The End Feels Inevitable: A Heartbroken Stars Fan’s Lament After Game 4

I’m sitting here staring at the screen, trying to make sense of what I just watched. But if I’m being honest, I’ve got nothing left to hold onto. The Dallas Stars are down 3-1 in this series against the Edmonton Oilers, and after that 4-1 loss tonight—after this loss—I don’t know how there’s a way back.

This team... they look broken.

Let’s not sugarcoat it: this was a gut punch from start to finish. The Stars started the game like they had something to prove—outshooting Edmonton early, buzzing in the offensive zone. Granny had a great rush chance. Duchene’s line was this close to breaking through. There was that 2-on-1 where we couldn’t even get a shot off. And yet, after all that energy, all that early push... nothing. No goals. No reward. Just the same old story.

Then came the breakdowns. The penalties. The defensive lapses. The Oilers do what they always seem to do—they punish you for every mistake. Draisaitl's power-play goal felt inevitable the second Benn went off for tripping. And of course, it was Perry again—Corey Perry, the man we all wanted to forget—burying a backdoor power-play goal that felt like a dagger through the heart. How many times do we have to see this nightmare play out before we learn?

And where was our response? We got a brief flicker when Robo scored that power-play goal in the second. It was a moment where, just for a second, you thought maybe. But it wasn’t enough. It never is against this Oilers team, not when you’re giving McDavid and Draisaitl this much ice to work with, not when you can’t stay out of the box, not when your top guys—Oettinger, Robertson, Hintz—just aren’t enough right now.

Speaking of Hintz... he was back tonight. We hoped it would change the narrative, but he looked like a ghost out there. That lazy play in the third where he couldn’t clear the zone? That’s the moment that’ll stick with me. The game, the series... it’s slipping away, and we’re watching it happen in real time.

It’s not just the players, either. The system, the execution, the fight—it’s all gone. We had one shot in the third period when we needed a goal to save our season. One. Shot. In a do-or-die moment, with our season on the line, we had one shot on goal in the entire period. How does that happen? Where was the push? The desperation? The leadership?

It’s not just that we’re down 3-1—it’s how we’re down 3-1. The Stars aren’t just losing. They’re unraveling. They’re turning pucks over in the neutral zone like it’s a game of hot potato. They’re losing battles along the boards, coughing up odd-man rushes, making lazy clears, and showing nothing in the way of urgency. Every minute that ticked by in that third period felt like another shovel of dirt being thrown onto the grave of our season.

I’m exhausted. I’m angry. I’m heartbroken. And more than anything, I’m just... numb. Because deep down, we all know how this ends. This series is over. Trust me when I say that I hope I'm wrong, but there's been nothing this series that has shown me they are going to turn things around. There’s no magic coming, no miracle Game 5 turnaround. We’re not beating McDavid and Draisaitl three times in a row—not when they smell blood in the water. Not when Corey Perry is still haunting our dreams.

I wish I had something hopeful to say right now. I wish I could find that spark of optimism, that belief we always cling to as fans. But I can’t. Not tonight. Tonight, it feels like the Stars’ run is over, and we’re all just waiting for the final buzzer to sound.

I don’t know where we go from here. I don’t know how we fix this. All I know is that it hurts. It hurts so much because we believed. We believed this team was different. That they had it. And now, all we have left is the ache of what could have been.

Stars fans... I feel you. I’m with you. And I’m sorry. Because we deserve better than this.