The Dallas Stars‘ season came to an end in a 5-2 Game 6 loss against the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday. Minnesota won the first-round series 4-2 to advance to the second round.

Stars lines

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

• Harley – Heiskanen
• Lindell – Lyubushkin
• Bichsel – Petrovic  

• Oettinger
• DeSmith

Scratches: Erne, Myers, Hyry (injured), Capobianco, Lundkvist (injured), Bastian (injured), Hintz (injured), Seguin (SELTIR)

Top story

Do or die. Talk is talk. Time to prove it because the runway is up.

Period.

Live game notebook

Period 1

• The first goal is huge tonight. The Stars, while confident and veteran, are also human. They understand the struggles they have had. If they go down 1-0 and can’t muster up shots, they could lose even more confidence and really start to squeeze their sticks.
• Oof, ^^ is exactly what happened. Unlike Games 3 and 4 when Minnesota took bad penalties and allowed Dallas to score early power-play goals to silence the crowd, the Wild have dominated the early going here. After an easy breakout, Dallas gets too puck focused and skates too low past the slot to allow a cross-ice pass to Quinn Hughes at the point. Hughes toe drags around Radek Faksa and snipes one over Jake Oettinger’s glove. Crowd goes crazy.

• Dallas has spent almost no time in the Minnesota end. The Wild have packed the interior, forced Dallas into turnovers, and only given up two shots through 12 minutes.
• Well, the game has settled in. That’s good news for the Stars because it was all Minnesota.
• Mikko Rantanen took a high stick, tried to sell it with full elevation, and left the game. Not sure if it was from a concussion spotter — to go into protocol — or if there is an injury there.

• The Stars did not rack up shots or create much, but they did settle the Wild’s push and even out the game. At least a little. That’s a start. But they have to score some goals over the final 40.

Wild 1, Stars 0

Period 2

• Rantanen is back to start the second period.
• Matt Duchene gets called for cross checking… It wasn’t much, and the Minnesota power play was unimpressive.
• Dallas now owns the longest streak without a 5v5 goal since 2010.
• Well, I guess you don’t need 5v5 goals when your power play is unstoppable. Just like they always do, Dallas goes high to low, and Rantanen finds Wyatt Johnston in the bumper for the PPG. Johnston was not even open, but it didn’t matter. He got the shot off and perfectly beat Jesper Wallstedt to the blocker side to tie the game.

• If Dallas does not score at even strength tonight, they don’t win. That’s my guess. Minnesota is going to do everything it can to avoid taking a minor. The Wild know they have a massive chance to win the game if they stay out of the box.
• Oettinger gets the blocker on Matt Boldy’s chance in tight and barely got his shoulder on a dangerous wrist shot from Mats Zuccarello before it hit the corner of the posts.
• Michael Bunting throws a harmless shot wide off the endboards, the Wild make an absolute mess of it, and Mavrik Bourque makes a nice hands play to toe drag the puck to the middle and score a beauty. And a 5v5 beauty. Huge goal. And guess what started it? A shot toward the net by Michael Bunting. Simple stuff. First playoff goal and point for Bourque in 10 games.

• Just like that, though, Minnesota answers. Dallas gets hemmed in its own end, and when Duchene gets the puck circling his net, he throws a blind pass up the wall. Rantanen was in the middle of the ice, not on the wall, and the puck goes back to the Wild at the point. Turnovers at your own blue line are never good, and Vladimir Tarasenko converts on a rebound less than a minute after Bourque’s goal. Tough one to swallow.

• This is a much better effort from Dallas. Sure, they are still tied and may not win the game. But at least empty the tank, go hard to the net, and compete. They are doing that now. It’s a 20 minute game… Or maybe not.

Stars 2, Wild 2

Period 3

• Gulutzan put Rantanen with Johnston and Jason Robertson after the Minnesota goal. He has rolled that out to start the third as well.
• Joel Eriksson Ek slid into the boards feet first and left the game. Scary.
• Rantanen is held up a bit by Zuccarello, gets pissed, and then cross checks Kirill Kaprizov in the shoulder and face. I get being frustrated about a no call, but you cannot take that penalty. Retaliation always gets called. Huge kill coming.
• Oskar Bäck got up ice shorthanded, deked around Hughes twice, and nearly scored an Ovechkin-like shorty. Good poke check by Wallstedt, but they draw a penalty.
• Thomas Harley made a HUGE defensive play in the slot after Hughes danced to the middle and would’ve had a prime scoring chance.
• Dallas is ALL OVER Minnesota.
• Hockey is gonna hockey sometimes. After multiple extended shifts in the Minnesota zone, the puck goes in on the other end. Hughes makes a smart play, taking a pass on the left side, picking his head up immediately, and throwing the puck into a knot of players to the left of Oettinger. The puck bounces off Ilya Lyubushkin’s skate and in. Tough, but earned bounce. Dallas has less than eight minutes to save its season.

• Eriksson Ek is back.
• Eriksson Ek hit Lian Bichsel, and now Bichsel leaves the game.
• Dallas pushes hard, but into the empty net it goes on the other end, and it looks like the Stars season will come to an end in St. Paul tonight. First time since 2022, Dallas has not won a series… they made it to the WCF in each of the past three seasons.

Final: Wild 5, Stars 2

Minnesota wins the series 4-2, and the Stars season ends in the first round.

It was a fun season. Sure, it was tough. They were decimated with injuries. They showed heart. They were streaky. But in the end, they just didn’t have enough, and the better team won the series.