Dallas Stars Presented With Perfect Chance Against Rival
By Josh Clark
It’s crunch time for the Dallas Stars. Their divisional schedule continues to toughen in February and the next stop is a visit to Chicago. The possibilities granted to them in this next game are exponential.
The sporting world lives off of rivalries. Whether it’s the Packers and Bears in the NFL, the Lakers and Celtics in the NBA, the Yankees and Red Sox in the MLB, or the Bruins and Canadiens in the NHL, each league has its own breeding hatreds.
Some rivalries live and burn strong, no matter what the scenario. Others may be on and off based on the two teams and their recent successes. Finally, there are new rivalries being formed every day that may become the next “big deal” in their respective leagues.
The NHL is definitely seeing a new opposition form, whether they notice it yet or not. After realigning the NHL into four separate divisions back after the 2013 lockout season, the Dallas Stars quickly realized that they were nestled amongst some of the league’s best teams. After so many years of building up rivalries in the Pacific Division, they would be abandoning all of those teams to join up in the Central Division.
This move put the Dallas Stars in some unfamiliar waters. While it did make it easier on the fans in terms of the increasingly less amount of 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. games when the Stars visited the coast, they were sort of the “new blood” in the group. But that did not stop them from immediately appointing themselves as a force.
In their first year of realignment, the Dallas Stars ended a five-year drought and qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, all while playing in the toughest division in hockey. Along the way, they met up with plenty of teams who quickly became enemies. The level of hate varied between the clubs, though.
As the seasons have gone on, it’s clear that the Dallas Stars have plenty of decent-sized enemies. But one that stands out among the rest is the Chicago Blackhawks.
After making a big trade with them and signing one of their players away this past offseason, it’s clear that the rivalry has stepped up a notch. This season, the two teams have thrashed at each other in the Central Division standings and continue to fluctuate up and down between first and second.
The funny thing is, their two meetings this season have both been obvious blowouts. In the first meeting back in December, the Stars smattered the Hawks with a 4-0 shutout victory. But in the most recent matchup this past Saturday, the Hawks returned the favor with a 5-1 smacking.
It’s unclear what the future holds for these two teams, but we’ll definitely find out tomorrow night. The Stars and Blackhawks will kick off their third meeting of the year, and it will be the first time that Dallas visits the United Center this season.
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This game could not be in a bigger setting. First off, these two rivals have seen inconsistency in their games this season, as mentioned above. So no one really knows where the two teams will come into the game at. Secondly, the Stars won Tuesday while the Blackhawks lost, meaning that Dallas sifted to just three points back of Chicago for the lead in the Central Division. The Stars also have three games in hand.
If the Dallas Stars are looking to finally take control of their destiny this season and make a statement, a win tomorrow night would be a large security factor. It would put the Stars back to a one-point deficit from first place with the three games still in their control. If the Stars can do that, they would not only take over the Central Division, but the Western Conference as a whole as well.
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It’ll definitely be a good game tomorrow from the Madhouse on Madison. The only problem is, no one knows how to feel about this third meeting of the season. There are plenty of big storylines, but no clear cut thesis. We’ll just have to wait and see how it pans out. One thing is sure: there will be plenty of sparks.