An incredibly casual fan's guide to the Dallas Stars playoff run

Driving the news: The Stars kicked off the 2023 playoffs with a 3-2 loss in double overtime to the Minnesota Wild last night. It was agonizing.

The big puckture: The fate of the team will likely rise and fall with the success of two players — all-world left winger Jason Robertson and goalie Jake Oettinger.

• Robertson, Dallas' only All-Star, has had an amazing year. His 46 goals and 63 assists made him sixth-best in the league in points.
• Oettinger finished the regular season seventh among all goalies, with a 2.37 goals-against average and he was great last night.

The good news: The Stars started as slight favorites to win the series, and a dark-horse bet to win the Stanley Cup this year.

The bad news: The Wild were top 10 in the league this year in both penalty killing and goals against.

• It'll likely be a tough series either way.

The intrigue: This series has the former team from Minnesota facing off against the current team from Minnesota, something that's only happened one other time in the NHL playoffs.

• Dallas won that series in 2016.
• The Stars and Wild split their four matchups in this year's regular season, with each team winning two games.

The bottom line: If Oettinger catches fire, this team could make a deep run. 🦦🦦🦦

What's next: The Stars play the Wild again at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night.