The Dallas Stars will take on the Winnipeg Jets tonight at 8:30 p.m. in Game 5 with a chance to advance to a third straight Western Conference Finals.
Dallas is currently leading the Jets 3-1 in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Semifinals, and one more victory would grant the Stars another berth in the Conference Finals.
The most impressive aspect of this series has been the Stars’ performance during the third period, as the Stars significantly outplayed the Jets en route to the series lead.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Stars struggled in the third period to end the season, allowing 20 goals in the third period across the final seven games.
This series has been vastly different.
Dallas has outscored the Jets 4-1 in the third period during this series and 4-0 across the last two games, helping the team secure a dominant lead in the series as a whole.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he was proud of how his team performed in Game 5, and they will look to continue playing well in the back ends of games.
“Listen, it’s a good formula when you’re playing from in front against that team, as opposed to behind. I liked how we handled having the lead all night. We kept our foot on the gas, huge power play goal, big kill at the end there too,” he explained, per NHL.com.
The Stars will now look to pick up just one more win in this series to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the third straight season, though Dallas has struggled to an extent in Game 5s throughout history.
Dallas has managed to put together a solid total record of 32-31 in Game 5s, but the real issues have come on the road, in which the Stars have gone just 13-23 in those appearances, per The Dallas Stars.
However, this is a very different team than in previous years and Stars goalie Jake Oettinger is confident that the team can travel to Winnipeg and leave with a victory.
“We’ve been right there the last two years. The ball’s in our court now. We’re up 3-1, it’s on us to play a mature game up in Winnipeg. We don’t want to have to come back here and play again. We’ve all been talking about how bad we want to get back to the Conference Final, now it’s our turn to show up,” he said, per The Dallas Stars.
The winner of this series will match up against the Edmonton Oilers, who have cruised through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after taking down the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights.