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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Is It Playoff Time Yet?

Heading into the final week of the regular season.

Posted on by Harlan Bowling
Apr 12, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) makes a shot in the Utah Hockey Club zone during the third period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Happy Monday, and happy end of the regular season week for all my fellow Dallas Stars fans out there! The vibes have certainly been less than immaculate over the last week or so – especially with the Stars currently holding a five-game losing streak, right when we’d rather see them getting hot before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.

But alas, we’ve got a couple more games to watch before the weekend rolls around and playoff hockey officially begins. And to be fair, as Coach Pete DeBoer echoed after Saturday’s home-finale loss to Utah, these last couple of games don’t really matter outside of maintenance and preventing injury.

With that in mind, even though it’s gameday, I’m already looking ahead to the “prize fight” that will be the first round of the playoffs – your Dallas Stars against the Colorado Avalanche.

It’s easy for both sides to find a friend turned foe, someone who was once in your corner that now throws haymakers from the other side. 

And then there’s the injury front, another unknown that adds some juice. 

Miro Heiskanen won’t be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, he might not be ready at any point in the series. But his potential return is something the Stars are playing for, hoping his absence can be 2025’s answer to what the 1999 Stars did without Derian Hatcher in the first round of that Stanley Cup run.

Add in the potential return of Gabriel Landeskog in Colorado, and all eyes will be on this matchup.

On top of the all the human storylines, we have the current on-ice play for both teams and some of the history that both need to reverse.

The Stars have spiraled lately, making the wrong kind of history against the Vancouver Canucks and then no-showing against Winnipeg. The play this week is was simply the explosion of something simmering underneath, a team that’s been winning, but struggling for close to a month.

It’s wake up or shut up time for Dallas.

Read more from Sean Shapiro on his Substack.

Dallas Stars Stuff

Meanwhile, we DO have a couple more games on the schedule…

But we’re all really ready for the playoffs anyway.

This is really really cool.

In prospect news…there’s a new goaltender in town!

Elsewhere In The Central

The playoffs match-ups are set, and the Central Division is just wrapping it up this week. The Avs are inexplicably finished already and will wait out the week until round one. Meanwhile, there are two other matchups in the division for tonight.

  • The Blackhawks take on the Montreal Canadiens in a matchup that means a lot more for the Quebec outfit trying to nab that last wildcard spot in the East. [PREVIEW]
  • And the Utah HC heads to Nashville in a much less important game for two teams that both expected more from this season. [PREVIEW]

Around The NHL

It’s a new era…

And another…

Greetings From Scenic Cedar Park And Beautiful Boise!

The Texas Stars were in a slump of their own, dropping out of the top spot in their division on a 5-game losing streak. Thankfully that all came to an end yesterday, and they’re back in the win column.

The Idaho Steelheads weren’t so lucky, as they wrapped up their season with a loss.

Finally

Whoa.

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