Stars’ Playoff Consistency Noted
- DraftKings preview noted the Dallas Stars reached the Western Conference Final in each of the past three years. (dknetwork.draftkings.com) - That recent consistency factors into predictions for the Wild vs. Stars Game 1. (dknetwork.draftkings.com) - Bettors and pundits are using Dallas’ deep‑run history as a baseline for series expectations. (dknetwork.draftkings.com)
Dallas enters its first-round series with Minnesota carrying a rare recent pattern: three straight trips to the Western Conference Final. (nhl.com) That run is part of the frame around Game 1 on Saturday, April 18, when the Wild opened the series at Dallas at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. DraftKings Network’s preview leaned on that history in picking the Stars for the opener. (nhl.com) (dknetwork.draftkings.com) The numbers behind the matchup help explain why Dallas keeps getting that benefit of the doubt. The Stars finished the 2025-26 regular season 49-20-12 for 110 points, while Minnesota finished 46-24-12 for 104 points. (espn.com) Dallas also opened the playoffs from a stronger seed line in the Central Division. Colorado finished first, Dallas second, and Minnesota third, setting up a series between two teams that both cleared 100 points. (espn.com) The deeper point is not just that Dallas has been good once. NHL.com’s playoff capsule says the Stars have made the conference final in each of the past three postseasons and are now chasing a fourth straight trip, a mark only a few teams have managed in the past 40 years. (nhl.com) That recent history is unusually specific. Dallas lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Western Conference Final, then lost to the Edmonton Oilers in the conference final in both 2024 and 2025. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) Bettors and preview writers tend to use that kind of repeat performance as a shortcut for roster depth and playoff reliability. DraftKings Network’s Game 1 write-up treated Dallas’ recent deep runs as part of the case for the Stars to open the series with a win. (dknetwork.draftkings.com) Minnesota still enters with a strong enough record to make the series more than a seed-versus-seed formality. The Wild finished with 104 points and secured a top-three spot in the Central, which is why this is a matchup of proven playoff teams rather than a division winner against a wild card. (espn.com) So the Game 1 conversation starts with a simple fact: Dallas has turned spring into a habit. Until Minnesota breaks that pattern on the ice, the Stars’ three-year track record will keep shaping the way this series is priced and picked. (nhl.com) (dknetwork.draftkings.com)
