Tuesday's Bruins-Stars game was another classic battle between two underrated rivals.
David Pastrnak's overtime game-winner was the high point for the B's in their 3-2 victory, in a bout that featured a playoff-like atmosphere at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
The Bruins came out firing in the first period with the game's first goal and 15 shots to their name, before the Stars tilted the ice in their favor during the second, aided by a plethora of power play opportunities.
The third period saw the Bruins take control once again with Pavel Zacha's equalizer, before Dallas tightened up late in regulation to force the overtime period.
Two of the NHL's best players in Pastrnak and Jason Robertson duked it out in this one with a pair of points each, while Pastrnak got the last laugh with the deciding marker. Pastrnak (39) and Robertson (34) are both top-five in the NHL in goals scored.
Fans also got a healthy dose of elite goaltending too with Linus Ullmark and Jake Oettinger totaling 63 saves in this one.
Although the Stars don't have the same historical significance with the B's as say, the Canadiens, these two squads have connected for some memorable games over the last 15 years.
The first game that comes to mind was in 2008, when Steve Ott and Shawn Avery were running around, looking to start trouble for the Stars at the Garden. This was the game Marc Savard took matters into his own hands and started wailing on Avery, after he hit Milan Lucic from behind. Shane Hnidy also joined the action as the defenseman absolutely rag-dolled Matt Niskanen.
Jack Edwards delivered one of his classic calls as well with "Oh, what a hit" after Andrew Ference dropped Ott in the center-dot.
Then in 2011, again at the Garden, both teams combined for three fights in four seconds to start the game. Gregory Campbell and Ott were the first to drop the gloves, then Shawn Thornton and Krys Barch went at it, before Adam McQuaid and Brian Sutherby rounded out the action.
Later in the game, Ference fought Adam Burish after Burish shot a puck on net way after the whistle.
More recently, last season the Stars handed the B's a 6-1 loss in Dallas for one of their worst defeats of the season. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn combined for six points during a shaky portion of the Bruins season a year ago.
In their last 10 meetings, the Bruins have won seven of those games and all but three of those contests were one-goal games.
As far as similarities go, the Stars have more Bay State connections than you'd think.
Let's start with the obvious one. Ten years ago, Seguin was traded to Dallas for a return highlighted by Loui Eriksson. The 2010 No. 2 overall selection has since produced 600 points in 677 games for the Stars, but is still searching for his second Stanley Cup.
Seguin was shipped to the Lone Star State on the first day of free agency in 2013 in a trade that has favored Dallas quite favorably. Only Seguin and Reilly Smith are still playing in the NHL involved in the trade and Smith only stuck with the B's for two seasons after being acquired.
To make matters worse for the Bruins, Seguin has a tendency to score against the B's with 13 points in 18 career games, including six points in his previous five home meetings.
The Bruins have proven that they've managed without Seguin, but it makes you wonder how they would've fared in recent playoff runs had they kept the sniper around.
Similarly, Stars defenseman Colin Miller was traded to Beantown along with Martin Jones and a 2015 first-round pick (which turned into Jakub Zboril) for Lucic.
Miller was a promising prospect with the Kings and the Bruins gave the right-handed rearguard a chance to kick-start his NHL career. Miller lasted just two years in Boston with 29 points in 103 games before the Golden Knights plucked Miller in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.
Miller has bounced around to Buffalo and now Dallas after he signed a two-year contract last summer.
A pair of Stars played collegiately in Massachusetts in Jake Oettinger and Joel Hanley. Oettinger manned the crease at Boston University for three seasons while Hanley suited up at UMass Amherst for four seasons.
Oettinger was a Terrier from 2016-19 while Hanley manned the blueline in Amherst from 2010-14.
Lastly, Benn has played his entire career in Dallas and never played college hockey in New England, but his draft selection was actually originally a Bruins pick.
The 129th overall spot in 2007 started as a B's pick before it went to the Blue Jackets, then the Stars, ultimately giving Dallas a captain in the fifth round.
With all that being said, should these two meet in the playoffs later this year, a larger audience would bear witness to just how entertaining games between both teams tend to be.