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Sunday night's game was such a heartbreaker. It looked like the Stars were going to force Game 7 as they had a 4-2 lead with 2:10 left in the game. But a goal by Nick Bonine cut the lead to 4-3. Then with :23 left in regulation Devante Smith-Pelly put the puck in the back of the net after a massive flurry thanks to a 6 on 5 advantage with the goalie pulled for his 2nd goal of the game. The crowd that had been so loud throughout the entire game was all of a sudden eerily quiet. Dallas still had a chance in overtime to win, but at 2:57 into overtime by Nick Bonine not only broke the hearts of all Dallas Stars fans and players alike, but it also ended the season for the Stars and sent the team into the offseason much sooner than they were hoping.
As hard as Sunday night's game was to swallow, we have some awesome positives we can take from this playoff series and from this season. In a post game interview, Stars play-by-play broadcaster Ralph Strangis said "As much as this hurts, it feels good to hurt again." And he's exactly right. The reason this hurts is because we saw just what this team is capable of. And over the next couple of years, this team is capable of being very VERY good. I predicted earlier this year that you'd see this team in the playoffs at the end of the season and I was right. Now I'm predicting that you'll see this team in the Stanley Cup Finals sometime over the next 3-4 years. For the first time in a long time the Stars are going into the offseason with a core group of guys that they are building around. Guys like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Kari Lehtonen, Ryan Garbutt, Valeri Nichuskin, and Alex Chiasson. These are guys that will be around for a long time and that the team can build around. That's an awesome feeling.
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We, as Dallas Stars fans, should be very proud of our guys. They came a long way from the beginning of the season. They made hockey relevant again in Dallas. They got people talking about Dallas Stars hockey again. It was a fun ride this season and I'm very excited to what the future holds for this club. So send out tweets to the players on the team. Let them know that we are proud of them and that we are here to support them for a very long time. Good job this season and for the last time until October...LET'S GO STARS!!!