Playoff Nostalgia: Sixes and Sevens

One of the cool things about the internet nowadays is videos. People love that stuff, you know. And so today, we’re gonna watch a few Game 6 videos.

Game 6s have a disproportionately positive place in my Stars memory, for some reason. That’s not necessarily logical, given that Vegas eliminated Dallas in six games last year, and that the Stars were up 3-2 on the Kraken in the prior series before they promptly went to Seattle and dropped a 6-3 bummer on everyone.

Dallas would win a tense Game 7 at home, so you probably don’t remember much about the prior game, other than the merciful fact that it took place at 6pm Pacific Time, meaning Dallas fans only had to wait until 8 (which would count as basically an afternoon game in this series).

Dallas has also put themselves in position to win a series in six games on the road against an eighth seed before. Remember this far-too-close series victory?

There are more fun examples, such as Dallas grinding Minnesota into dust with a 4-1 victory in last year’s Game 6, when Mason Marchment killed whatever hope Minnesota had left with a buzzer-beating third goal at the end of the second period:

And of course, a certain Game 6 that you all remember happened around 25 years ago.

But for me, I think the most formative Game 6 memories happened two decades ago, when Dallas played three straight Game 6s in 2008.

First, they faced the defending champs in Anaheim, and the Stars announced their presence with authority, shutting them out in Game 1 by a 4-0 score, with all the goals coming on the power play. They also won Game 2 in Anaheim 5-2, as the Ducks couldn’t stay out of the box, and Marty Turco was enjoying the peak of his powers.

I was living in Southern California at the time, and my brother and I went to all of the Anaheim home games in that series. It was my first in-person taste of playoff hockey, and there is absolutely nothing like sitting there in a sea of enemy sweaters while your team racks up goal after goal with a dejected Duck exitng the box each time. It was delight itself, in both of those games, and I may have milked the Visiting Fan Clapping After Goals a bit more than was safe, except it was Anaheim in 2008, so the worst thing that was going to happen was a rally towel being tossed at us on our way out. Also screaming and cursing, but you know, the playoffs make us feeling big feelings.

Things were less fun in Game 5, when Dallas stumbled rather than giving us a third playoff victory to celebrate live. But I forgave Dallas pretty quickly, on account of Game 6:

That would be Dallas’s first playoff series victory since 2003, when they were eliminated by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. (Note to self: you know what, that name kind of reminds me of the Anaheim Ducks, actually. Remind me to Google that later, weird coincidence.)

This 2008 run was more famous for Cinco de Morrow, and rightfully so. But I will never forget that Anaheim series, when Dallas did what Vegas hasn’t been able to do, and turned a 2-0 series lead on the road into a fairly simple six-game session, thanks to players like Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards, himself a luxury add at the trade deadline that would turn out to be far better than that spiraling Stars team would have any ability to celebrate. And Game 6 against Anaheim was especially sweet, because it all culminated in a Mike Modano empty-netter to bring down the playoff streamers.

It wouldn’t be Modano’s best playoff performance by a long shot—although he would have some crucial goals against San Jose in the next round—but that moment was a balm to my wounded Stars fan soul in 2008, after the brutal eliminations that had come against Vancouver and Colorado in the preceding years. It was good to remember that the playoffs could actually end in something other than immediate pain.

(In this case, it ended up being prolonged and drawn-out pain as players would drop from injury during the San Jose series, leaving Dallas with a shell of its ideal roster by the time they had to play one of the best Detroit Red Wings teams there ever was. But nevermind that, probably nothing to worry about, history tends never to repeat itself, I think. I mean, what would be the odds of that?)

***

Vegas, like Anaheim in 2008, is defending their current championship, and their undisciplined play (by which I mean their “Alex Pietrangelo”) has likewise led them into trouble. Dallas is a better team now than they were then, but they also have that familiar mix of many good playoff teams, with both beloved veterans and surprisingly great young players combining with a good core and a great goalie to give you all the belief in the world.

Things can still go sideways, as if you didn’t know that already. But for whatever reason (read: the euphoria of a huge win on Wednesday), I feel like Dallas has Vegas right where they want them: desperate, flailing, and questioning all the players who got them up the mountain last year. The ~Golden~ Knights may have the more recent hardware, but Dallas has the momentum right now. And when has a great run ever ended in Vegas?

See you all Friday night, with a cup of coffee.