5 under the radar teams poised to make a run at the Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup playoffs never go how anybody expects them to. These are the five teams that could come out of nowhere and make a run at Lord Stanley this year.

With the Stanley Cup playoffs less than one month away, the predictions are bound to come rolling in any second, likely consisting of the more obvious choices such as the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators.

But as we have seen time and time again, the Stanley Cup playoffs are a total crapshoot, and every single year sees a team nobody expected making a run at the Cup.

Last year it was the Nashville Predators, the second wild card and overall 16th seed, running through the Western Conference all the way to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance. It never matters how you get in; it only matters what you do after that.

Here’s a look at five dark horses to win the 2018 Stanley Cup as the countdown reaches one month.

Dallas Stars

Dallas has been a bit of an afterthought in the Central Division behind the powerhouse Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets, but make no mistake; this team will crush you if you underestimate them. Currently, they sit in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with 83 points, two points behind the Minnesota Wild for third in the Central.

Dallas has almost everything you need to make a deep playoff run. They have the scoring prowess in Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alex Radulov. They’ve got one of the leading candidates for the Norris Trophy in John Klingberg and they finally have a goaltender who can keep them in games in Ben Bishop, who is currently on IR but is expected to return well before the playoffs.

Should the Stars qualify for the playoffs, they will be a tough outing for any team who lands them in the first round. Their most likely matchup will be one of the Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets or Vegas Golden Knights, teams who’ve been secure in a playoff spot for months now. Dallas, on the other hand, has been in a dogfight for the playoffs in recent weeks, putting it in a playoff mentality early on as well having less pressure placed on the team to win in the playoffs than its higher-seeded rivals.

The Stars missed the playoffs last season after a brutal 6-1 loss in Game 7 to the St.Louis Blues the year prior, and there will surely be plenty of hunger within the organization to rid themselves of the taste of failure before it becomes a habit. If the Stars are unable to make a run at the Cup this year, they will at very least surprise many people by giving those top teams a big test in the first round.