Dallas won one -- count it, one -- of its first nine games in 2019-20.
The Stars also lost their final six games before the NHL suspended operations March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In between, they fired coach Jim Montgomery because of an alcohol-related problem and named Rick Bowness the interim replacement.
Bowness led Dallas to a solid 20-13-5 record before the league shut down, but it's his work during the Stanley Cup playoffs that should lead to him settling into the head coach's office for an extended period.
The Stars claimed the Western Conference championship with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory against Vegas Monday night, lifting the franchise into a Cup final for the first time since 2000.
Dallas has gotten contributions from up and down its lineup -- heck, former Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak has four goals in 21 games -- and eliminated the Golden Knights with goals from a pair of rookies, Joel Kiviranta and Denis Gurianov, whose offensive output during these playoffs should elevate their profiles around the league significantly.
Veteran winger Alexander Radulov, who never has seemed to live up to his vast potential, has come through in a big way, too. Four of his eight goals have been game-winners, which means he has accounted for a third of the Stars' total.
Although Dallas' success has been built on a foundation of strong defense and good goaltending by Anton Khudobin, the Stars consistently have been able to manufacture goals when they've needed them, such as when they spotted Vegas a 2-0 lead in Game 5 before responding with three of their own.
And if Tyler Seguin, who has just two goals in 20 games, can regain his scoring touch, Dallas just might have a chance to add one more chapter to the improbable story it has been writing over the past month and a half.
• The Penguins apparently aren't the only team with an aging core that's intent on making a run at another Stanley Cup over the next few years. Washington's decision to hire Peter Laviolette as coach, replacing Todd Reirden, is a move that seems designed on getting a big return in the short term, since that's Laviolette's history. He won a Cup in 2006 in his first full season behind the bench in Carolina, then made it to the Cup final in 2010 in his first season in Philadelphia and the 2017 final against the Penguins during his third season in Nashville. Interestingly, Laviolette never made it past the second round after any of those trips to the final.
• Dallas' comeback victory in Game 5 was a bit of a surprise, but the Stars advancing to the Cup final after winning three of the first four games in the Western final shouldn't have been. Teams have gone up, 3-1, in a conference final 36 times since the current conference format was adopted before the 1981-82 season, and made it to the Cup final 35 times. (The lone exception was New Jersey, which came back against Philadelphia in 2000.) Tampa Bay will be trying to make that 36-for-37 against the New York Islanders when the teams meet in Game 5 of the Eastern final tonight.
• Former Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato, now coaching at Wisconsin, is a worthy member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame's Class of 2020. So are former North Dakota coach Dean Blais and four-time Olympic medalist Jenny Potter. But the most noteworthy member of the class has to be Jerry York. Not because he doesn't deserve the honor, but because it's so long overdue. York has coached college hockey for 48 years and won five national championships, including four at Boston College, where he has spent the past 26 seasons. York was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019; it's nice that the Hall in his country finally got around to recognizing him, too.
• Although conventional wisdom in hockey holds that it's almost never a bad idea to put pucks on goal, the Golden Knights are to be forgiven if they don't agree. Vegas recorded 40 or more shots on goal in five games during these playoffs, but never scored more than two goals in any of those.
• Although Tampa Bay has a chokehold on a spot in the Cup final, the Lightning has had more than a little trouble closing out a conference final in recent years. Tampa Bay had a 3-2 lead against the Penguins in 2016 and a similar advantage over Washington two seasons later, and went a cumulative 0-4 in Games 6 and 7 of those series. Then again, Tampa Bay has had a 3-1 edge in eight previous series, only one of which lasted beyond the fifth game.
• Patrick Marleau, one of the most celebrated players in San Jose history, didn't have much of an impact after the Penguins acquired him at the trade deadline, but one of his longtime teammates with the Sharks has settled in pretty well with a new club. That would be Joe Pavelski, who signed with Dallas as a free agent before the 2019-20 season and has bumped his career total of playoff goals to 57, third-most of any player drafted in the seventh round or later. The only guys to do better were Doug Gilmour (60) and Luc Robitaille, who scored seven of his 58 with the Penguins in 1995.
• There's no question Tampa Bay wants to close out its series against the Islanders as quickly as possible, if only because of its problems wrapping up conference finals that were noted above. Still, the Lightning might risk running afoul of a recent statistical precedent if they only need five games to eliminate New York, because the past five Cup winners have had to overcome a deficit of either 2-1 or 3-2 to claim their conference title. That includes the Penguins, who trailed Ottawa, 2-1, in 2017 after being down to the Lightning, 3-2, a year earlier.
• Gurianov has shown a pretty good killer instinct during these playoffs. His goal that ended the Western final gave him five goals and three assists in the Stars' three series-clinching victories.
• Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov of Tampa Bay are just the eighth set of teammates to put up 25 points before appearing in 20 games during a single playoff run -- and just the second of the past five pairs who didn't do it as members of the Penguins. Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi managed that feat in 1991, Lemieux and Ron Francis did it the following season and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin did it in 2009.