Dallas Stars Put Exclamation Point On Crazy March
By Josh Clark
The month of March officially ended last night, and the Dallas Stars closed the book in dominating fashion. Now onto April, and more importantly, the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Everybody exhale. The third month of the 2016 year was a tense one for the Dallas Stars, but it’s officially all said and done.
The Stars closed the month out on a high note last night by defeating the Arizona Coyotes 4-1. The game started with a big hit from Stephen Johns, and the rest was downhill from there for the Yotes. Dallas received goals from Radek Faksa, Patrick Eaves, and Patrick Sharp. But the third goal for the Stars, and most assuredly the biggest one of the game, was Jamie Benn tallying his 40th goal of the season.
Benn is only the second Dallas Stars player in franchise history to hit the 40 goal mark, with Mike Modano being the other with a 50-goal year in the club’s first year in Dallas back in 1993.
Overall, the game was a perfect summary of the month of March for the Stars: utter domination with very few inconsistencies. Besides a few slip-ups, the Stars finished with a mightily impressive record of 9-3-2.
The month of March also held a lot of impressive milestones for the Stars. First and foremost, Jamie Benn hitting the 40-goal mark in such dominant fashion. In a time in professional hockey where average goals scored are relatively lower than they were in the 90’s, it was impressive to see him hit 40 for the first time in his career. Not to mention that he is now just four goals back of Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead.
Stephen Johns made his NHL debut on March 11th against his former team, the Chicago Blackhawks. He had a stellar first showing on the Stars blue line and proved to be the big, physical edge that Dallas had been lacking. Now with one goal and three points, along with a whopping 37 hits, Johns is a regular aggressor on the Stars blue line and does not look to be going down anytime soon.
The Dallas Stars capped off series with the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks in March. But the more important factor is that the Stars won both of these series. Dallas finished the year with a record of 4-1-0 against the Hawks and 2-0-1 against the Sharks. Both of these teams are playoff-bound, making the dominations all the more impressive.
Radek Faksa seems to finally be coming out of his shell and filling the role the Stars have been looking for him to fill. With three goals and five assists in 40 total games this season, Faksa is slowly molding into an everyday NHL player. He has scored three goals and posted a +4 rating over the past five games. If he keeps it up, he could see a regular roster spot with his name on it come next season.
More stars: Stars Have Their Consistent Net Minder
The Stars proved in the month of March that they can take a handful of tribulations and still manufacture wins. It is the ultimate example of making lemonade out of a small handful of lemons that were taken out of a large pile. In the past month, the Stars lost both Tyler Seguin and Jason Demers to injuries, and neither will be back until the start of the postseason.
But that has not stopped the Stars from striving on. Without Demers, the Stars are 7-2-1 and when both players have been absent, Dallas is an astounding 5-1-0. Do not take that lightly, because it proves that the Stars can do just about anything, even when the going gets tough. Watch for that trait to reappear once the Stanley Cup Playoffs start rolling.
Next: Stars Taking Part In Slugfest Of Playoff Race
It’s been quite the entertaining and exciting month for the Dallas Stars and there fan base. Many things have happened, yet the Stars continue to produce. We’ll hope that quality holds true throughout a jam-packed month of April.