(LM Otero/AP Photo)
“To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.” It’s a quote that sports teams can use for motivation. For the Dallas Stars, they must beat the best to open the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With the Kings’ 5-4 in overtime win in the final regular season game against the Blackhawks, the Stars will open the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights; the team who eliminated the Stars in six games in last season’s Western Conference Final.
In last season’s Conference Final, the Golden Knights won the first two games of the series in overtime in Vegas. In Game 3, the Stars suffered an embarrassing loss at home losing 4-0 with Jamie Benn cross-checking Mark Stone in the head and the fans would later throw debris on the ice.
Dallas won the next two games to avoid elimination before losing 6-0 at home in Game 6 to lose the series to put a suffocating Summer ahead.
The Stars responded to last season’s Conference Finals defeat with clinching the top seed in the Western Conference with 113 points; the Stars lost the President’s Trophy to the Rangers by 1 point.
Dallas won 26 games each at home and on the road. The 26 road wins were tied for the most in the NHL with the Bruins.
In the three meetings this regular season against the Golden Knights, the Stars went 0-1-2. The Stars fell in a shootout to the Golden Knights in the second game of the season in Vegas. In the Nov. 22 meeting in Dallas, Jack Eichel scored the overtime winner. In the final meeting on Dec. 9 in Dallas, the Stars fell 6-1.
Dallas and Vegas will meet for the third time in five years in the Playoffs.
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