their home ice.

Game 5 is set for Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.