Believe it or not, the Dallas Stars had a lot working against them on Friday night as they entered the Enterprise Center in St. Louis for a critical Game 5.
After cruising to a big 4-2 victory over the Blues in Game 4 at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday night, the Stars drew even with their second-round challenger. That in and of itself had seemed somewhat unlikely after Dallas dropped a disappointing Game 3 on home ice just two nights prior.
While the Stars already had experience with being in a 2-1 series hole from round one against the Nashville Predators, something about this situation just felt different.