A Look At The Completely Updated Dallas Stars Playoff Picture
Good morning and happy Monday, Dallas Stars fans!
The Dallas Stars ended the weekend on a rather satisfying note, knocking off the New York Rangers in a well-fought, overtime thriller. Ales Hemsky played the part of hero by scoring the game-winning goal, while Kari Lehtonen dazzled in the crease stopping 34 of 36 for a final save percentage of .944, one of his highest this season.
“I think it helps you believe again. We’ve had some tough stuff happen to us, so to win in overtime, it helped us out of a struggle.” – Lindy Ruff
With the Stars victory, they were able to drag themselves out of 12th place in the entire Western Conference out of 14 teams and into a tie for 9th place. They are currently in a tight battle with six other teams for the last two wild card spots. The seven teams are the Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars, and Colorado Avalanche. Only nine points separate first and last place between these seven teams. Here are some statistics regarding the other six teams and their endeavors over the last and next few days:
-The Colorado Avalanche lost to the Winnipeg Jets in regulation Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-3. The Avalanche gave away a game in hand to all of the other participating teams except the Jets who lead all the other teams with 55 games played. The Avs are now in 12th place in the West, meaning dead last in this specific hunt.
-The Vancouver Canucks will take on the Minnesota Wild Monday night. The Canucks are currently ranked in the top three in the Pacific Division, but a loss would knock them out of the spot and back into the wild card race.
-The Calgary Flames take on the San Jose Sharks on Monday night as well. The Flames are in the tied with the Canucks for the third spot in the Pacific Division, but a loss would give the Canucks the upper hand considering Vancouver has played less games.
-The Los Angeles Kings take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night also. The Kings are in the middle of a three-way tie with the Stars and Wild for ninth place. A loss could put them in serious danger to take on twelfth place.
-The Dallas Stars will travel to Boston to take on the Bruins Tuesday night. As a part of the three way tie, a loss could be devastating, while a win would put them securely in ninth depending on if the Wild and Kings drop their games Monday night.
-The Wild and Jets will meet Tuesday night also for a big game between a team on the outside looking in and a team on the inside looking out.
Here are the updated standings regarding these seven teams:
Wild Card Standings:
1. Winnipeg Jets 55 GP 64 PTS 23 ROW
2. Calgary Flames 53 GP 61 PTS 26 ROW
3. Minnesota Wild 51 GP 56 PTS 23 ROW
3. Los Angeles Kings 52 GP 56 PTS 21 ROW
3. Dallas Stars 53 GP 56 PTS 22 ROW
6. Colorado Avalanche 54 GP 55 PTS 15 ROW
The Dallas Stars had a depressing start to their weekend that ended with a bit of joy. But the road is still long and getting narrower as each day passes. They will need to buckle down and string together some wins here soon in order to get back into the race. Through the rest of February, the Stars meet three of these teams (Avalanche x2, Wild, Jets) and could gain some valuable points off of them.
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Stars and Sticks
It’s about time to start the long haul, and the Dallas Stars will need everyone to participate if they want to succeed. That includes the goaltenders and defense, who showed their prime effort Sunday for the first time in a while. We’ll hope that effort returns, starting Tuesday night in Boston when Tyler Seguin returns home for just the second time since being traded.