Stars’ season remains in play

By David Mullen

The Dallas Stars are, surprisingly, returning to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years. It seems the 2019-20 NHL season has taken that long to play and, throughout the season, the team looked like it might take another 20 years to hoist the cup again.

The Stars came into the season with high hopes, despite knowing that competing in the Western Conference would be difficult. They had to deal with the maturing Vegas Golden Nights, the high-flying Colorado Avalanche, the tough Nashville Predators and Arizona Coyotes, their nemesis Minnesota Wild, Canada’s Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks and the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues. 

Only the California teams — the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks — were less than powerful and mighty this season.

The Stars season was chock full of notable events. On December 10, they fired head coach Jim Montgomery for “unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.” Montgomery enrolled in an alcohol abuse program in January, and Dallas brought in 65-year-old Rick Bowness with the “interim coach,” giving him an asterisk next to his name.

In the NHL’s Winter Classic at Fair Park, 85,630 fans turned out at the Cotton Bowl to see the Stars beat the Predators on New Year’s Day. But, still, the Stars seemed to be playing way below their potential. Two of their best players, Jamie Benn and Tyler Sequin, were out of sync at best and disinterested at the worst. Dallas went with the two-headed monster in goal, splitting time between Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin. 

Then the COVID-19 pandemic forced the season to abruptly stop in mid-March. The Stars finished playing 69 games (another asterisk) instead of the normal 82-game regular season. They lost their final six regular season games. Nearly five months later, when the NHL instituted a unique playoff plan to be played in a bubble in Edmonton and Toronto, the Stars seemed lucky to get a fourth seed. Their playoff run began in the seeding series with losses to Vegas, Colorado and Calgary and a gritty overtime win against St. Louis.

No teamwork. No comradery. No rabid fans swaying emotions. No chance. 

Then something started to happen within the secluded environment in Edmonton. The Stars began winning tight games. They have had eight come-from-behind victories in the playoff thus far. Bowness instilled a “never say die” attitude in a team known for underachieving. In game five of the Western Conference finals against number one seeded Vegas, Dallas was down 2-0 with just minutes left in the game before scoring two unanswered goals. Denis Gurianov ripped a one-timer to the short side of the net in overtime for a 3-2 win and a place in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Veterans like Gurianov, Alexander Radulov and Joe Pavelski and even Benn seem to have gotten on board with Bowness’ plan. The younger Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg have displayed their on-ice talents. And Khudobin has been spectacular in goal, as Bishop is out with an injury.

Bowness looks like a hockey coach. He sports a constant look of concern and wears sports jackets that look like he bought them at the closeout sale at Syms. Not every current or former hockey coach dresses like Barry Melrose. But after a half-season of getting the least out of the most, the Stars are finally shining under Bowness.

Dallas has never been recognized as a hockey hotbed or ostensibly taken seriously.

ESPN waited until more than an hour after half a dozen recaps of two boring “NFL Monday Night Football” games (televised on ESPN, by the way) to tell the sports public on the September 14 “SportsCenter” that the Stars had advanced to the finals. 

Stars general manager Jim Nill said interim coach Rick Bowness has “earned the right” to return as head coach next season. Playoff success is the best thing a coach can put on his resume. “Rick and I have both agreed from the start that we’ll sit down at the end of this and we’ll digest everything,” Nill said after the Western Conference clinching victory.

The Stars went 20-13-5 under Bowness before the NHL season was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nill said it was during that nearly five-month pause that Bowness and his staff impressed him with their preparation for the postseason. “When the pandemic hit, they were really able to put their stamp on the team,” he told ESPN.

“When you watch a team play, you can tell who they’re playing for. This team is playing for the coach, and the coach is coaching for the players. That’s a great reflection on everybody.”

No explanation point, or asterisk, needed. The Stars are in the Stanley Cup Finals.