Dallas Stars: Worst Habits Prove Detrimental
Despite their play of late the 2015-2016 Dallas Stars roster is the best team the organization has put on the ice in a number of years. They were nearly unbeatable to start the season, but have fallen victim to a mid-season slump and are no longer leading the Central Division.
This is mainly because of a few key bad habits they’ve been making consistently. Mistakes happen, but constantly doing the same negative things over and over again in games for whatever reason really eats away at the team’s morale.
Behind the Eight Ball
The Stars have struggled lately to really get into games until it’s almost too late. They surrender goals early and then think they can rely on their highly talented offense to make a comeback, but that just isn’t going to happen most nights.
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As the season progresses teams become more defensively aware and less and less goals are scored. That makes come-from-behind victories all the less likely and it’s something the Stars are going to have to remove from their game.
Mental Toughness
The NHL is arguably just as much a physical sport as it is mental. The lengthy 82 game season can cause a player’s body and mind to fatigue, which can inevitably hurt their play on the ice.
Bad decisions in the defensive zone such as giveaways, turnovers, or soft passes can easily lead to a goal against that deflates the team as much as the player that made the mistake. It also messes up the goaltender’s confidence as they question their ability to serve as the one to help make up for their teammate’s shortcomings.
Distribution of Blame
If you’ve seen Jamie Benn‘s post game interviews following a loss he almost always takes the blame for it. While some may view this as a quality of a good leader, it seems to be a caveat in his mental strength.
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Puck Prose
Benn is the face of this club and when he’s playing his best he’s nearly unbeatable, and so are the Stars. When he isn’t, though, they’re a significantly less threatening team.
While this isn’t to say that Benn should point out every mistake and distribute blame play-by-play, he should be putting less pressure on himself so he can focus on the game at hand.
Moving Forward
The Stars still have a lot of time left in the season and they will come out of this slump eventually. The key is to limit the length of time and the number of games between now and eventually so that they don’t jeopardize their season.
Next: Dallas Stars Bounce Back Will Prove a Lot
What do you think the Dallas Stars’ biggest mistakes have been lately? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading!