Reviewing the past and looking forward to the future is the only thing you can do since there are no hockey games in the present. The Dallas Stars are gearing up for the new season so fans are in the summer with no hockey. Re-watching old Stars memories is a good way to pass the time. We’ve covered the best and worst moments in team history over the last two weeks but all those were in the playoffs. Stars fans saw some insane games in the regular season and we can’t cover them all but can take a look back at some memorable, and forgotten ones.
Opening Night Comeback: 5-4 Vs. Los Angeles Kings 2005
Hockey fans went a full season in 2004-2005 without the NHL. The lockout lasted a full season and with its return came a whole new sport. The Stars started off the new season with a bang on opening night against the LA Kings. The Kings started their season off fast with a 4-0 lead after the 1st period. The Stars won 5-4 in regulation with goals from names you haven’t heard in a while. Sergei Zubov, Jason Arnott, Sean Avery, Jeremy Roenick, Bill Guerin, Dustin Brown, and Phillipe Boucher were the goal scorers from both sides in this game.
One Month Later: 9-1 Vs. Chicago Blackhawks 2005
Less than one month after the previous game was one of the blowouts you should remember. 8 is great, especially after 2 periods when the Stars lead 8-1 thanks to a Stu Barnes hat trick. The dismay with the Blackhawks wasn’t there yet but that 9-1 is still a fond memory.
Add Another Goal: 10-2 Vs. New York Rangers 2009
Double digits is always nice, especially in front of the home crowd. You wouldn’t expect this final score line with a 4-2 lead after 2 periods but the wheels soon fell off for the NYR. A 6-goal 3rd period made the score 10-2 as the last time the Stars put up a tenner was on February 6, 2009. How could the New York Rangers leave Steve Valiguette in goal for all 10 goals? What is another curious fact is that no Stars player had a hat trick.
They Are Finally Back, Baby: 3-0 Vs. St. Louis Blues 2014
Stars fans had longed for a single playoff team from 2009-2014. 6 straight seasons of missing the playoffs had taken its toll on a Franchise where hope started turning desolate. It was finally the year and this game in particular in was the one that gave them the last team in as the 8th seed. Not to mention this was after the emotional game in the next paragraph.
Playing for Pevs, 24 Hours Later: 3-2 OT @ St. Louis Blues 2014
The dates of March 8, 2014, – March 11, 2014, have to be some of the most chaotic, potentially catastrophic, and elating in team history. 48 hours before the “game,” Mike Modano was having his jersey retirement ceremony along with the impromptu debut of Boston Bruins legend Tim Thomas with his color cliché pads.
The game against the Columbus Blue Jackets started off like any other but then turned to near-tragedy. Rich Peverley of the Stars collapsed on the bench after finishing his shift. His medical condition meant an extreme emergency was underway.
Those brief moments in the game are some of the most heart-wrenching ever in any sport. Peverley had a major “Cardiac Event” which still sends shivers down the spine of any Stars fan that remembers it. Thankfully, he is okay now.
That last shift was the final of Peverley’s career. The players on the bench were obviously extremely disturbed and the game was suspended until a later date. After all that, the Stars still had another game less than 24 hours later. Jamie Benn scored perhaps the most electrifying non-essential regular season goal in Franchise history with the overtime win in St. Louis. After all that emotion in 3 days, seeing Benn bury the overtime winner in St. Louis showed what Stars hockey is all about.
Dallas Stars history is now over the 2,000-game mark since 1993. IT has amazing moments, alongside some not so much. Stars fans have been through it all. Good regular season games pave the way to the best playoff games. There will be another “greatest moment,” when the Stanley Cup gets hoisted by the victory green again.
