The Wraparound is your daily look at the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. We’ll break down each day’s matchups with the all-important television and live streaming information included.
From horse fecal matter in January to the Western Conference Final in May?
Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and the rest of the Dallas Stars are on the verge of quite the transformation after Dallas CEO Jim Lites tee’d off on his two star players just a few months ago, calling two of the team’s finest “embarrassing.”
They’ve been anything but in these playoffs, however.
Seguin is tied for the team with 10 points in 11 games thus far while Benn sits one point back of that mark.
And along with the play of Ben Bishop, the Stars have orchestrated a 3-2 series lead against the St. Louis Blues who, for all intents and purposes, were pretty horse poopy themselves prior to their incredible turnaround beginning in January.
The Blues face elimination for the first time this postseason and have a couple of quirky things that may or may not work against them.
Dallas lost Game 3 of their Round 1 series to fall behind 2-1 against the Nashville Predators before rattling off three straight wins. The Stars can repeat that story again with a win on Sunday at American Airlines Center (3 p.m. ET; NBC).
Also, Ben Bishop has never entered the playoffs and not reached the conference finals. In his two previous trips to the postseason, Bishop has made it to at least the penultimate stage of the tournament — Stanley Cup Final with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2015 and Eastern Conference Final, also with Tampa. In 2016.
This may mean nothing at all.
One thing is for certain:
“Got to win or you go home, simple as that,” Blues forward Jaden Schwartz said. “The desperation level needs to be the highest it has ever been. We’ve got to play our best game, and we feel confident going in there.”
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
SATURDAY’S SCORES
Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 3 (Boston leads 3-2)
Sharks 3, Avalanche 2 (San Jose leads 3-2)
The Buzzer has more on Saturday’s action.
PHT’s Round 2 previews
• Round 2 schedule, TV info
• Questions for the final eight teams
• PHT Roundtable
• Blue Jackets vs. Bruins
• Blues vs. Stars
• Avalanche vs. Sharks
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck