Stars coach Pete DeBoer ready to win the Stanley Cup

• DeBoer previously coached the Vegas Golden Knights but was fired after the team failed to reach the 2022 playoffs — the first time in their very short history.

State of play: DeBoer interviewed with several teams before joining the Stars, saying he didn't want to lead a team that was in a rebuilding phase.

• DeBoer had seen the team's talent when the Stars knocked his Golden Knights out of the playoffs in 2020.

Fun fact: This is DeBoer's fifth time in six seasons to advance past the first two playoff rounds, per the AP.

• He has done that with three teams.

Catch up fast: The Stars have been to the championship series three times since they relocated to Dallas in 1993, winning the Stanley Cup just once, in 1999.

• The Stars lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020.

• And they lost in the Western Conference Finals last year to Vegas, who later went on to win the championship.

What he's saying: "I've been to two [Stanley Cup] Finals and five conference finals in the last 10 years. When you get that close, that's your only motivation," DeBoer said after Dallas hired him in 2022.

• Now going into this series, he says, "Just got to try and end up in the top spot one of these times."