The Dallas Stars did it. They won a Round 1 against the Colorado Avalanche that, in a better world, would have been a Western Conference Final. It wasn't easy, or pretty, or predictable – but the Victory Green Gang gave themselves the chance to win a Central Division title with all their elite players healthy and back on the ice.

And if Game 7 taught us anything, it's that sometimes you need to rely on your superstars. That's why we turned to Taylor Baird – DBD's managing editor and NHL.com's go-to Stars contributor. In this edition, she and Wes talked about and. And along with the usual stat tricks, they ponder what the Stars are coming to mean to the DFW area's success-hungry sports fans.

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Good news! The Dallas Stars can close the Round 1 deal on home ice. Bad news: The Colorado Avalanche can finish them off in their own barn. How do you play those match-ups?

Wes and Mark worked After Dark to put their thoughts together, and in this episode they discuss the advantages of shortening the Stars' bench, the dangers of relying on Pete DeBoer's playoffs streak, and why it may be a good idea for Mikko Rantanen to play 20 minutes in Game 7.

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The Dallas Stars keep defying the doomcast. After a stunning Game 4 bellyflop, they came back with a dominating performance in Game 5. Now the Round 1 outcome is once again in their hands – but it will proceed on the Colorado Avalanche's home ice. Can they finish the job before the series stretches to seven games?

Wes and Mark met up After Dark to pore over the possibilities. In the process, they parse the ongoing threat of Gabriel Landeskog, Lian Bichsel's debut as a meme, and why – right now – the Stars are a better team for having Oskar Bäck in the lineup.

Trying to modulate between delusional hope and irrational fear? We’re Stargazing After Dark, and that's pretty much all we do. It's in our contract, or something.

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We did ask what would happen when the Colorado Avalanche got desperate, and it appears the Dallas Stars gave us an answer. A terrible answer, true, but they did provide one.

In this episode of Stargazing, Wes and Mark had plenty of dark thoughts about the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But, as usual, they also found a couple of reasons to believe this game was an outlier. In the middle, they discussed getting the top line unstuck, the need for Esa Lindell to start providing offense again, and why Jake Oettinger had to take the walk of shame to make a point to the guys in front of him.

Two periods of bad podcasting and one period of damage control? We’re Stargazing After Dark, and sometimes we're a little too hard on ourselves. (We're Stars fans. It comes with the territory.)

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Is this 2025, or 2015? The Dallas Stars won another nail-biter against the Colorado Avalanche, and it was largely thanks to Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Yet the team continues to get contributions from up and (mostly) down the lineup. What is possible when everyone is That Guy?

In the latest episode of Stargazing, Wes and Mark got together After Dark to pore over the Stars' first road victory of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. And they found plenty to discuss — including the signs that point toward Miro Heiskanen's return, the real threat of Gabriel Landeskog, and what might happen now that the Avs are the ones who have to play from behind.

You can't control Silly Putty by squeezing it, so don't try it with the Dallas Stars, either. We're Stargazing After Dark, and we think about this sort of thing for a living. (Or at least for the lulz.)

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You have to give the Dallas Stars credit: They know how to add extra thrills to their wins. They evened up Round 1 with a victory in overtime. Now they'll take their game on the road and look to grab another W in the Colorado Avalanche's home barn.

Wes Lawrence and Mark Zimmerman have gone over the data from the Stars' 4-3 win on Monday, and they're happy to remind you that they put Colin Blackwell out into the world. They also took a look at how the system is working, and they huffed just a little hopium concerning the fact that Miro Heiskanen is finally traveling with the team again.

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The Dallas Stars are really dependable about losing Game 1. The good news has always been that it isn't necessarily predictive, until it is.

Wes and Mark took a few hours to process the good and the bad in the Victory Green Gang's 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. What they found was some surprisingly good news about structure and puck luck, and one or two shrieking warning sirens (fourth line, looking at you.)

It’s time for Stargazing After Dark. Please do not bring your "Esa Lindell and Cody Ceci are a shutdown pair" statements here.

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The Dallas Stars won their position in the 2025 Stanley Cup race relatively early. Then they skidded into the end of the regular season on a seven-game losing streak unprecedented during head coach Pete DeBoer's tenure. So what happens now that this team is supposed to be all in?

To survey the first-round ice, Stargazing welcomed back longtime Colorado Avalanche writer Evan Liu, now of Hockey Mountain High. He sat down with Wes and Mark to talk about forward depth, netminder performance, the playoffs return of Tyler Seguin and Gabriel Landeskog, and why whatever happens...won't be a surprise.

So who you got? Let’s talk about it. It’s Stargazing time!

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