EDMONTON, AB — The seemingly impossible dream of two Dallas teams reaching the finals in their respective sports came to an end on Sunday night.
Sure, the Mavericks held up the NBA half of the bargain, clinching a trip to the NBA Finals on Thursday. But the Stars, despite an impressive season of their own, came up just a little shy of reaching the Stanley Cup Final, falling 1-2 to the Oilers in Edmonton on Sunday night.
In taking Game 6 of the Western Conference Final, the Edmonton Oilers clinched a Stanley Cup Final matchup against the Florida Panthers that'll start on Saturday, June 8.
Sunday's game played out much like the rest of the series did. The Stars outplayed Edmonton, but couldn't find the back of the net or find way to suppress the Oilers' star power.
To wit: Dallas out-shot Edmonton 35-10 in Game 6, but only managed to sneak one goal past Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner, who continued in Game 6 the impressive play he's shown all series long.
Meanwhile, Connor McDavid spent the first period in this game doing... well, Connor McDavid things.
First, he opened the scoring by quite dirtily dangling his way through three Dallas defenders to place himself right in front of the crease and backhand the puck over Stars goalie Jake Oettinger's glove hand. It was disgusting:
Then, some 10 minutes later, he drew the Dallas defense to the wing only to find his linemate Zach Hyman -- as he often does -- streaking through the center of the ice for to set up a wrister that he thrust past Oettinger's stick side.
It was another highlight reel entry for a pairing that's well used to creating them:
Halfway through the third period, the Stars offense finally showed signs of life as long-term Stars heroes Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn connected for a goal after the former flicked the puck in front of the net and the latter hammered it home.
Alas, as so often felt the case throughout the series, it just wasn't enough. And the Stars, who ended up 0-for-14 on the power play throughout the series, came up short in Game 6.
For the second year in a row, the Stars fell in the Western Conference Final in six games, and were forced to watch their opponents celebrate their trip to play for Lord Stanley's Cup.
It was another thrilling season for a team that's been among the best teams in the NHL for the last five season. But, unfortunately, it was not enough for the team to win their second Stanley Cup -- in what would've been exactly 25 seasons since the team won their first in 1999.