DALLAS -- Celebratory shouts and cheers could be heard from behind a thick, black curtain while the Dallas Stars trudged into their dressing room. Their heads were down, their dreams over. The free-wheeling team described as "the future of the NHL" by St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock would have to wait another season.
The Stars had succumbed to the League's present, in the form of those formerly downtrodden, dismissed Blues, who have never won the Stanley Cup and hadn't even played in a Western Conference Final in a decade and a half. The Blues had been a team that couldn't get out of the first round, that nearly cost their coach his job, that just wasn't quite good enough when it mattered after being more than good enough through regular season after regular season.
Blues finally break through to Western Final
Defeat Stars in Game 7 to advance past second round for first time in 15 years
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