Dallas Stars Acquire First Losing Streak In A Month
By Josh Clark
It was a rather uneventful trip to the desert for the Dallas Stars last night, as they fell hard in a 6-3 stomping at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes. This loss generated the Stars’ first losing streak in a month.
Life is an ultimate pathway of mystery. You think you have it all figured out, and then a door slams in your face and another one opens. You assume that you know how your day will play out, and it ends up the exact opposite of what you initially assumed. Just when you think you’ve turned a corner, the prior aspects of your journey sink back in and stick to you like glue.
The Dallas Stars are definitely experiencing the difficulties of life right now. As soon as they thought they had turned a corner and were back on the path to dominance, they fell flat on their face and have returned to their ugly ways last spotted in January.
It’s a delicate scenario to examine when first looking at it. The month of January was not at all kind or forgiving to the Dallas Stars, we all know that. The Stars struggled out of the gate in 2016, giving some of their least aggressive effort on offense of the entire season. The problem was, the lack of offensive firepower combined with their subpar defensive efforts and produced horrific results.
The Stars had not strung together a losing streak all season until January, when they started the month off 0-2-1. As the baby steps of 2016 continued, the Stars struggled to stay above water. They forfeited their hold on first place in the league along with a few other titles in the standings as they slowly sank. By the end of the month, they had pieced together an ugly 3-6-2 month.
It got better as the month ended though, with the Dallas Stars winning two of their last three. The NHL All-Star Break officially closed out the month of January for all NHL teams, and the Stars were in a bind.
Well, Dallas made sure that their hopes did not remain broken for long. February kicked off, and so did a revival of the Stars success. After winning the first two games of the month against Central Division opponents, the Stars hiccuped against the Blackhawks. Following that singular loss, Dallas hopped right back on the horse and won four straight, including one against Chicago just five days after the loss.
But on Tuesday night, the Dallas Stars surprisingly snagged a point out of a poor and unenthusiastic performance against the St. Louis Blues. The Stars were on the second night of a back-to-back and did not seem to have the gas to keep up and compete with STL.
After the overtime loss, the Stars boarded a plane for Arizona to take on the desperate Coyotes. Arizona went into the game Thursday night only four points out of a playoff spot, and were looking to narrow the margin. They did just that.
With a mixture of speed, skill, and youthful ferocity, the Coyotes easily handled the Stars for a 6-3 victory.
This officially pins the first losing streak on the Stars since the loss to the Los Angeles Kings on January 19th. So what is going on?
It could have simply been an off game. Perhaps the Stars did not take the Coyotes’ desperateness seriously enough. Whatever the case may have been, the Stars just did not look ready to take on an Arizona team struggling to stay afloat.
While the offense was out to its regular showing and production, the defense was lacking beyond reasonable belief. Bad penalties mixed with mistimed transitions made for a long night for the Dallas Stars.
More stars: Stars Slayed By Coyotes, 6-3
And now they are on a skid. Sure it is not a bad one, considering they are 4-1-1 in their last six. But could this be a sign of more struggles to come? Stars fans are currently living in the state of mind promising that the Stars’ slump days are over and that they are now back to winning. No one expected the Stars to sink back into a style of mediocrity. If they do, there could be some consequential repercussions.
The Dallas Stars will finish off the month of February with a game against the Boston Bruins, two versus the Winnipeg Jets, and home match ups against the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. That is no easy lineup to conquer. If the Stars want to continue their success and keep their fans worry-free, they will need to refocus after last night’s loss and find a way to reignite the winning streaks.
Next: Stars Rose To The Occasion In Absence Of Spezza
Otherwise, we could all be in for a long spring.