Stars play on special teams, injuries prove costly in Cup Final loss

The Dallas Stars' pursuit of the Stanley Cup ended with a 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the Cup Final, on Monday.

The Stars were the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference after going 1-2-0 in in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. They defeated the No. 6 seed Calgary Flames in six games in the first round, the No. 2 seed Colorado Avalanche in seven games in the second round and the No. 1 seed Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the conference final to reach the Cup Final for the first time since 2000.
Dallas finished third in the Central Division during the regular season with a .594 points percentage (37-24-8) to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for second straight season. The Stars lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in seven games in the second round in 2019.
Here is a look at what happened during the 2020 postseason for the Stars and why things could be even better next season:

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents:Mattias Janmark, C; Corey Perry, F;
Gavin Bayreuther
, D; Andrej Sekera, D; Anton Khudobin, G
Potential restricted free agents: Radek Faksa, C; Denis Gurianov, F; Roope Hintz, F;
Landon Bow
, G
Potential 2020 NHL Draft picks:5

What went wrong

Special teams: Their struggles against the Lightning's power play and inability to convert on their own were a losing combination. Dallas outscored Tampa Bay 12-11 at 5-on-5 in the Cup Final but was outscored 7-1 on the power play. The Lightning were 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) on the man-advantage in the series, including 6-for-12 while winning three straight games to take a 3-1 series lead. The Stars were 1-for-19 (5.3 percent) on the power play in the series with the lone goal coming in a 3-2 loss in Game 2.
Tampa Bay's top line:After holding them off the scoresheet in a 4-1 win in Game 1, Dallas couldn't contain the combination of Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Point (five goals, three assists) and Kucherov (one goal, seven assists) each scored eight points and Palat scored five (three goals, two assists), giving the line 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in the series. Point and Kucherov each scored at least one point in the final five games.

Injuries: By the end of the Cup Final, Dallas was playing without Hintz, Faksa and forward Blake Comeau, defenseman Stephen Johns and No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop. Hintz, Faksa and Comeau were key members of the Stars penalty kill. Khudobin carried the Stars to the Cup Final in Bishop's absence, but fatigue caught up to him against Tampa Bay, which took advantage of poor positioning on goals from the right circle. After stopping 35 of 36 shots in Game 1, the 34-year-old allowed 13 goals on 95 shots for a 4.73 goals-against average and an .863 save percentage in losing the next three games.

Reasons for optimism

Dominant defense: Led by Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg, the defense is set up to be their foundation. Heiskanen, 21, scored 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 27 playoff games, which ranks fourth in NHL history among defensemen in a playoff year behind Paul Coffey (37 with the Edmonton Oilers in 1985), Brain Leetch (34 with the New York Rangers in 1994) and Al MacInnis (31 with the Calgary Flames in 1989). Klingberg, 28, scored 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 26 games, making Dallas the second team in League history to have two defensemen with 20 or more points in a playoff year, joining the 1984-85 Oilers, who had Coffey (37) and Charlie Huddy (20).

Young forwards:Gurianov, a 23-year-old rookie, scored 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in 27 playoff games after he scored 29 points (20 goals, nine assists) in 64 regular-season games. Hintz, 23, scored 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 25 playoff games after he scored 33 points (19 goals, 14 assists) in 60 regular-season games. Joel Kiviranta, 24, emerged as a clutch player in the playoffs, scoring five goals in 13 games, including a hat trick in Game 7 of the second round against Colorado. With 21-year-old
Jason Robertson
, who scored 47 points (25 goals, 22 assists) in 60 games this season with Texas of the American Hockey League, and 20-year-old Ty Dellandrea, who scored 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 47 games with Flint of the Ontario Hockey League, on the horizon, the future at forward looks promising.
Rick Bowness:A midseason replacement for coach Jim Montgomery, who was fired for unprofessional conduct on Dec. 10, Bowness proved he's worthy of keeping the job by guiding the Stars to the Cup Final. During training camp following the pause, the 65-year-old pushed the defensemen to get more involved to boost an offense that ranked 26th in the NHL during the regular season (2.58 goals per game). With the defensemen combining for 17 goals, the Stars averaged 2.85 goals per game in the postseason.