Big game challenge: Stars have even more to prove in Game 6

The balance between mental strength and physical strength is always crucial in sports.

Sure, you can have the most talent or the best skill, and that in itself can give you a significant advantage in a head-to-head matchup. But we’ve seen over and over how much the game is played between the years. It’s true in every sport, and it’s especially true in a best-of-seven hockey series. The Stars have battled the nerves of Game 1 and found a way to lose seven straight series openers. And while each one is different, the cumulative effect must have some impact. Likewise, they have come back to win a lot of Game 2's and have found a way to win series when they lose Game 1. Again, mental strength and desperation have something to do with that.

In this series with Colorado, coach Pete DeBoer acknowledged that after getting up 2-1, Dallas took its foot off the gas. Maybe it simply couldn’t match the desperation of the Avalanche. Maybe it just didn’t have the back-to-the-wall intensity it needed. Either way, Game 4 was an incredible disappointment.

So, when the Stars came back to win Game 5 in dominating fashion, there was a bit of a feeling that "it’s who they are and that’s what they do". But as much as that builds your confidence in this group, it also tells you how tough Game 6 will be Thursday in Denver. Emotions swing, motivation is a tricky element, desperation is hard to manufacture. And DeBoer is well aware of what that all means.

"That's the challenge,” DeBoer said of trying to find consistency in a roller coaster journey. “As good as they were in Game 4, we're going to get that same game from them again. I'm sure of it. The challenge for us is to make sure we don't take a deep breath here like we did after Game 3 and just hope to win. We've going to show up there and have a version of how we played tonight and hopefully earn a win in there."

Obviously, you never want to play with fire and you want to earn every step in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, so that is reason enough to not be complacent. But the fact that Dallas could earn some rest with a Game 6 win and get a chance to exhale before playing the winner of the Winnipeg-St. Louis series would be huge. It also would be great if you consider that both Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson could provide a potential boost in the Second Round, then winning Game 6 is an amazing opportunity to make the future better.

Of course, you can’t really worry about that stuff as a team or a player or a coach, but you also know that winning every game is important. You know that’s not possible, but you also know that you need to work hard to find that level of intensity. That’s maybe the place the Stars are right now.

Asked after a convincing 6-2 in Game 5 what they need to do in Game 6, Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said, "Come out and put our best game forward. We know that they're going to come out with their best. Their season is on the line and it's really crucial to be able to put teams away with how long the grind of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is. We don't want to look too far ahead, but the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, so it helps to put teams away when you have the opportunity. For us, just be ready for us to play our best possible game and best game of the series. We know they'll be coming out really strong with their best."

The great thing about this series is each team has a recent history lesson to lean on. The Stars were overwhelmed in Game 4, the Avalanche in Game 5. They know what happens when they are even a notch below their best.

“It was a little strange, but I don't think it matters,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after Game 5. “You're resetting, like you’re trying to reset after a win – to keep looking at the things that you're doing well, and to continue to do those and gain an advantage in the series. And the things that you're doing poorly, you're looking at those twice as hard to make sure you're sharp in all the right areas in order to defend the other team. So we did that this morning, coming in after a big win. We'll do it again after a bad loss.”

It’s tougher than that, obviously. Coaches can break down film and give proper instruction, but the players have to assimilate and execute. That’s not always easy when the other team is doing what it wants to do. Momentum is real, and this series is a great example. When your team is connected, it plays a different game. When their team is on its heels, you see the frustration. It can happen for a game, it can happen for a period, it can happen for a couple of shifts.

The Stars all season have been a team of four lines and three D pairs. They thrive when they hand momentum from one line to the next, when they get their possession game going and control the puck. But when they are taking on water, as players like to say, they can be a bit of a mess. It happened during the season-ending losing streak. It happened in the second period of Game 4. They can be overwhelmed at times, and they can struggle to get out of that quicksand.

So, they need to be aware of that weakness, they need to be prepared to prevent those moments, or at least minimize them. That will be the key in Game 6. Not only do they need to play their game as best they can, they need to find a way to keep Colorado from getting to its game.

The NHL Players Association on Wednesday released the finalists for the Ted Lindsey Award. That’s the MVP of the league as voted by the players themselves. Among the three finalists are Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Think about that. The players say two of the best players in the league are on the same team. That’s a splash of cold water for any opponent. It makes you realize just how hard this challenge is.

But when you think about that, it makes the Stars’ accomplishments all the more impressive. Dallas beat this team in six games last season. It has a 3-2 lead in the series, despite missing Heiskanen and Robertson. It has earned the right to be confident.

That said, it can’t take its foot off the gas. It learned that in Game 4, and really learned even more in Game 5. When the Stars play their game, when they are connected, when they are plugged in, turning defense into offense, they can be one of the best teams in the league.

I keep going back to this stat, because it impresses me so much. Since Pete DeBoer and his coaching staff came on board in 2022, Dallas has the best regular-season record in the NHL. A big part of that is the fact they also have the best road record in the regular season during that span.

Dallas is 73-37-13 in regular-season road games, top in the league at .646 points percentage. What’s more, they rank first in regular-season road scoring over the past three seasons at 3.40 goals per game and lead the league in GAA at 2.68. They have earned the right to be confident.

Mix in the fact they are 7-4 in their past 11 road playoff games, and you start to see what they are capable of.

But don’t tell anyone, the Stars seem to be better when the haters are around.

"We've got a proud group," DeBoer said. “I think they feed off people doubting them. There was a lot of people before the series started and then after last game. We know what was kind of the feeling in the hockey world about where we were at, and I think our guys wanted to prove that there's a lot of pride in our group, and there's a lot of playoff experience, and I think they showed all those things tonight."

Now, they must do it again.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.