Stars lose West 1st Round to Wild, scoring depth among factors

The Dallas Stars were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round on Thursday after three straight appearances in the Western Conference Final. 

The Stars (50-20-12) finished second in the Central Division and were seeking to finally break through to the Cup Final. They lost the final three games of the series after having a 2-1 series lead.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Nathan Bastian, F; Jamie Benn, F; Michael Bunting, F; Adam Erne, F; Kyle Capobianco, D; Alexander Petrovic, D

Potential restricted free agents: Jason Robertson, F; Mavrik Bourque, F; Arttu Hyry, F

Potential 2026 Draft picks: 5

Here are five reasons the Stars were eliminated:

1. Another Game 1 loss

The Stars have lost nine of their past 11 Game 1s in a playoff series, dating to the 2021-22 season. Nearly 70 percent of the time, the NHL team that wins the first game in a best-of-7 series goes on to win it. The Stars have recently bucked that trend, having won five of the past nine series. However, they lost Game 1 and were unable to protect home-ice, losing two of three home games in the series after going 26-11-4 at home in the regular season.

2. Even-strength woes

The Stars went 209:56 without scoring an even strength goal in the series. The drought lasted from Jason Robertson's goal at 13:48 in Game 3 in a game in which they went on to win in double overtime, to 16:08 of the second period of Game 6 in which Dallas was eliminated from the playoffs. 

Of the 15 goals scored by Dallas in the series, only four of them were even-strength goals. Compare that to the 11 goals that Dallas scored with an extra attacker, either from the power play (nine), an empty-net goal when on the power play (one), or with goalie Jake Oettinger pulled for the extra attacker (one).

In the 2025 Western Conference Final, Dallas managed to score only five even-strength goals in a 4-1 series loss to the Edmonton Oilers. For the second year in a row, the inability to find ways to create offense at even strength directly led to their exit from the playoffs.

3. Shallow Depth

The lack of even-strength scoring was compounded by a lack of scoring from beyond top players. 

Forwards Robertson (five goals) and Wyatt Johnston (four goals) continued their regular-season dominance, in which they became the first teammates in franchise history to score 40 or more goals in the same season (45 each). Forwards Mikko Rantanen only had one goal after he had 22 in the regular season, and Matt Duchene had two goals after he had 16.

The number of playoff goals generated beyond those players? Three; two by defenseman Miro Heiskanen and one by forward Borque.

4. Hintz hurt

Forward Roope Hintz did not play the entire postseason after suffering a lower-body injury in a regular-season game against the Colorado Avalanche on March 6. Though he began skating midway through the series, Hintz was unable to return. His speed, playmaking, and face-off abilities caused forwards to have to play up the lineup to fill his hole on the top line, which likely was a key factor in the lack of scoring for Dallas overall in the series. 

He had 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) in 53 regular-season games and has been a big-time playoff performer for the Stars with 12 points in 17 games last season and 44 points in 51 games over the past three postseasons.

5. Fatigue factor

Fatigue could have been a factor for the Stars, who had played the third-most playoffs games (62) in the past three seasons from 2023-25, reaching the Western Conference Final in each. Only the Florida Panthers (68 games) and the Edmonton Oilers (59 games) had played more entering this postseason.

Combined with a compressed schedule due to the 2026 Winter Olympics, the amount of games with shortened offseasons in between may have finally caught up to the Stars.