Time To Help The Dallas Stars By Hurting Them On Home Stand
The Dallas Stars enjoyed a rather impressive streak on the road over the past week, meeting up with five Eastern Conference teams and shutting four of them down. With this streak, the Stars shifted a bit in the standings and now rest only five points out of a wild card spot with 13 games remaining on their schedule.
Their magical playoff run may have come just a few games late, though. They will not only need to win a heft majority of the remaining games, but they will need the other four teams they are in tight contention with to falter a few times as well.
But the oddest part of this possible postseason scrap is how the Stars have managed to pull it off. With a depleted defensive corps that was already frail when it still had Trevor Daley and John Klingberg coming to the rescue against a couple of Eastern powerhouses, as well as the high improbability of them getting back in the race when they started the trek back on March 3rd, it was a bit of a journey. Here’s a look at the scenario they were faced with and how they thrived:
But the Dallas Stars have done it in the face of adversity. They have stared deep into the eyes of their own fans who have given up hope and injected optimism back into their lives. This rebirth of hope has come with the odds and a majority of their fans against them.
I will be the first to admit, I was one of them for a short time. After the 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on March 1st, the Dallas Stars fell 11 points behind the final wild card spot with just 19 games left in their season. That loss basically did it for me, at least for the time being.
On March 3rd, the Stars faced off with the New York Islanders, one of the top four best teams in the Eastern Conference. I gladly picked up my phone and texted my friend that “the only reason I was watching this automatic loss was because I had a job to do.” After the Stars won the game in overtime, they found themselves nine points back. This did not brighten my mood much, causing me to write about how a playoff run was not mathematically impossible, but highly improbable.
Live Feed class=inline-text id=inline-text-6
App Trigger
Thursday rolled around and I continued to check Twitter, watching Stars fans beg for “tanking” and ramble about how excited they were to not watch the loss that awaited Dallas that night. The Stars came back and knocked off the Panthers on Thursday, moving them one point closer. This got me hyped and back into the watching game. Saturday rolled around and I for the first time in weeks had hope, and from the looks of Twitter, so did a lot of other people. After a colossal meltdown against Tampa Bay, that hope was morphed back into carelessness for most. But for once after a loss, I stuck around. To be fair, I would sarcastically text this same friend that “too bad the Stars won’t be able to win tonight. Too many odds against them.” But they did.
The Stars followed it with three straight wins in four days, and now sit five points back from a playoff spot with thirteen games to go.
The weirdest thing is, the Dallas Stars have pushed the buck and come through with dominant wins at the oddest of times: on the road with little support from their fan base. On the road, in front of some of the most hateful Eastern Conference crowds you will ever hear, with little encouragement from back home.
Which leaves a question to be answered: do the Dallas Stars want our help?
The Stars play seven games at home and six on the road to end the year. They are 13-13-8 in Dallas this year, not a particularly envious position to be in. With great success coming in front of hostile crowds, do we really want to jinx that success by filling the AAC with victory green people screaming their lungs out?
13 games is not a lot of time, and the Stars must make every game count, starting with their three game home stand this coming week. As Jamie Benn said Friday night, “I think every game is pretty much a must win from here on out for us.” The last thing we want to do is jinx this already confusing season. Think it through. We’ll see what happens Sunday night against the St. Louis Blues. The Stars are 2-0-1 against the Blues this season, but are 0-0-1 at home against them. Now is the perfect time to slip up, and the Stars will need to figure a way around it.
Check back to Blackout Dallas for coverage of the game! Choose wisely on what you do tonight. Not to frighten you, but your actions could very well affect the Stars playoff hopes. Not to speculate or anything…
More from Blackout Dallas
- Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
- Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
- Dallas Stars prospects look to wrap up tournament with a win
- Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
- Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs