Benn and the Stars once more fall in need of a Stanley Cup shot after third West ultimate in a row

They did not win a Stanley Cup throughout their run, although. They did not even give themselves the chance to play for one.

“Three years in a row now, you get that shut and also you come up brief … clearly not a superb feeling,” stated Jamie Benn, the practically 36-year-old captain who’s about to be an unrestricted free agent after 16 seasons in Dallas.

For the third season in a row, and the second in opposition to Edmonton, the Stars ended with a loss within the Western Convention ultimate. They misplaced 6-3 in Sport 5 at house Thursday night time.

“Yearly you study new issues. This isn’t the top aim for us,” stated Wyatt Johnston, who at 22 has already been to a few West finals. “You might want to undergo the convention ultimate. … Our aim is to win the Stanley Cup. I feel you all the time need to study, and I feel that’s good that you would be able to study from it, however we need to win.”

Edmonton superior to a Stanley Cup rematch in opposition to Florida, the reigning champion in its third consecutive ultimate collection.

Earlier than Dallas and Florida this yr, three different groups made three consecutive convention finals underneath the present playoff format adopted in 1994. Los Angeles and Chicago received two Stanley Cup titles throughout their runs, and Detroit received as soon as. Tampa Bay made three Stanley Cup Finals in a row from 2020-22, successful the primary two — the Lightning have been awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy because the East champ in 2021, when there have been no conference-based playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As deep because the Stars have gone in every of coach Pete DeBoer’s three seasons, they have not been in a position to get to that ultimate spherical.

This was the fourth West ultimate in six seasons for the Stars, who within the Canadian bubble within the pandemic-impacted 2020 playoffs eradicated DeBoer-coached Vegas in 5 video games. Dallas then misplaced in six video games to Tampa Bay.

“You’ve acquired to maintain knocking on the door,” DeBoer stated. “It’s a extremely, actually arduous league to win in. Whenever you get all the way down to the top, to the ultimate 4 right here, it will get exponentially harder. … We chased each single sport on this collection, and that is a troublesome technique to play hockey in opposition to that workforce.”

The Stars gave up the primary aim in 15 of their 18 playoffs video games, and struggled to attain a lot of the postseason.

Dallas was third within the NHL in the course of the common season with 3.35 targets per sport and shut out solely as soon as, within the 79th of 82 video games. The Stars averaged 2.5 targets within the playoffs with 4 shutout losses, together with each losses within the second-round collection they received in six video games over high seed Winnipeg.

A scoreless streak of 178:57 on the street, in opposition to Winnipeg and Edmonton, was the longest in Dallas playoff historical past. The Stars had two targets over the following three video games after a five-goal outburst within the third interval for a 6-3 win in Sport 1 in opposition to the Oilers.

“I feel we performed two good rounds after which they made it arduous on us,” Mikko Rantanen stated. “Perhaps simply give credit score to them. They defended very well.”

Rantanen, the commerce deadline acquisition who then signed a $96 million, eight-year contract extension, led Dallas with 9 targets and 22 playoff factors. However all of the targets got here in a six-game stretch earlier than ending with an eight-game drought.

Veteran forwards Benn and Matt Duchene every had just one aim this postseason. Jason Robertson scored twice Thursday, to complete with 4 in 11 video games after lacking the beginning of the playoffs with a lower-body damage.

Stars basic supervisor Jim Nill has stated Benn has earned the proper to proceed to be part of the workforce so long as he needs. This was the top of the captain’s $76 million, eight-year contract extension.

Requested within the locker room Thursday night time if he had any ideas about his future, Benn softly responded, “No.”

When requested if he nonetheless wished to be with the Stars, and if he felt good in regards to the possibilities of that taking place, he answered sure to each.

Corridor of Fame middle Mike Modano is the one participant in franchise historical past with greater than Benn’s 1,192 regular-season video games, 399 targets and 956 factors. He has performed in 120 postseason video games.

“He’s our captain, he’s our chief. He’s a man that we comply with day-after-day,” Johnston stated. “Simply such an essential a part of our workforce on the ice, off the ice, and simply a tremendous individual.”

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