After two scoreless periods, the Dallas Stars scored three goals in the final period of the regular season to beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Saturday night. The win locked the Stars into the first wild card spot and earned them a date with the Central Division champion Nashville Predators in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
If the Stars have plans of playing beyond the opening round then Ben Bishop will need to be a major factor. The Stars netminder returned to action Saturday night after missing the past four games and looked as strong as ever stopping all 24 shots he faced for his seventh shutout of the season. The shutout lowered Bishop’s already stellar numbers this season as he finishes with a 1.98 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.
The NHL will announce its first round playoff schedule on Sunday morning and the Stars will likely play game one of the series on Wednesday or Thursday night in Nashville. The Stars went 2-1-2 in five games this season against the Predators. Dallas and Nashville have never met in the playoffs.
That all changes later this week when the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in Music City.
Brian Roe is the founder and head writer of The Roe Report. He spent five years working for the Dallas Stars and has been a contributor at Hockey’s Future, The Hockey Writers, NHL Intel, and more. Follow Brian on Twitter @brianproe.
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