Benn and the Stars again fall short of a Stanley Cup shot after 3rd West final in a row

DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars have done what no other team has over the past three decades while reaching three conference finals in a row.

They failed to win a Stanley Cup during their run. They didn't even give themselves the opportunity to play for one.

“Three years in a row now, you get that close and you come up short ... obviously not a good feeling,” said Jamie Benn, the nearly 36-year-old captain who is about to be an unrestricted free agent after 16 seasons in Dallas.

For the third season in a row, and the second against Edmonton, the Stars ended with a loss in the Western Conference final. They lost 6-3 in Game 5 at home Thursday night.

“Every year you learn new things. This is not the end goal for us,” said Wyatt Johnston, who at 22 has already been to three West finals. “You need to go through the conference final. ... Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. I think you always want to learn, and I think that’s good that you can learn from it, but we want to win.”

Edmonton advanced to a Stanley Cup rematch against Florida, the reigning champion in its third consecutive final series.

Before Dallas and Florida this year, three other teams made three consecutive conference finals under the current playoff format adopted in 1994. Los Angeles and Chicago won two Stanley Cup titles during their runs, and Detroit won once. Tampa Bay made three Stanley Cup Finals in a row from 2020-22, winning the first two — the Lightning were awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy as the East champ in 2021, when there were no conference-based playoffs because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As deep as the Stars have gone in each of coach Pete DeBoer's three seasons, they haven't been able to get to that final round.

This was the fourth West final in six seasons for the Stars, who in the Canadian bubble in the pandemic-impacted 2020 playoffs eliminated DeBoer-coached Vegas in five games. Dallas then lost in six games to Tampa Bay.

“You’ve got to keep knocking on the door,” DeBoer said. “It’s a really, really hard league to win in. When you get down to the end, to the final four here, it gets exponentially tougher. ... We chased every single game in this series, and that's a tough way to play hockey against that team."

The Stars gave up the first goal in 15 of their 18 playoffs games, and struggled to score most of the postseason.

Dallas was third in the NHL during the regular season with 3.35 goals per game and shut out only once, in the 79th of 82 games. The Stars averaged 2.5 goals in the playoffs with four shutout losses, including both losses in the second-round series they won in six games over top seed Winnipeg.

A scoreless streak of 178:57 on the road, against Winnipeg and Edmonton, was the longest in Dallas playoff history. The Stars had two goals over the next three games after a five-goal outburst in the third period for a 6-3 win in Game 1 against the Oilers.

“I think we played two good rounds and then they made it hard on us,” Mikko Rantanen said. “Maybe just give credit to them. They defended really well.”

Rantanen, the trade deadline acquisition who then signed a $96 million, eight-year contract extension, led Dallas with nine goals and 22 playoff points. But all the goals came in a six-game stretch before finishing with an eight-game drought.

Veteran forwards Benn and Matt Duchene each had only one goal this postseason. Jason Robertson scored twice Thursday, to finish with four in 11 games after missing the start of the playoffs with a lower-body injury.

Stars general manager Jim Nill has said Benn has earned the right to continue to be a part of the team as long as he wants. This was the end of the captain's $76 million, eight-year contract extension.

Asked in the locker room Thursday night if he had any thoughts about his future, Benn softly responded, “No.”

When asked if he still wanted to be with the Stars, and if he felt good about the chances of that happening, he answered yes to both.

Hall of Fame center Mike Modano is the only player in franchise history with more than Benn’s 1,192 regular-season games, 399 goals and 956 points. He has played in 120 postseason games.

“He’s our captain, he’s our leader. He’s a guy that we follow every day,” Johnston said. "Just such an important part of our team on the ice, off the ice, and just an amazing person.”

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson reacts after losing Game 5 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs against the Dallas Stars, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars' Mikko Rantanen (96) and Edmonton Oilers' Evander Kane, top, battle for the puck during the second period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference finals in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn shoots as the Winnipeg Jets bench looks on in the third period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer stands behind players on the bench during the second period of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are about to attempt something they’ve never tried before. The chances of failure are significant. Their actions this week could set dangerous precedents and a wrong move could undermine trust among the bloc's 27 member countries for years to come.

At a summit starting on Thursday, many of the leaders will press for tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets held in Europe to be used to meet Ukraine’s economic and military needs for the next two years.

Ukraine is on the verge of bankruptcy. The International Monetary Fund estimates that it will require a total of 137 billion euros ($160 billion) in 2026 and 2027. It must get the money by spring. The EU has pledged to come up with the funds, one way or another.

“One thing is very, very clear," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on Wednesday. "We have to take the decision to fund Ukraine for the next two years in this European Council.”

European Council President António Costa, who will chair the summit, has vowed to keep the leaders negotiating until an agreement is reached, even if it takes days.

The European Commission has proposed that the leaders use some of the frozen assets — totaling 210 billion euros ($246 billion) — to underwrite a 90 billion-euro ($105 billion) “reparations loan” to Ukraine. The U.K., Canada and Norway would fill the gap.

The plan is contentious. The European Commission insists that its reasoning and legal basis are sound. But the European Central Bank has warned that international trust in the euro single currency could be damaged, if the leaders are suspected of seizing the assets.

Most of the frozen assets belong to the Russian Central Bank and are held in the financial clearing house Euroclear, which is based in Brussels. Belgium fears Russian reprisals, through the courts or in other more nefarious ways.

Euroclear fears for its reputation. It believes the commission’s idea is legally shaky and that international investors might look elsewhere, if it transfers the Russian assets to an EU debt instrument, as von der Leyen's plan demands.

Last week, the Russian Central Bank announced that it's suing Euroclear in a Moscow court. The chances that the case will succeed appear limited, but the move does increase pressure on all parties before the summit.

The commission, the EU’s powerful executive branch, has proposed a second option. It could try to raise the money on international markets, much in the way it underwrote a major economic recovery fund after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Belgium prefers this option. But plan B would require all 27 leaders to agree for it to work, and Hungary refuses to fund Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sees himself as a peacemaker. He's also Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe.

In contrast, plan A — the reparations loan — only requires a majority of around two-thirds of member countries to pass. Hungary can't veto it alone. Slovakia might say no. Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy and Malta remain to be convinced.

Even if all six countries reject the loan to Ukraine — which would only be refunded if Russia ends its war and pays hundreds of billions of euros in war damages, something many Europeans doubt Putin would do — they still wouldn't have a blocking minority.

Running a steamroller over Belgium, which has a great stake in the outcome and deep concerns about the loan, could undermine the entire European project, making it infinitely more difficult to find voting majorities on other issues in the future.

But on the eve of the summit, it remained unclear precisely how the plan would work, what kind of guarantees each country would give to reassure Belgium it doesn't face Russia alone, and even whether the leaders can actually approve it outright this week.

“It’s a really new approach. Everyone has questions,” according to a senior EU diplomat involved in the negotiations, which continued on Wednesday. “You’re talking about mobilizing public finances. Parliaments might need to weigh in. It’s not easy.”

The diplomat was appointed to brief reporters on the latest developments on the condition that he not be named.

FILE - A view of the headquarters of Euroclear in Brussels, on Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference regarding Ukraine's financing needs for 2026-2027 at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

FILE - From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)