The Dallas Stars are becoming accustomed to winning dramatic, seven-game series in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, since have done that two straight years.
So the Stars will have to do it again to advance in 2026 after a 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on home ice in Game 5 of the Western Conference first round.
Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen each scored, with Robertson continuing his torrid start to these playoffs by scoring in his fifth straight game. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves in defeat, and Dallas now trails the best-of-7 series 3-2.
Dallas hosted Game 5 of a first-round playoff series for the fourth straight year. They had averaged 4.33 goals and 26 shots on goal per game over the previous three, including a statement 4-0 win over the Wild in 2023.
So Stars fans could be excused for what they witnessed from the home team Tuesday night. Dallas generated just 22 shots on goal, and just 12 through the first 48 minutes, in an inexplicably flat performance for a seasoned team in a pivotal game before a late-game push that was too little, too late.
“Everybody needs to step up,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It’s a team effort to try and get it done. … We need a little bit more from everybody.”
Oettinger’s playoff struggles reared their ugly heads again, particularly on Michael McCarron’s insurance goal at 7:47 of the third period that ultimately served as the game-winner. Oettinger lost his balance and failed to keep his pad on the ice, and McCarron slid the puck under it, giving Minnesota a 3-1 lead at 7:47 of the third.
The Stars lacked the requisite desperation for such an important game. They didn’t have a high-danger scoring chance in the first period — Minnesota led 6-0 in such chances through 20 minutes — and were dominated on the Expected Goals chances 1.41-0.44 in the first period even though it was 1-1 through one.
Robertson’s third-period goal will go down as an even-strength tally, but even that is misleading since it came on a 5-on-4 with Oettinger pulled for an extra attacker.
The Stars can’t seem to score at even strength in this series. They haven’t scored a five-on-five goal since Robertson’s in the first period of Game 3 — a span of nearly 220 minutes. The Stars’ three goals at five-on-five are the fewest of any team that is still playing — and tied with the Ottawa Senators for 15th in the playoffs, only ahead of the Los Angeles Kings’ two.
“We thought we did create some opportunities for ourselves,” Gulutzan said. “Now we gotta take that next step and convert on some of them.”
Dallas managed just 16 shots at five on five in the game.
The Stars are in the series thanks to their white-hot power play, which struck for the ninth time in the series on Heiskanen’s game-tying goal in the first period. But the man-advantage went 0 for 3 after the first period of Game 5.
Dallas had earned home-ice advantage for two of the potential final three games after its double-overtime win over Minnesota in Game 3.
But two straight losses, one in OT and another fairly even affair in Game 5, have left the Stars on the brink of elimination. They’ll need to overcome both Matt Boldy (four goals) and the Wild but also the raucous atmosphere at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul that surely awaits.
Dallas is 1-3 in St. Paul this season, though one of its regular-season losses came in overtime.. The Wild will surely be feeling angst too, since this core hasn’t yet won a postseason series — Minnesota hasn’t won a playoff series since 2015.
But the Stars haven’t won a series after trailing 3-2 since the 1999 Western Conference final. They’ll need a much better performance in Game 6 to give themselves a chance to win the series back at home in a potential Game 7.
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