Stars clinch spot in 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs

The Dallas Stars are heading back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

The Stars became the second team in the NHL to clinch their spot in the playoffs on Sunday night after Los Angeles defeated Utah.

The Stars could have clinched earlier in the night, but a regulation loss to the Vegas Golden Knights meant the wait for the celebration would be prolonged.

Dallas got off to a slow 3-3-1 start to the campaign before quickly turning on the jets. While they’ve essentially been in a playoff spot from wire to wire, a 10-game winning streak from Jan. 23 to Mar. 3 made it possible for the team to clinch with this much time left in the season.

In each of the past three years, the Stars have won the first two rounds before falling in the Western Conference Final at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers in 2025 and 2024 as well as the Golden Knights in 2023.

Last year, Dallas delivered one of the most memorable moments in recent playoff memory by eliminating the Colorado Avalanche thanks to a Game 7 hat trick by former Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen.

If the Stars and Avs are going to renew their rivalry with another series, it will have to come in the second round this year.

With Colorado likely to claim the Presidents’ Trophy as the top team in the NHL, and thus the Central Division, Dallas is likely to face the Minnesota Wild in a first-round series between the squads that currently rank second and fifth in the overall league standings, a possibility that has drawn criticism to the NHL’s playoff format, which dictates that the second and third place teams in each division square off regardless of their point totals in relation to the other playoff teams in the conference.

A preview of what would be a blockbuster first-round series unfolded in St. Paul on Saturday with the Wild taking a 2-1 overtime win.