Stars have every necessary ingredient to win Stanley Cup

This Dallas Stars team has been here before. They have been regulars in the Western Conference Final, and with their 2-1 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, they are back into the NHL's final four for the fourth time in the past six years and the third year in a row.

They have been, by pretty much every measure, one of the best and most successful teams in the NHL over that stretch, including in the playoffs. If you go back to the start of the 2018-19 postseason, no NHL team has won more playoff games than the Stars' 53. 

The only thing they do not have is a Stanley Cup banner to justify their place among the NHL's elite. This particular roster should have every possible ingredient to finally break through and get it. 

They have star players who can score and take over games, an elite defenseman and a potential series-changing goalie. 

They keep showing all of it through the first two rounds of these playoffs.

Not only have the Stars advanced through the first two rounds, but they have done so by navigating a brutally difficult Central Division bracket that saw them knock off two different Stanley Cup contenders in the Colorado Avalanche and Jets. Those two teams ranked eighth and first in the NHL's leaguewide standings, respectively. No other team in the conference finals this season will have faced a more difficult path. 

What makes the Stars' run so far even more impressive is that they did a lot of it without two of their best players and without being fully healthy until late in the second round.

Their top defenseman, Miro Heiskanen, has appeared in only three of the team's first 13 playoffs, while Jason Robertson, one of their top forwards, has played in just six games. 

Both players are back healthy and rested. Both are potential game-changers.

And the Stars already have plenty of other game-changers all over the roster, including Wyatt Johnston and Roope Hintz, as well as trade-deadline acquisition Mikko Rantanen, who has been the best player in the entire league this postseason. They also have depth with 12 different players scoring at least one goal. 

The biggest potential game-changer, however, and the player who might give them the biggest advantage in the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, is starting goalie Jake Oettinger.

When Oettinger is on top of his game, he can be a game-stealer and make an already-great team nearly unbeatable. He has not always played at that level the past season or two, but has been working his way back toward that in the playoffs. He was at his best on Saturday by stopping 22 of 23 shots in the Game 6 win, raising his postseason save percentage to .919. The Oilers do not have a goalie who can compare to that. 

Win or lose, the Stars' championship window is going to remain open beyond this season. But this team looks like the best one they have had in recent years. Expectations should be high. If they do not win it with this team, in this season, there might be some doubt starting to grow on if they ever will.