The 2024 NHL playoff spots have been officially decided, with the first round set to feature a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights.
The Stars, the Western Conference regular-season champions, have home-ice advantage and will host Games 1 and 2 and, if necessary, Games 5 and 7 at American Airlines Center. .
Game 1 will be held Monday at 8:30pm Central Time.
Here are five things to know about the Stars' first-round matchup.
revenge on the line
The Stars will face the reigning champions and the team that eliminated them from last year's postseason in the Western Conference finals.
Vegas defeated Dallas 4-2 in last year's conference finals to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
Vegas led 3-0 in the series, and Dallas was able to advance to Game 6 with two wins, but ultimately lost 6-0 on home ice.
The Golden Knights played their first NHL season as an expansion team in 2017-18, but Dallas and Vegas have already met twice in the postseason, both in the conference finals. Dallas won the first meeting of the 2019-20 season, 4-1, sending the Stars to the Stanley Cup Finals in the NHL bubble.
Las Vegas swept all three regular season tournaments.
The Stars and Golden Knights met three times this season, with Vegas winning all three times. However, his first two meetings required overtime.
In the second game of the year, Dallas and Vegas went to a shootout, with Vegas winning 3-2. The night before Thanksgiving, the Golden Knights won 2-1 in overtime. Then, in the third tournament in December, Vegas won by a landslide 6-1.
But the last time the Stars and Golden Knights faced off was on Dec. 9, when Vegas was still the NHL's No. 1 team. They have since dropped to 14th place.
The Stars have been playing at a much higher level since then, adding Chris Tanev, acquired at the trade deadline, giving them defensive depth that was missing from last year's series.
Injury status
Vegas is good at manipulating the Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) pool, and they did that again this year. This team has been known to place players on LTIR and bring them back at the start of the playoffs, when the league no longer has salary caps or roster restrictions.
Two players could return for the Stars this year: captain Mark Stone ($9.5 million cap hit) and William Carrier ($1.4 million cap hit). Carrier scored two goals in last year's Dallas series.
With their addition, Vegas will be a stronger team than they've seen in recent months.
Dallas enters the playoffs healthy except for defenseman Jani Hakanpaa, who has been injured since March 16. But Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he is close to returning.
Former home of Pete DeBoer
He served as the Golden Knights' head coach for three years before the Stars' current head coach was hired prior to last season.
DeBoer led Las Vegas to the conference finals in consecutive years, but they lost to Dallas in 2019-20 and the Golden Knights missed the playoffs in 2021-22.
The biggest storyline of last year's third-round series was DeBoer getting a chance for revenge against his former team. He didn't get it and watched him win the Stanley Cup in his first year under Bruce Cassidy, but he'll get another chance this spring.
internet talent
Last year, the Stars struggled in net against Addin Hill, suffering two shutout losses in the series. This year, Vegas has two capable goaltenders as they try to decide who will start the series.
Hill and Logan Thompson won 19 and 25 games this year and posted save percentages of .909 and .908, respectively. Hill's goals against average is 2.71 and Thompson's 2.70.
Hill played in two of the three games against Dallas this year. The Stars will face a challenge no matter who goes in net.
But Dallas has its own elite goalie. Jake Oettinger improved a lot in the final weeks of the season. Since March 1, he has a 13-3 record with a .913 save percentage and a 2.26 goals-against average, despite hitting below .900 earlier this year.
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