There are two words that every sports fan gets excited over. Game 7 followed by is necessary. The Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames play in a winner-take-all game to advance on Sunday. This series can go either way as anything is possible in these playoffs. This is the final of five Game 7s over the weekend (BOS/CAR, TBL/TOR, LAK/EDM, PIT/NYR, DAL/CAL). This is the 8th Game 7 for the Stars since moving to Dallas. Calgary is also playing in their 13th. Both teams have a rough history of playing in Game 7s. Everything about this series is different. Will the Stars end their season on Monday or do they have a date with the Second Round?
Weird Series So Far
All seven other series had a game where at least one team scores five or more goals. This is the only series where a team didn’t score five. What’s also interesting is that there were three games with a team that scored four. Each time the fourth goal was an empty-netter. This is a tight low-scoring series where the defense and goaltending are excellent.
Goaltending
Both Jacob Markstrom and Jake Oettinger do not deserve to lose this series. Their stats are ridiculous. Oettinger has a 1.69 GAA with a whopping .954 save percentage. That save percentage is good enough for 1st in the NHL among goaltenders that played their entire series. Markstrom has the best GAA in the NHL at 1.52 with the same critique.
Where is the Offense?
With how good the defense is you have to wonder where the opposite is. The offense from some Stars players is non-existent. Jamie Benn is making $9,500,000 per year and he only has one assist in this series. Everyone contributes in a Game 7. Imagine if Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov can get back to their old selves. This team can extinguish the Flames in Game 7 and do serious damage through the rest of the Playoffs. Their goals are sporadic (0, 1, 3, 1, 1, 3. With Markstrom in the net.). The Stars put nine pucks past Markstrom in six games. Not good enough.
Game 7 Yay or Nay?
This is the 8th Game 7 in Dallas Stars history. A win Sunday puts them at 4-4 while a loss goes to 3-5. Those three wins are against the same team. 3-0 in a Game 7 is their record against the Colorado Avalanche. Let’s say the Stars do win this one, it will be their first win against not-Colorado in a Game 7 since moving to Dallas in 1993. The Flames are 5-7 in this particular game. Both have similar records in such a massive game and one of these teams will be out of the Playoffs next week.
Game 7 has the will to alter a Franchise’s destiny. We will find out if the Stars came to play on Sunday night/Monday morning. The hope for DFW sports relies on Sunday night. The Mavericks play Game 7 at 7:00 p.m. while the Stars play at 8:30 p.m. The fact the Stars brought a team like the Flames to a Game 7 exceeds expectations. No expert picked the Stars to win this series. Anything can happen in a Game 7. Get your heart pills ready if it goes into overtime. This is the final game of the season for one team, make sure it’s the other guys.
Just remember that anything can happen in a Game 7.
Photo Credit: Dallas Stars Twitter
