The Dallas Stars are officially in the thick of the NHL playoffs.
Through the first round, things won’t get any easier along the path to the Stanley Cup, as the Stars try to bring it home to Dallas for the first time since the summer of ’99.
Clueless about the Stars? Don’t know any of the players? Not sure if victory green is your color?
Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of room to hop on the Stars’ bandwagon for their 2025 playoff run.
Here are five reasons to hitch a ride as the Stars continue their push to the Cup:
And boy, has it paid off already.
In March, the Stars traded Logan Stankoven — a beloved but still mostly unproven 22-year-old — two first-round draft picks and two third-round draft picks for Mikko Rantanen, a top-10 scorer in the NHL.
How good is Rantanen? Imagine if the Mavericks traded for Anthony Davis without giving up Luka Doncic. That’s the best way to describe what Stars GM Jim Nill and his staff did ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
Upon trading for Rantanen, the Stars also signed the superstar to an eight-year, $96 million contract, guaranteeing he’ll be in Dallas for nearly a decade.
And in the first postseason opportunity he got, Rantanen saved Dallas’ bacon against one of his former teams.
He scored three goals in the third period of Game 7 against the Avalanche to save the Stars’ season and help them advance to Round 2 of the playoffs.
Dallas made it through the always-challenging Colorado Avalanche even without two key players battling injuries.
Forward Jason Robertson, perhaps the Stars’ best goal-scorer on the roster, sustained a leg injury in the team’s regular-season finale and missed all of the first round. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen, a former No. 3 overall pick in the NHL draft and arguably Dallas’ best player, suffered a knee injury on Jan. 28 and had surgery.
Both players are expected to return at some point in Round 2, according to head coach Pete DeBoer, meaning this skilled Stars team could reach another level with them back in the lineup.
The Stars have gone to back-to-back Western Conference finals, and are favored to make another return.
Dallas is -165 to win its second-round series against the Jets, per FanDuel Sportsbook, even after Winnipeg finished first in the Western Conference and ended the regular season 10 points ahead of the Stars in the Central Division standings.
Of course, the conference finals aren’t the goal. The Stars are looking to get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2020.
Jake Oettinger is only 26, but he’s already built a reputation for being at his best when the lights get bright.
Through an up-and-down first-round series, Oettinger was the one constant for Dallas, posting a .911 save percentage, the best among goalies who have started every playoff game for their team.
Maybe it’s the seemingly carefree “Otter” attitude that keeps him so loose in the playoffs.
“What more could you want as a player?” he said ahead of Game 7 against the Avs. “Ten years from now when I’m sitting on my couch watching these Game 7s, I’m going to be thinking about this moment. Just trying to enjoy every single second and have fun. I can’t control every little thing. When the buzzer sounds, I just want to be proud of my effort.”
The NHL’s playoff format may be somewhat unfair to certain teams from more competitive divisions, but it leaves plenty of excitement both early in the playoffs and leading up to them.
Year after year, the Central Division is one of the most competitive, and this season was no different. It featured two of the top three teams in the league, including the Stars and the league-leading Jets.
The Stars have already knocked out one Central Division rival in Colorado. Now they face an even bigger test against Winnipeg — but they’ve got the battle scars that show they’re ready for a fight.
Twitter: @dmn_stars
Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Dallas police are searching for a shooting suspect after two people were shot early Saturday morning.
The shooting incident happened around 6:30 a.m. when Dallas officers responded to a shooting call in the 7600 block of South Central Expressway, where two people had been shot.
Officials said one victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition by Dallas Fire-Rescue. The other was transported by private vehicle in stable condition.
No arrests have been made as of Saturday afternoon, according to Dallas Police.
The shooting investigation is ongoing and this story will be updated as we learn more.
UPDATE 6-26-2026: Gracie has been found about four miles south of the Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to a Facebook update from Real County Animal Rescue. Ranch manager Vic Jones has assembled a team to safely bring the wandering giraffe home.
—
A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.
Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday, June 24 that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.
Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.
But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn’t turned up.
“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”
The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.
“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. ‘She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”
The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.
He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.
“I’ve had wildebeests, I’ve had water buffalo, I’ve had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”
While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe’s native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.
Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.
But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.
“We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.
Editor’s note: See all updated scenarios for the 2026 World Cup tournament bracket
The most volatile group has come to a close at the 2026 World Cup.
Egypt and Iran played to a 1-1 draw late on Friday night, which allowed Belgium to rise up from third place all the way to the top spot in the group while Egypt took second. Iran will have to wait and see if their third place finish is good enough to qualify for the knockout round.
As the Group G runner up, Egypt will take on Australia in the round of 32.
SHOP: Egypt vs. Australia 2026 World Cup tickets
Australia finished as the second-place team in Group D, sitting on four points. Egypt and Australia will face off in Dallas on Friday, July 3, the final match of the round of 32.
Here is everything you need to know in order to buy Egypt vs. Australia World Cup tickets.
Shop Egypt vs. Australia tickets
As of publication, the cheapest ticket to attend the Egypt vs. Australia costs $834. Lower-level seats for the round of 32 match at AT&T Stadium in Dallas start at $1,083.
Egypt will take on Australia in the round of 32. Australia finished as the runner up in Group D, finishing the group stage with one win, one draw and one loss.
Shop Egypt vs. Australia tickets
| TEAM | POINTS | RECORD |
| Belgium | 5 | 1-2-0 |
| Egypt | 5 | 1-2-0 |
| Iran | 3 | 0-3-0 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 0-1-2 |
Shop Egypt vs. Australia World Cup tickets
Shop Egypt vs. Australia tickets
Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana Senate primary runoff
Metropolitan Diary Challenge Day 1: What Is Your N.Y. Story?
LASD releases video of man shot by deputy after allegedly charging them with knife
Rick Mahorn returns to coaching Detroit basketball with BIG3 Amps
Suspect arrested after shooting near San Francisco Pride events, police say
Dallas shooting injures 2 as police search for suspect
Colombia wins Group K after 0-0 draw with Portugal in Miami Stadium; both teams advance to World Cup knockouts
Beyond the frame: ‘Where’s Boston?’ revisited through new oral histories – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News
