What happened to the fun, high-scoring Stars? Dallas needs a playoff miracle now

Forty-five minutes after another Stars loss to Vegas, this one by a 3-1 count, the ice at American Airlines Center was already covered up with boards, preparation for Mavs-Clippers Game 3 Friday night already well underway. This sort of thing happens all the time during the regular season, but it hits different when you recognize that maybe, just maybe, that ice won’t need to be uncovered again until September.

How did things get so desperate so fast for the Dallas Stars, No. 1 seed in the West?

The simple answer is that Vegas showed up instead of the LA Kings, a result of the Golden Knights mailing in their final regular season game and losing to the awful Anaheim Ducks while LA was beating the equally bad Blackhawks to pass Vegas by a point in the standings. That was the same night the Stars locked down home-ice advantage for the Western Conference playoffs with a win over St. Louis, coach Pete DeBoer telling us afterward, “Now comes the fun part.’’

Stars fans are still waiting.

What‘s so fun about watching the Stars fail to score a single goal at even strength in a “must win’’ atmosphere in Game 2? What’s so fun about Dallas scoring all of two goals in the last five periods against (checks notes) Logan Thompson? What’s so fun about Thompson being better than Jake Oettinger in both the first two games of the playoffs?

A year ago it was the conference finals and the Stars found themselves down 2-0 to this same squad. At least they were heading home. Captain Jamie Benn nearly ended the series by himself by taking a horrible misconduct penalty near the start of Game 3, but Dallas still managed to stick around for six games. Maybe they can do the same again this time, but going on the road down 2-0 sure feels closer to the end than any of us imagined about 72 hours ago.

I pictured the Stars playing hockey into June. If they don’t win a game at T-Mobile Arena, they won’t make it to May.

”You can’t feel sorry for yourself,’’ DeBoer said after another late-night defeat. “It feels like it’s more evenly matched this year to me. We were the best road team in the league this year, and we’ve got to go win some games there.‘’

They have to win one, for sure, just to make those Game 5 tickets you might be holding have any value. At the same time DeBoer talked about liking his team’s chances, he also said he thinks Vegas has a deeper team than it did last spring in winning the Stanley Cup. And Stars fans will vouch for that.

Vegas’ defense has the Stars’ offense under house arrest. D-man Alex Pietrangelo, the captain of that 2019 St. Louis squad that slipped by the Stars on its way to a Cup, leads a blue line that mostly keeps Thompson out of harm’s way. In a game that was 1-1, the Stars had a 12-6 advantage in shots on goal, then watched Vegas outshoot them 10-4 the rest of the period and outscore them 1-0 which is all that was needed. Jack Eichel’s empty-net goal in the final minute was just a signal to get Stars fans running for the exits to make it home not too long after midnight.

What’s it like when it feels as though the clock is striking way too soon for a really good hockey team? I’ve mentioned it more than once but I covered the first Stars’ team to produce a banner (Central Division Champions 1996-97). A team that won the division by 10 points over eventual Cup winner Detroit didn’t escape the first round in an almost tragic-feeling Game 7 double overtime loss to Edmonton. I can still see the stunned looks on the players’ and Ken Hitchcock’s faces.

This team, point-wise, is even better than that one was. They’re in the playoffs for the third straight year and one assumes they have learned some things about the challenges along the way. But when Roope Hintz, this team’s best player in the first two rounds a year ago, goes silent for two games and Oettinger is yet to play a game one might kindly describe as “adequate,’’ when the Stars go over 10 minutes in a first-period stretch without a shot on goal, over eight minutes in the second doing likewise, it feels like the air is rushing out of this blimp awfully fast.

I can’t imagine a team this good is going to be swept out of the playoffs in four games. Doesn’t fit. Doesn’t seem possible. But if you’re asking me if the Stars can win four out of five over Vegas, three of them on the road? That sounds like a “Do you believe in miracles” call that just isn’t going to get made.

Twitter/X: @TimCowlishaw

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