EDMONTON -- Mavrik Bourque made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut for the Dallas Stars against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Sunday.
"I feel excited," said Bourque, who replaced Ty Dellandrea in the lineup. "I've been waiting for that for a while. My game's ready, I'm ready to go. I just want to do my best to help win this game."
Dallas was eliminated with a 2-1 loss.
"He's taken all the right steps," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "We got him late in the season, and I think offense has been hard to come by in this series. And when you look at our grouping of guys, he's the one guy who probably has the most offensive potential, the options that we're looking at."
A first-round pick (No. 30) by Dallas in the 2020 NHL Draft, Bourque made his NHL debut in a 3-2 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks on April 6. The 22-year-old led the American Hockey League with 77 points (26 goals, 51 assists) in 71 games for Texas this season. He became that league's youngest scoring champion since Brandon Pirri for Rockford in 2012-13 and won the Les Cunningham Award, given to the most valuable player.
"I got to know him a little bit, and he's a great kid," Stars forward Mason Marchment said. "He's got a good head on his shoulders. Just hearing he's a pretty competitive kid, and he wants to win, so that can definitely help our group.
"He's got some skill. He's got a good shot. It's going to be fun for him and fun for us to watch. It's going to be an exciting night for him for sure, and I'm sure after the first couple shifts, he's going to calm down and be ready to play."
Dellandrea had one goal in six games this postseason. He did not have a shot on goal in 5:00 of ice time in Game 5, a 3-1 loss Friday.
