How adversity has set the table for the Stars to make history

One of my favorite guilty pleasures in life (along with early Bee Gees music) just happens to be the Michigan Panthers football team.

Watching the team as a part of the original USFL in 1983, I immediately fell in love with the “champagne and plum” uniforms with a hint of baby blue trim. It was also nice to have a taste of home in my first summer in Texas, and it didn’t hurt at all that Bobby Hebert and Anthony Carter led the Panthers to the first ever USFL championship. It was a glorious time.

Fast forward a few decades and the Panthers were on my television playing their first game in the new UFL. It was like the Brothers Gibb were in my backyard strumming out “I’ve Gotta Get a Message To You.” There was no chance I was turning away.

So as it happens, the Panthers messed around and lost the lead late in their season opener against the St. Louis Battlehawks. They couldn’t really get into great field goal position, but decided to let kicker Jake Bates try his hand at a 64-yard game-winner. The kickoff specialist at Arkansas had not attempted a field goal since high school, according to the broadcaster, so there was a lot of debate over the strategy to go for it. But, in his first attempt, the 24-year-old from Tomball blasted the kick through with ease.

Oh wait, St. Louis called timeout to freeze Bates.

No problem, he lined it up again, and he again made the kick with ease.

It was an awesome spectacle.

This is a long way of telling you that one of the reasons we are addicted to sports is because games often put people and teams in situations of sincere adversity and ask them to prevail. We love the mettle of the human mind. We love when all of the distractions fade away and an athlete can combine the incredible muscle memory born of a thousand practices with the serenity of Caine snatching the pebble to do something that is truly memorable.

And the Stars kind of need something like that right now.

The battle between Dallas and Vegas has been a chess match. The Stars had the best record in the West, while the Golden Knights are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Each team is battle-tested and smart. Each team has talent. But, so far, Vegas is getting the right plays at the right time. Mark Stone scored a minute into Game 1, furthering his villain status. Jack Eichel continues his ability to come up big when the opportunity presents itself. Jonathan Marchessault is vexing the Stars. Noah Hanifin is proving to be a really nice trade deadline pickup.

That’s what Vegas does.

“I was thinking today that with some of their top players, I don’t even notice them until all of a sudden they have a result,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said Thursday. “They get that one chance and they capitalize on it. We haven’t capitalized on those one chances.”

The Stars have had some big moments from Jason Robertson. They have had big saves from Jake Oettinger. But Vegas has had one more. If you look at scoring chances and top-grade opportunities, the Stars have had plenty. They just need to make them count.

“You’re not going to get a ton against them, we’ve got to finish them,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought their goalie made a few saves, but we had some looks we’ve just got to stick in the net. The puck was on the right guys’ sticks a few times, but you’ve got to bear down.”

This is a unique series. Dallas has the best forward depth it has had in years. That was a huge part of the offseason makeover, and now you have a team that can score with any line. Players like Matt Duchene and Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston went through scoring droughts this year, and it didn’t matter because their teammates picked up the slack. If you needed Mason Marchment or Evgenii Dadonov or Logan Stankoven to chip in a goal, it usually came.

Now, they need it from the big guns. They need Hintz and Duchene and Seguin and Joe Pavelski to find the right touch at the right time. The Knights’ big guys are doing it, so the Stars have no choice. And they have to do it when the pressure is on. They have to say that they want to kick a game-winning 64-yard field goal, doing so twice if needed.

This is also a weird challenge. The Stars thought they were fighting all year to get the top seed for a reason. They thought they would be happy to have home ice. Now, they have their backs to the wall, they are facing extreme pressure and they have to win one game just to save their season and create a smidge of breathing room. The hockey gods have definitely created some adversity.

“When you have a traditional 1-8 matchup, the margins aren’t as thin,” DeBoer said when asked about the pressure. “You’re essentially jumping from the regular season into a conference final or Stanley Cup Final. The margins are razor thin when you get two teams like that.”

But that’s why we love sports. That’s why you have “Mr. October” and “Big Shot Bob,.” That’s why Roger “The Dodger” Staubach is a legend. The opportunity is there for someone on this roster to step up and create a story that will become legendary in Stars history. Adversity often reveals character, or at the very least, makes things very fun.

Just ask Jake Bates. Sometimes you need to line up a record game-winner just to see what you can do.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.