ONE TO GO

Perhaps this game tomorrow in St. Paul will be glory's last shot for these 2010-11 Dallas Stars. Or perhaps it will be like it was last season, merely game #82 in another regular season that wasn't good enough to get them into a 2nd season. The full answer to that is no longer in their hands.

Sure, entering the season this group of underfunded DStars would have taken having the seasons finale mean something but now that it's on the horizon I'll bet there's more "what happened?" and "ifs" floating around their collective grey matter than "oh can you believe we win we get in."

To make it mean something the Red Wings (check out my conspiracy theory from a recent blog entry) will have to muster up some give a sh*% and knock off the defending Stanley Cup Champs at the UC in Chicago. Then the Stars can go about defeating a depleted and rudderless Minnesota Wild club at the suddenly disillusioned Xcel Energy Center.

Getting in would be great, but missing would not be completely catastrophic. This group has done enough to warrant a checked box in the baby steps forward department with plenty of lessons to be learned from what has transpired since early October and, of course, another summer of hard decisions.

Enjoy the final tilt Stars fans. It'll either be nail-bitingly tense or an absolute formality - either way I plan to call the living piss out of it for you.