If there\u2019s any sport you\u2019d want to be down 3-1 in a playoff series in, hockey would probably be the first choice, but that doesn\u2019t make the challenge ahead for the Dallas Stars any easier.<\/p>\n
After dropping three straight games in their Western Conference finals series against the Edmonton Oilers, the Stars need to win three straight to avoid a third-round exit for the third straight year.<\/p>\n
NHL teams that take a 3-1 lead in the series go on to win the series 91% of the time. But 31 NHL teams have overcome that deficit before, compared to just 14 MLB teams and 13 NBA teams.<\/p>\n
No MLB or NBA team has overcome a 3-1 deficit since 2020. Since then, NHL teams have done so three times, with the Florida Panthers achieving the feat most recently in the first round of 2023 against the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n
There may be some recent league history to show the Stars\u2019 task ahead isn\u2019t impossible, but it\u2019s a feat the Stars have never accomplished themselves.<\/p>\n
The Stars are 0-16 in series where they\u2019ve trailed 3-1. They\u2019ve forced a Game 7 just once in those 16 series, taking the Vancouver Canucks the distance after Marty Turco held the Canucks scoreless for 167:05 in the first round of the 2007 playoffs. But Vancouver won Game 7 4-1.<\/p>\n
The Stars\u2019 current opponent also has an impressive 17-1 record when leading a series 3-1. The Oilers\u2019 only loss was in 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a challenge,\u201d Stars forward Jason Robertson said.<\/p>\n
This Stars team hasn\u2019t made anything easy. They\u2019ve given up the first goal in 14 of 17 playoff contests but went on to win six of those games. They\u2019ve dug themselves out of multiple two-goal third-period deficits \u2014 the first team to do so in a playoff run.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll need to channel that resilience again to have any chance of saving their season, and even if they can, it\u2019s still an uphill battle to climb.<\/p>\n
It\u2019d be one thing if the Stars had lost a few overtime battles to get here, but Dallas has been outscored 13-2 over its past three games. Outside of a five-goal third period in Game 1, the Stars have scored just three goals in four games, and Robertson was the only Star to score on the road trip to Rogers Place.<\/p>\n
Edmonton seems to have their number, winning six of their last seven playoff meetings. If it weren\u2019t for that shocking third-period surge, the Oilers could\u2019ve been onto the Stanley Cup Final by now.<\/p>\n
Most have written off the Stars, and that may be how the next few games shake out. But beyond reaching their first Stanley Cup Final since 2020, the Stars have a lot to play for.<\/p>\n
The expectations entering this year\u2019s Western Conference finals were different. It\u2019s not like two years ago when the Stars were just happy to be there against a far more skilled Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Overcoming the Odds: Can the Dallas Stars Make a Comeback? If there\u2019s any sport you\u2019d want to be down 3-1 in a playoff series in, hockey would probably be the first choice, but that doesn\u2019t make the challenge ahead for the Dallas Stars any easier. After dropping three straight games in their Western Conference finals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/YYDGON6YZJEKZI3HJJQI4YUTQM.jpg?auth=c44e64294aed6e18cb47607216a32027a4e5d19df5311039cc0373abf5f5ce76&height=630&width=1200&focal=1800,459&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6640,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6638\/revisions\/6640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}