Stars beat Blues to clinch top seed in Western Conference
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars will be the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Dallas was tied 1-1 with the St. Louis Blues at the end of regulation Wednesday night, and the game went to a shootout. The point for getting to overtime gave the Central Division champions 112, one more than Pacific Division champion Vancouver can get with a win in its regular-season finale Thursday night.
Fans cheered in the closing seconds of regulation knowing Dallas had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the West.
Jason Robertson scored in the shootout and Jake Oettinger stopped all three St. Louis attempts, giving Dallas a 2-1 victory. The Stars (52-21-9) finished with 113 points, the most since their franchise-record 114 in 1998-99 on the way to winning their only Stanley Cup title. They were one win shy of the record 53 set in 2005-06.
The Stars will play either reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas (98 points) or the Los Angeles Kings (97 points) in the first round of the playoffs. Both have home games Thursday night to finish the regular season.
One of them will finish third in the Pacific Division and the other will be a wild card headed to Dallas, where the Golden Knights last season wrapped up the Western Conference Final with a Game 6 victory.
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