Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!
After last night's game, I found myself in disbelief.
After we smoked the Ducks, did we REALLY just win both games in San Jose against the team that almost caught the Detroit Red Wings for the best record in the league?
Did we REALLY have three line centers, three goals?
Are we seeing the Stars that was kicking everyone's butt in February, augmented by the Brad Richards that won the Stanley Cup? (Guys and gals, that finish on the tying goal last night was flat out Cold Blooded. Oof!)
Wow.
For a team that before the last game of the regular season had some chemistry questions and was struggling to get over a terrible March, this group has more than exceeded expectations - it has revised them.
Would it be anything but a complete shock to see the team not win this series?
Yes, I know. I really do know that San Jose has been as successful on our ice as we have on theirs and they could win both games in Dallas and then we'd be back to square one. And come tomorrow night, I'll be as nervous as I was in every other game this series. Every game means the world, etc., etc.
But I just can't help this feeling in my gut that we have the Shark's number, that they can't stack up to us. It would take a rattling of Marty's cage of epic proportions to really see the Sharks take three in a row (what I think it would take to really put the Stars on edge).
The truth is it would be ludicrous to look beyond this series, even now. Stranger things have happened, and if we do get beyond this round, it is a whole new game as we'd then be taking on a Red Wings team that seems to have gotten its collective act together.
So let's focus on the here and now. Let's make sure that we appreciate what we've done in the first two games of this series and the games we won in the Anaheim series. In essence, we've pretty much controlled the Important Moments. Sure, Anaheim won Game Three, and also Game Five. But when it came down to the game that really would have recovered them from their 0-2 start (specifically, Games Four and Six - win either one, and they were not just staving off elimination but had significant momentum), they just didn't have it.
And sure, San Jose has played well at times in this series. But when it came down to That Play by That Guy, for the most part it has been the boys wearing the Stars, not the goofs wearing teal, that have made the momentum changing play.
And the thing that really impresses me about this Stars team - when they decide to lay the hammer, fughetahbahtit. Its over - the fat lady doesn't even have time to warm up. Game Six? Overtime in Game One of this series? The Third Period on Sunday?
As someone used to winning tight games - 1-0 or 2-1 - it is overwhelming at times. This team had dominated two very very good hockey clubs so far in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.
So let's let all that soak in and appreciate the sea change we've seen in Our Dallas Stars. After all the heartache and suffering we've endured over the past six years, we need to acknowledge to wonder in our midst that is our boys in black.
[Deep breath/soaking it all in]
Okay, now back to reality. At some point, some team is going to give us a bloody nose. I kept thinking it was the Ducks - I thought Game Six was going to be a one-goal game and when they scored the first one, I thought we were in for a loooooong night.
But it didn't happen. Then I thought it was going to happen against the Sharks, first in Game One and then in Game Two (especially Game Two as we heard horror stories about how they fired 27 pucks at the Flames in their Game Two). And still it didn't happen.
But it will. And we as fans need to be ready for it. Ready to support the boys and help them get back on their feet. We know they are warriors - Stephane Robidas, anyone? But making sure that the atmosphere in the room is just as warrior-like might make the difference between the Stars responding in time or not. And whether that is Game Three or Game Four or Game Six of this series or later down the line, let's remember one thing - no one waltzes through the Stanley Cup Playoffs. At some point, you run into a team that will make you bleed. (Granted, usually sooner than now, but never-mind that now.) And the real question about your heart is how you react to it.
So take the time to soak in the success we've had, then refocus on the next game, the next challenge, the next shift. We know that is what Tip is going to want of his guys. Let's make sure we're on board too.
