The Dallas Stars improbably punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in overtime of Game Five.
Inside the Stars’ locker room afterward, defenseman Andrej Sekera presented the game chain, an oversized Dallas Stars-branded necklace, to backup goaltender Anton Khudobin, who backstopped his team to the NHL’s championship round with starter Ben Bishop out with injury since August 31.
For Caps fans, Khudobin received a familiar nickname.
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WHAT HE SAID! 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/qLP69lqUHi
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 15, 2020
“In this series, in this game, (we got) big goals from [several players],” Sekara said, “but I gotta give it to the f*cking Russian machine!!”
The Stars raucously cheer for their hero goaltender, Dobby, as Sekara hands over the giant chain.
Khudobin walks back to his stall. Then he slowly turns his head around back at his teammates.
“WE ARE NOT GOING KHOME!”
The Stars cheered even louder.
The We’re Not Going Home line started after Joel Kiviranta scored a hat trick in Game Seven to send the Stars to the Western Conference Final. Kivi got the same chain and when pressed to give a speech, the 24-year-old proclaimed, “F*cking right! We’re not going home!”
“WE’RE NOT GOING HOME!” pic.twitter.com/EH7Y8hTGSG
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 5, 2020
One Dallas Stars fan edited the movies into a montage that included a scene from The Wolf Of Wall Street.
The phrase, at least for me, doesn’t have the same panache as Alex Ovechkin’s “We’re not going to be suck this year,” but it’s still a great rallying cry.
The Stars and all their silliness now sit four wins away from winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in team history.
“There it is, boys! Four more to go!” pic.twitter.com/83eVK00l0m
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 15, 2020
Screenshot courtesy of the @DallasStars
