Dallas Stars Face Key Stretch Against Struggling Teams This Week

The Dallas Stars currently hold something they have struggled to even get near all season. They hold a winning streak. Now, it may only be one game, but it’s a start to the week they now face ahead of them.

After stumping the slumping New Jersey Devils on Saturday night 4-3, they now look ahead at more slumping teams in the forthcoming future.

The Stars will fly out of Dallas on Tuesday and head for Rogers Arena, where they will get set to battle with the hosting Vancouver Canucks. This will be the second meeting between the teams. The Stars dominated in the first matchup, scoring six goals and forcing the Canucks to substitute Eddie Lack in for Ryan Miller early in the second after he allowed five goals. The two teams stand at different points now. The Canucks now sit in second place in the Pacific Division, right behind the Anaheim Ducks. They have 38 points, contrary to the Stars 27 points. But, here’s their catch: they’ve lost four straight, including games against Ottawa and Montreal. The Stars swept the Canucks last season and are now 1-0-0 against them on the year, and will look to gain two valuable points on Wednesday night. If the Stars can take it, they can continue in their attempts to get back in the fight. The numbers look in the Stars favor, but nothing is sure.

After Vancouver, The Dallas Stars will depart for Calgary where a Friday evening showdown will take place between the Stars and Flames. Another Canadian team, another struggle to shed light on. The Flames have now lost five straight, and have not produced a win since December 4th. The numbers are settling well with in the Stars favor again, as the Stars went 2-0-1 against the Flames last year, including a Tyler Seguin hat trick in one of the games in Calgary. The Flames have struggled to put points on the board over the past few games, and have also struggled to keep the puck out of their own net. Both of these setbacks play right into the Stars wheelhouse. Once again, the odds look to be in the Stars favor, but do not underestimate either side’s ability to succeed or fail.

Lastly, the Stars will travel to Edmonton, Alberta where they will take on the Edmonton Oilers. This will be the second meeting of the two teams, with the Stars taking the first game 3-2 back on November 25th. The Oilers fired head coach Dallas Eakins today after starting out the season 7-19-1. They have lost 15 of their last 16 games, and sit dead last in the NHL by a bit of a margin. The Stars will look to feed off of Edmonton’s rebuilding process and make tracks with another win.

But it all depends on how the Dallas Stars respond to their situation. They are presented with a glorious opportunity in the upcoming week to jump back into the standings and get closer to a playoff spot, but it all depends on their mindset and mentality in each game. They cannot take any of the three teams lightly, and they will need to embrace the style of play they used Saturday against the Devils if they want to rattle off three wins. They will have significant recovery time between all three games and will not have to make any massive flying trips to each destination.

Anders Lindback, as noted yesterday as a speculation, will get the start in net in one of the Stars first two upcoming games, per Lindy Ruff. It will be a good chance for Lindback to get back into the NHL style and see if he has improved in any way.

But it’s all up to the Stars. Do they want to make it four straight wins by the end of this week? We’ll have to see.

Leave your comments and questions below, and as always, thanks for reading! Go Stars.