Heika's Take: A tough end to a memorable season

The Stars' season ended with a thud on Monday.

Fueled by two wins against the Vegas Golden Knights and hoping the return of captain Jamie Benn would provide an emotional boost, Dallas instead was steamrolled 6-0 by a Vegas team who clearly didn't want to stretch the series to seven games.

Instead, the Golden Knights advanced in six games and will now go on to face the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

"I thought they played a perfect elimination game," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "They went to another level that we didn't get to tonight and deserved to win."

The series was a testament to taking advantage of opportunities. Vegas was the better team in Game 1, and although Dallas forced overtime, Vegas still won. The Stars were the better team in Game 2, but the Golden Knights rallied and won again in overtime. According to DeBoer, Dallas "self-destructed" in Game 3 (when Benn received a game misconduct and an eventual two-game suspension for his cross-check on Mark Stone), and Vegas took a 3-0 lead in the series.

The Stars bounced back with wins in Game 4 and 5, but then simply came out flat in Game 6. Part of the problem was Dallas' lack of focus and execution, but another part of it was the fact Vegas seemed quite motivated by the fear of forcing a Game 7.

"It felt like we had the energy in the room, but give them credit," forward Tyler Seguin said. "They came out hard and got their looks and we just didn't have that response."

Vegas scored quickly in several games and took a 1-0 lead just 3:41 into Game 6. William Carrier finished off a hard-working play to get the first goal, and then just seven minutes later William Karlsson bumped the Golden Knights to a 2-0 lead. Keegan Kolesar made it 3-0 at the 14-minute mark of the first period, and that was pretty much the game. The Stars have done a good job rallying this season, but Vegas was dominant in the first period and seemed to suck all the air out of American Airlines Center.

The Golden Knights had a 16-7 advantage in shots on goal after 20 minutes, a 29-16 edge in shot attempts, and four times the scoring chances as Dallas. Vegas even won the battle for faceoffs (6-4), blocked shots (9-4) and hits (20-8) in that first period.

"Give them credit for doing it," forward Joe Pavelski said. "At the end of the day, you expect that we can be better in those situations and not let it get to that point. I'll take some of that blame, and we as a group will take some of that blame. Give them credit, they were ready to play, they were hungry. We didn't get the start we wanted today, so we were chasing a little bit and we opened ourselves up at times. It was an opportunity we felt we were ready for, and we didn't get it done."

Jake Oettinger finished with 23 saves on 29 shots, but DeBoer said goaltending wasn't the problem on Monday.

"We put him in some tough spots," DeBoer said. "You can't ask him to win that game by himself. We asked an awful lot of him. I thought he had a hell of a season. I feel bad for our group. I feel worse that he ends the season like that because he doesn't deserve that."

The Stars finished the season with 108 points in the standings (fourth in the Western Conference), and several players set personal scoring bests, including Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen. Benn had a huge comeback performance this year and rookie Wyatt Johnston had a memorable first season.

"There was a lot of good throughout the season, throughout the playoffs," Pavelski said. "It's tough to sit on this game, but there was a lot of good. It's just always tough in this moment. You always have that belief. It felt like it was a great opportunity, a real opportunity. We came up a little short and it's always tough because we thought there was more out there for us."

"I'm really disappointed for our group, not in our group, for our group, for the way the season ended," DeBoer said. "The time and commitment and energy that we put into the season, it shouldn't end that way, you shouldn't feel that way. But that's hockey. It was a case of Vegas went to another level and maybe one too many nights of us going to the well in an elimination game. Every time you go to an elimination game, it takes a toll . . . physically, mentally, and it's harder to refill that tank over and over again. I don't think there was a lot left there."

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 Twitter @MikeHeika.