Dallas Stars Having Trouble Besting Some Beatable Teams

The Dallas Stars seem to be struggling with an interesting scenario. This scenario pertains to their struggles with finding a way to beat teams with rather sketchy and unimpressive records.

The Dallas Stars held a team meeting in Frisco this afternoon and were scheduled to hit the ice for practice immediately after, but ended up deciding against it. All players refrained from ice time and will stay off until morning skate tomorrow at the American Airlines Center in preparation for their New Year’s Eve matchup with the Nashville Predators.

What everyone should know by now is that when head coach Lindy Ruff hosts a team meeting, something is in dire need of fixing. He did it in his first season with the Stars in January of 2014 when the Stars had dropped nine of their first ten games of the month. After the meeting, they snagged points in nine of their next ten games. He also did it after one of the Stars longer losing streaks in 2014-2015, and they quickly got back on track.

That is what makes this meeting so interesting today. The fact of the matter is that the 2015-2016 Dallas Stars have little to no flaws. Sure their goaltending could be a bit spotty amidst their strong consistency, and their special teams may not be as hot as the usually are. But overall, these Stars are some of the best Stars we’ve seen since the 1999 Stanley Cup season.

So why would Ruff call the meeting?

Well maybe, and just maybe, it was in response to last night’s embarrassing loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Dallas Stars truly did not play that bad of a game, though. The Stars took 43 total shots on net in the game, including 17 in the third period as they tried to initiate a comeback.

But the simple miscues they made were perfectly capitalized upon by the Blue Jackets. The Stars had a few instances where they would cut a two-goal lead to one, and then immediately give up a costly play that offered Columbus the chance to turn it back into a pair-of-goals game.

The Stars were 2/2 on the penalty kill, but 0/3 on the power play. Columbus scored their first goal just 35 seconds into the first period while crashing the net, and it was all downhill from there. Curtis McElhinney easily had one of the best games of his career, stopping Dallas’s superstars on almost every opportunity. The final score was 6-3, and the loss demoted the Dallas Stars to 27-8-3.

They are now in certain danger of losing their claim to first place in the NHL. Even though that truly does not matter in regards to their high standing, it is helpful in proving that nothing will be simple and every team has its own weakness.

The loss to Columbus was the Stars eighth loss of the season in regulation. That now puts them at ten on the year where they have not walked away with two points. The funny thing is, the majority of those ten games are against teams who set below .500 and or out of a playoff spot.

Their eight regulation losses are to the Colorado Avalanche (out of playoff spot), Florida Panthers (in playoff spot), Toronto Maple Leafs twice (out of playoff spot and below .500), Ottawa Senators (one point from falling out of wild card spot), St. Louis Blues (in playoff spot), Calgary Flames (out of playoff spot), and Columbus Blue Jackets (out of playoff spot and below .500).

Their two three overtime/shootout losses are to the Calgary Flames (out of playoff spot), Edmonton Oilers (out of playoff spot and below .500), and St. Louis Blues (in playoff spot).

The majority of these teams are having inconsistent and splotchy seasons and may be looking towards rebuild instead of playoffs.

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• Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs

So why are the Dallas Stars losing to them when they have no trouble beating teams like the Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, and Washington Capitals?

There are a few different factors in play. For one part, the Stars may run into a hot goaltender. The Oilers Anders Nilsson had the best game of his 2015-2016 season when he saved 42 of 43 in the Stars overtime loss to Edmonton. The Flames Karri Ramo also had the best game of his season when he went 35 of 36 in the Flames 3-1 win over the Stars in mid-December.

Another factor in play could be the Stars not taking their opponent seriously enough. Considering the Stars are the best in the league, they should go ahead and get used to every team bringing their all in every game for the rest of the season. If the Stars are not completely focused in each game, it does not matter what the records say. Any team has the opportunity to beat them on any given night.

Next: Is Colton Sceviour's Play Good Enough For A New Deal With Stars?

Overall, the losses and who they are at the hands of mean very little at this point. The Stars are still near the top of the league. Though they may be overtaken by the Washington Capitals (who may not lose a game the rest of this season) for first place, they are still in no danger of losing their playoff hopes. While the Presidents Trophy may or may not be in their future, only one trophy matters in the end.