Beating one of the worst teams in the NHL via a third-period comeback normally wouldn't inspire much confidence in a team looking to win the Stanley Cup. Considering what the Dallas Stars have been up to and the state they find themselves in with just one game remaining in the regular season, though, Monday's 6-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs felt awfully good.
After all, this is still a Stars team missing four of its top 12 forwards and an occasional winger, plus two of its top six defensemen. Not only that, the injured include the first-line center in Roope Hintz and one of the best rearguards in the NHL, Miro Heiskanen. And considering Dallas locked up the No. 2 seed in the Central Division last week and has largely been playing out the season as the walking wounded, the victory was impressive.
The Stars know what they're going to get from their best players. Mikko Rantanen's 2025 postseason remains at the top of the memory for Dallas fans. Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston have established themselves as elite forwards capable of duplicating their regular-season success in the postseason, too.
NHL Game Score Impact Card for Dallas Stars on 2026-04-13: pic.twitter.com/6ygPLZkpOq
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) April 14, 2026
What made Monday's win feel good was the efforts of the middle six. Second-year center Mavrik Bourque scored four points, logging his first NHL hat trick in helping the Stars rally twice. His first goal came 52 seconds into the second period, cutting Toronto's lead from 3-0 to 3-1. His second, less than five minutes later, trimmed the Maple Leafs' lead to just one. And Bourque's final tally, with just over a minute left in the game, proved the winner as some dirty work along the boards was followed with some dirtier work near the crease, out-manning former All-Star Oliver Ekman-Larsson for a rebound that found the back of the net.
Dallas will almost certainly need Bourque to step up his offensive game in the postseason. Sam Steel and Roope Hintz's return to the ice remains to be determined. What helped was the return of checking line forward Radek Faksa, who played in his first game since Feb. 4. Faksa didn't register a point, but re-instating him into the lineup allowed Bourque to play a more offensive game as he played on a line with Robertson and veteran Matt Duchene. Those three, if Bourque plays like he did Monday, provide the Stars with a legitimate second scoring line, with or without Hintz in the lineup.
Stick taps to Dave Zeis and the entire Stars medical team.
— Bruce LeVine (@BruceLeVinePuck) April 14, 2026
When we heard about the Radek Faksa injury, I didn't think there was any chance he would appear in any game this year, including playoffs.
Job well done by the guys behind the scenes who deserve some accolades.
Still, Dallas will feel better about its chances in the postseason when their Finnish center returns, never mind Canadian winger Steel, who has also spent a bulk of his healthy season moving up and down the lineup. The good news is, even with all the defensive lapses, the Stars showed they have the firepower to run with the best of the best in the Western Conference.