It would probably be fair to say that the Dallas Stars have surprised just about everyone in the hockey world with their play so far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. While stout defending and grit are enough to keep any team in the running as a contender, the Dallas Stars have just been… well… they haven’t been what they were throughout the regular season.

Coming into the restart, the Stars scored a position in the round robin as the 4th seed in the West. This clearly indicates that they weren’t chumps. Even so, they went 1-2 in the round robin and generally speaking they likely weren’t on the tips of many tongues when asked who could make a charge for Lord Stanley’s mug.

Well, here we are. Part of the reason the tune has changed so dramatically on the Stars is because their entire identity has changed so dramatically. Take a look at some of these regular season stats compared to how they’ve fared thus far in the playoffs.

These tweets were sent after the Stars went up 3-0 in half a period against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4. It should be noted that the Avs are without Philipp Grubauer due to injury, so they are instead rolling with Pavel Francouz.

As mentioned, facing a goaltender that is not of starting caliber certainly plays a part, and you could argue that their 1st round series against the Calgary Flames also contained questions in the crease. Still, do go from 3rd last in the league in goals for to the playoff leader is no small jump.

But that’s not all that’s different about the Stars…

Saying that, they haven’t completely lost their way. While we don’t know the outcome of Game 4 at the time of this article, we do know how it began.

Many considered the Avs to be Cup favourites heading into Round 2. Many have changed their tune, as well.