Because Sunday afternoon deteriorated into Stinko de Mayo, the Dallas Stars must now do something they’ve never done.
Something that statistics suggest is the most difficult ask in sports.
Something that has been achieved only once in the history of DFW.
To stay alive in the NHL playoffs, the Stars must win a Game 7. On the road.
They’re in this unenviable conundrum because of a lethargic start in Game 6 against the St. Louis Blues, two costly mistakes by Jamie Benn and a searing slap shot that forced goalie Ben Bishop off the ice. A tight, tense 1-1 game tumbled into a 4-1 loss, a 3-3 series and a looming sudden death Tuesday night in St. Louis.
“It’s a Game 7. Anything can happen,” said Stars’ center Mats Zuccarello. “It’s something you dream of when you’re a kid is to play a Game 7, so it’s going to be exciting.”
It was a day not even gorgeous weather, celebratory sombreros and mas tequila could save. It was, in fact, a disaster in Dallas. The sellout at American Airlines Center – highlighted by “Dave from Fort Worth,” who was awarded a ticket by the club after he watched Game 4 in the rain by himself on Victory Plaza – arrived hoping to see a DFW team advance past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the Texas Rangers won the ALCS in 2011. But fans departed in stunned silence, witnesses to the latest vignette of a weird weekend that featured Steph Curry blowing two open layups with the game on the line in Houston, a Kentucky Derby winner being disqualified and their beloved hockey team being knocked down … and maybe out.
Blame this one on the Stars’ soft mindset. They played like a team hoping to win 1-0. But in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, teams that tiptoe in usually crawl out.
Proof of their passive play, the Stars produced a playoff-low 23 shots on goal.
The Blues took the game’s first nine shots a 1-0 lead after only 63 seconds. The Stars equalized on Tyler Seguin’s power-play goal 10 minutes later and the game stayed tied until early in the second period.
That’s when six-time captain Benn inexplicably whiffed on a crossing pass in the crease. Alone near the right post and with a clear opening to the goal, Benn looked like the Rangers’ Rougned Odor flailing at a ball in the dirt. His backhand attempt drew nothing but air as the puck sailed over his stick. Minutes later the Stars fell behind 2-1. Wobbled, they would soon be TKO’d.
What might be this series’ most important shot didn’t find the net, but instead the left collar bone of Bishop. Colton Parayko’s long slap shot drilled Bishop inside his left shoulder pad, sending his stick flying and him onto his back. At first, grimacing glance, it appeared Bishop had been struck in the throat and was in peril.
But on-ice referees determined he wasn’t seriously injured and allowed play to continue. With Bishop sprawled in pain and Dallas’ net virtually unattended, the Blues quickly scored to make it 3-1. When it ballooned to 4-1 only 33 seconds later – thanks to a sloppy Benn turnover at Dallas’ blue line – Bishop exited for the locker room.
X-rays were negative and Stars’ coach Jim Montgomery said he expects Bishop to be in net for Game 7. But even with a healthy – physically and psychologically – goalie, the Stars clearly have neither momentum nor history on their side.
In all-time Game 7s on the road, the Stars, Rangers and Dallas Mavericks are a combined 1-4. Gulp.
The Stars are 0-1, losing, 4-1, in the first round at Vancouver in 2007.
The Rangers lost their only Game 7 and, yes, it was on the road. But for the faint of heart we’re not going to revisit the details of the 2011 World Series.
In the single-elimination NFL playoffs, every game is a virtual Game 7. The Cowboys are 9-16 all-time in post-season road games, but have lost their last eight and haven’t won since beating the 49ers in San Francisco in the 1992 NFC Championship Game.
That leaves the Mavs, who on May 22, 2006, produced the Metroplex’s lone road victory in a Game 7. In that second-round series against the Spurs, Dirk Nowitzki recorded 37 points, 15 rebounds and an iconic dunk-and-free throw over Manu Ginobli with 21 seconds remaining to force overtime in an eventual 119-111 victory in San Antonio.
Winning a do-or-die game at home is a much easier task. The Mavs are 3-0. The Cowboys 26-12. The Stars are 2-2, with both victories – over the Colorado Avalanche – launching them into the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 and 2000.
Their last experience – even at home – won’t bring much comfort heading into Tuesday.
In 2016, the No. 1-seeded Stars hosted the Blues in a second-round Game 7 and were ambushed in a 6-1 loss. With current players Benn, John Klingberg, Jason Spezza and Mattias Janmark on the ice, St. Louis jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period and never looked back. Coach Lindy Ruff pulled goalie Kari Lethtonen after three goals on eight shots.
Home ice has been melted in these NHL Playoffs. The Stars are 4-2 on the road; the Blues 5-1.
But beating a good hockey team three times in their barn over 13 days is a difficult task. And winning a Game 7 on the road is almost impossible.
Just ask sports.
Just ask DFW sports teams.
