The Dallas Stars picked up their 50th victory of the season in a 4-3 shootout win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

Stars lines

• Steel – Johnston – Rantanen
• Robertson – Duchene – Bourque
• Bunting – Hryckowian – Benn
• Bäck – Faksa – Erne

• Lindell – Lyubushkin
• Harley – Lundkvist
• Bichsel – Myers  

• Oettinger
• DeSmith

Scratches: Petrovic, Capobianco, Blackwell, Hyry, Heiskanen (injured), Bastian (injured), Hintz (injured), Seguin (SELTIR)

Top story

It’s finally over. Everybody who played tonight appears to be healthy.

Let the playoffs begin.

The NHL regular season is a funny thing. When you are in the dog days of January or March, it feels like the season is never going to end. You go to work seemingly every day, the Stars play pretty much every day, the energy is low, the sickness is running rampant through the dressing room, and the finish line appears only as a mirage of delicious chocolate soft serve in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

Wow, I really am a poet.

But then the season finally ends, and it feels like it absolutely flew by. You can’t remember every game or every detail, and it feels like you were just sitting in Frisco watching training camp and preseason practices. It’s a pretty wild perspective, and one that has not failed to pop up in nearly 25 years of following the sport every day.

Now, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have arrived. Sure, it feels like Mikko Rantanen just singlehandedly beat Colorado in Game 7 two days ago. But, it’s real, and it’s here.

It’s going to be a hell of a series against Minnesota in round one. Physical, heavy, and incredibly competitive. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Heck, that’s the fun of it all. But I can tell you that I cannot wait to watch it go down. And it starts (most likely) Saturday.

Let’s drop the puck.

Live game notebook

Period 1

• It took all of 2:18 to turn Mavrik Bourque into a 20-goal scorer. I am not sure if Esa Lindell did it on purpose, but his point shot perfectly bounced — despite all science (who believes in scientists?) — off the end boards and onto the tape of Bourque to the right of the net. Wow. What a year for Bourque, and most of it has come after the New Year.

• Matt Duchene made a nice play to track his man to the back post, even though he didn’t get much on the stick or puck. Better than getting beat clean for an easy goal.
• Dallas is still sitting at two shots and hasn’t created much since the Bourque goal.
• Rantanen tried to take on multiple Sabres off the rush, but got stopped up. Soon after, Buffalo goes the other way, and Josh Norris rips a wrist shot over the glove side of Jake Oettinger. This was another one of those shots that Oettinger doesn’t look to read well off the stick. Instead of snatching it with a relatively easy glove save, Oettinger moves his glove low like he is guessing a bit, and then has to try to shrug to recover. It’s definitely something in Oettinger’s game.

• Dallas is so famous for not creating a ton, but still leading or being tied. I know it’s frustrating for fans, but they do often find ways to win or get that goal.

Stars 1, Sabres 1

Period 2

• Wyatt Johnston made a nice play to get a piece of a shot from the slot. If he doesn’t get a piece, it’s probably 2-1 Buffalo.
• Dallas seems to be stuck on one power-play entry, and it’s just not working. To me, it doesn’t look like they have much of a plan. It feels like they get to the blue line and just hope they can make a great pass or stickhandle their way in. Could be wrong, but that feels like it needs to improve.
• And another turnover on an entry, this time by Duchene, leads to a breakaway from the offensive blue line and a goal for Buffalo. Woof.

• The puck, sometimes, is your friend. Lindell’s point shot rattles in off a Buffalo skate in front just as the power play was coming to an end. Just as he planned. Tie game.

• If this game is meant to build Oettinger’s confidence, it’s certainly not doing that. Whether it’s on him or not, he just allowed a goal from behind the icing line, never, ever a good thing. Alex Tuch quickly banked it off of him to give Buffalo the lead.

• So far, nobody has gotten injured. So, that’s good.
• How about the surprises of the season? Bourque with 20 goals. Justin Hryckowian has 14 goals and 29 points. Jamie Benn has still tallied 15 goals despite his age and injury. Obviously, Johnston and Jason Robertson hitting 45 goals apiece. Adam Erne wins a job on a PTO and stays with the team all year, coming off hip surgery. It’s been a fun year.
• Speaking of Hryckowian, the rookie wins a puck at the defensive blue line, skates in 2-on-1 with Jamie Benn, looks off the goalie, and buries his 14th goal of the season five-hole. Unlike the empty-netter against Colorado, Hyrckowian was not deferring to the captain on this play.

• Never listen to me if I take the under, apparently.

Stars 3, Sabres 3

Period 3

• The Stars power play has looked horrendous tonight. Yes, they have the goal by Lindell, but like, come on.
• If you are wondering why players look like they are slow or not competing, it’s because they are slow and not competing. Makes sense, right? You can clearly see the half effort from both teams. That’s fine, but I always get nervous about injuries when players skate at half speed.
• Why, just why is this game going to overtime? Like, why?

OT

• Robertson nearly ended it on a wraparound immediately.
• Stars get sloppy at the blue line and turn the puck over. Bourque takes a penalty getting back, and Tuch makes a cheeky spinning between-the-legs pass. Oettinger with a huge save.
• Josh Doan just pulled off the Tyler Seguin chip shot into the crowd.
• Nearly everybody scores, and some filthy goals, but Johnston wins it for the Stars’ 50th win of the season. More importantly, the regular season is over.

• Nice moment here, too:

Final: Stars 4, Sabres 3 (SO)

PLAYOFFS??!!