The 2030 season has concluded with the Dallas Stars clinching their second straight playoff birth under GM Ethan Smedley. The team improves from a 88 point team to a 92 point team with a very similar matchup to last year's playoffs. The Stars finish as the 5th seed again and will face the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Similar to last years Avalanche team, the Canucks are powered by a high profile offense featuring four different 70 point scorers. GM Smedley hopes the Stars can use the moment from last years playoffs where the team was 1 game away from reaching the Western Conference Finals. But let's look more in depth to this matchup. The two teams faced each other twice and split the series in the regular season that saw a 2-1 OT win for the Canucks and a 5-4 win for the Stars. The game in Vancouver showed how talented the goaltenders are with McDonald posting 33 saves and Dubnyk with a 31 save game. While the game in Dallas showed the offenses of the teams. This included a three-point game for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Clayton Keller, and Kevin Fiala. The game had 7 of the 9 goals scored in the third period with Dallas scoring two unanswered to win the game. This proves to be a close matchup and only a seven game series will determine who's season continues.
1/5/2024 - 234 words
