For Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer, winning Game 7s is nothing new. The veteran coach has done it eight times before. And this season, the Stars needed all seven games to beat the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2025 NHL playoffs. On Saturday, May 3, Dallas came from behind in the third period to win 4-2 after trailing 2-0.
Stars HC Pete DeBoer’s Stellar Game 7 Record
With the win, DeBoer became the only coach in NHL history with nine Game 7 victories in playoff series — a record that goes back to 2012. It’s a mark no other coach has matched in American pro sports that use the best-of-seven format, including the NBA and MLB.
It is more impressive that DeBoer has never lost a Game 7. He’s now 9-0. His Game 7 wins have come with four different NHL teams: once with the New Jersey Devils, twice with the Vegas Golden Knights, three times with the San Jose Sharks, and three times with Dallas. He’s won a seven-game series in his three seasons coaching the Stars.
“I never felt we were going to lose. Even when it was 2-0 and we didn’t have anything going,” DeBoer said via NHL.com.
“There’s a belief in that room that something was going to happen, and, obviously, Rantanen put the team on his back in the last 10 minutes. But I think the group is pretty special. They have had a lot of stuff thrown at them from an adversity point of view, and they keep responding and keep responding, and keep answering the doubters. I felt something was going to happen, but I could not have predicted that.”
Dallas was trailing 2-0 in the third period of the series decider, but a late flurry from star forward Mikko Rantanen, who scored a hat trick and had the assist for Wyatt Johnston’s goal, allowed them to record an epic turnaround.
During the regular season, the Avalanche traded Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24 after failing to agree on a new deal with the forward. Rantanen was moved to the Stars on the day the trade deadline closed and signed an eight-year, $96-million contract with them.
DeBoer has a 96-71 career record in the postseason. However, despite his favorable win-loss ratio and tendency to triumph in Game 7, the Dallas boss has never led a team to lift the Stanley Cup. The closest he got was reaching the finals in 2012 with the Devils and in 2016 with the San Jose Sharks, with both teams losing the finals in six games.