As part of our look back at the season that was, the DBD staff has put together a Top 10 list of the best moments of the season, moments that occurred within the course of the year that were highlights of this particular team and it’s fight to the playoffs. They’re ranked from 1-10, and we’ll present them in reverse order, leading up to the top moment of the 2013-2014 season.
When Mike Modano played his last game in Dallas as a Star, it never felt quite done.
He went on to play one season in Detroit, instead of retiring that year like many expected. It never felt right, seeing him in the winged wheel. He retired after that year, and Stars fans immediately started wondering when his number would fill the rafters.
Circumstances outside of much of the organization’s control (bankruptcy, lockouts, etc) delayed the inevitable. But on March 8th, the prodigal son returned to the fold and the storybook ending was added that fans had been looking for.
The night was pretty magical, with the fans screaming throughout the entirety of Modano’s speech. Not a dry eye was in the house as we watched his number 9 take it’s rightful place at the American Airlines Center.
Not to be outdone, the Dallas Stars themselves added a layer of drama to an already emotion-packed game.
In a tight divisional game, Kari Lehtonen would get hit by the Minnesota Wild’s Erik Haula as he cut towards the net. Lehtonen’s head would hit the crossbar on his way down to the ice, and newly acquired Tim Thomas had to come in to backstop the team to a much needed two points.
Thomas played well — probably his second best game of the year with Dallas — and Erik Cole scored with just under five minutes left in the third to give the Stars a win. They pulled within three points of the Wild that night for the first wild card spot, and added some distance between themselves and the teams at their heels.