On this Thanksgiving Day weekend, we’re taking a look back at some fun memories for Stars fans to reminisce, and to be thankful for.
2020 has been a wild year for many reasons, and this goes for Dallas’ hockey club too. But there are certainly many great times to be thankful for.
Hockey Outdoors
January 1st, 2020 NHL Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl is of course where we start off. That’s about as good as it gets for a regular-season game when you can top a divisional rival outside. Especially when the final score is 4-2 after being down 2-0.
Young Blood and a Deep Playoff Run
Miro Heiskanen is rightfully getting more, and more of the National spotlight but there’s plenty of youth in their early twenties for Stars fans to be excited for. Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov, and Joel Kiviranta have also made big contributions to the club.
One fine example that’ll live in Dallas Stars lore; a game seven overtime hat trick vs rival Colorado Avalanche.
As Captain Jamie Been would say about Kiviranta about that memorable day:
“What Kivi did was pretty spectacular,” “Those are the things you dream about when you’re a kid when you’re playing in the driveway and whatnot. That just became a reality for him.”
Denis Gurianov also had a four-goal game to help close out the Calgary Flames in the first round in six (Stars won the game by a score of 7-3), and Scorianov scored off an assist from Joel Kiviranta in game five of the West Finals to close out the Vegas Golden Knights.
Team Unity
One of the biggest factors to the Stars’ Cinderella run that saw them upset the Calgary Flames, Stanley Cup favorites; divisional rival Colorado Avalanche, and the Vegas Golden Knights is how every player was committed to playing for one another.
Alternate Captain Tyler Seguin stated that:
“We’re all part of this team, and this will be an organizational win, not just one guy individually.” “That includes every [extra] that is here.”
‘Extras’ meaning Ty Dellandrea, Thomas Harley (who scored the first goal of the Stanley Cup Finals, and of course the hero vs the Avs; “injury replacement” Joel Kiviranta.
Defense
There’s no disputing that the Stars have one of, if not the best defensive corps in the NHL. In this past postseason, Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg were two of the top seven in scoring during the playoffs. Miro had the most points as a defenseman. The Stars also defend well. Dallas finished second to the Boston Bruins in goals against during the regular season.
Playoff Goal Scoring
everybody knows for the Stars the D in Dallas stood for defense. As a change of pace from the covid shortened regular season, the Stars gave us all a change of pace for a few games. Jamie Benn also turned vintage Beast Mode during that Cinderella run.
Goaltending
Dallas boasts the top goaltending pair in the NHL in Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin. While Ben Bishop will be sidelined due to injury third-string goalie Jake Oettinger has proven he will be up to back up Dobby, who is arguably the most valuable player on the team. We can say the Stars have the best triple threat between the pipes in the NHL.
We were treated to some of the most memorable regular/postseasons in franchise history.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend, Stars fans!
Featured Image: wsmv.com
