As the Dallas Stars arrived back in Texas on Saturday night, they found themselves staring down a critical opportunity. And if we’re being honest, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are largely built on critical opportunities.
After almost three years of early summers, the Stars were back in the NHL postseason and were going up against a Nashville Predators team that had just won its second consecutive Central division title. The matchup looked as though it would be one of the more intriguing opening round series both when comparing the teams on paper and when looking at the five-game season series from the 2018-19 regular season.