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Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars celebrate a goal against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Five of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Dallas Stars’ Depth Paying Dividends in Round 1

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Marc Sautter | Last updated May 1, 2025 8:45 AM ET

Depth, depth, depth. It’s something that’s been talked about regarding the Dallas Stars for quite a long time now. Up 3-2 against the Colorado Avalanche, with Game 6 on the horizon, the Stars have an opportunity to punch their ticket to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. While there is plenty of credit to go around, the depth of this roster is starting to pay off more and more as the series goes deeper.

With Jason Robertson out with an injury and his return date unknown, the Stars needed all hands on deck, and that’s exactly what they’ve gotten so far.

Stars’ Depth on the Scoresheet Early

In the playoffs, it’s important for the best players to be the best players. You’re not winning 16 games in the spring without them. However, what might be equally as important is for “unsung heroes” to put the puck in the net during stretches that the top guys aren’t producing. Every team is going to try to neutralize the opponent’s top guys, so the bottom half of the roster needs to chip in when called upon.

We saw this when Colin Blackwell scored the overtime winner in Game 2 and when Jamie Benn scored the game-tying goal in Game 3. If this were 2015, Benn wouldn’t be a “depth” player, but that is what he is right now, and he produced when the Stars needed a big goal. Tyler Seguin has scored two goals through five games, including the overtime winner in Game 3. Seguin is on the second line, so while he’s not a depth player per se, he’s not a top-line guy either.

Games 1 through 3 saw guys like Evgenii Dadonov get on the scoresheet and Thomas Harley chip in from the back end. To be more direct with the point, Roope Hintz was the only player on the first line who had a goal before Game 6. As much as the big boys did not produce, their depth did, and it was a key factor in the Stars going into Game 4 with a 2-1 lead.

Johnston, Rantanen and Co. Come Through in Game 5

Alright, so the depth players scored key goals, and Jake Oettinger made some key saves. Check and check. Then, their more prominent players finally took over in Game 5.

Nine seconds into Game 5 on Monday night, Wyatt Johnston opened the scoring for the Stars. 19 minutes later, Harley got his second of the series. Then, 72 seconds into the middle period, Mikko Rantanen finally broke through and scored his first of the playoffs against his former club.

Next up was Johnston again, this time on the power play, to put the Stars up 4-2. This may have been the biggest goal of the hockey game. At the time, the Avalanche just chipped away at a 3-0 deficit to make the score 3-2 and perhaps sprinkle some doubt into the minds of the guys wearing green. Two minutes after Nathan MacKinnon cut the Stars’ lead to one goal, the 21-year-old phenom produced a big moment at the right time. Without Robertson, Johnston is the Stars’ best goal scorer, and he finally stepped up and did what he needed to do.

Two minutes after that, Mason Marchment finally got on the scoresheet, and just like that, the score was 5-2, four minutes after the Avalanche erased a 3-0 lead. After the depth held it down for three of the first four games, the big boys for Dallas stepped up at a time when Game 6 was starting to slip away.

While the Avalanche Are Exhausted, the Stars Are Well-Rested

One trend that I have noticed through five games is that when the game is a blowout, MacKinnon only plays around 20 minutes; when it’s not, that number skyrockets. This might seem like a stretch, but I think this really matters. In Game 1 (a 5-1 Avalanche win), Game 4 (a 4-0 Avalanche win), and Game 5 (a 6-2 Avalanche loss), MacKinnon averaged 20:01 of ice time. In Game 1, he played the third-most minutes on the team, and in Games 4 and 5, he had the most. In total, he is first among forwards, averaging 23 minutes of ice time in Round 1.

Games 2 and 3 were the closest games of the series. Game 2 was a 4-3 Dallas win in overtime, and Game 3 was a 2-1 win that also went to overtime. In those two games, MacKinnon averaged 27:08. In Game 2, he played 24:53, which was shockingly second on the team behind Valeri Nichushkin, who played 25:30. The Avalanche had three power plays, and overtime was 17:46 long. In Game 3, he played 29:22, which is the most any forward has played in the series. This does make some sense, since the Avalanche had six power plays and MacKinnon is their go-to guy on the PP. Yes, there was overtime as well, but it was only 5:31 long.

MacKinnon is one of the best players in the world, so this doesn’t get too much attention. Players of his stature need to put the team on their backs and get them to the promised land. However, while this team is much deeper than it used to be, thanks to many different trades that were made throughout the back half of the season, this offense really relies on No. 29 to the point that when the game is close, he barely leaves the ice. The Avalanche have 15 goals through five games, and MacKinnon has seven points. That’s just under 50%. In the regular season, he produced on 42% of their goals. I know he’s a great player, I’m just saying. Will the weight of the minutes and the production be too much to bear?

Quickly, let’s compare that to the Stars. Johnston has the most ice time out of any forward, averaging 20:49. It might not seem like a big difference, but in the span of a 60-plus minute game, it can make a lot of difference. Also, like we’ve mentioned, their production is much more spread out. In addition, Game 2’s 4-3 overtime win is the only game in which the Stars had more than one forward play more than 20 minutes.

As good as the Stars are, they don’t have a guy like MacKinnon. Most teams don’t. It just feels like not relying on one guy is going to really pay off when it matters the most.

All of That Leads to This for the Dallas Stars

The depth of this roster gave the top producers time to contribute in this series. In Game 5, it paid off. Game 6 is now the time to put the final nail in the coffin. The Avalanche dominated for 50 minutes in Game 4, and the Stars dominated in Game 5. Will we get another blowout in Game 6, or will it be a chess match through and through? Either way, it’s players like Johnston and Rantanen that will need to lead the way.

Yes, this game is in Colorado, and yes, Game 7 would be at home. Who cares? The Avalanche are a real Stanley Cup contender, no doubt. But this Stars roster was built for this moment, and it’s time to take advantage.