Dallas Stars Still Finding Flaws In Overall Play

The past two weeks have proven one thing: the Dallas Stars are back. But amidst the big wins, they are still finding weak areas that they can improve on.

On January 25, 2016, the Dallas Stars narrowly capped off a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames. After this game, the Stars escaped to a weeklong break while the NHL hosted All-Star Weekend in Nashville, TN.

This break could not have come at a better time for Dallas. The win over the Flames was only the Stars third win of the entire month, and pinned them with a final record of 3-6-2 for the first month of 2016. Stars fans were unfamiliar to the lacking style of play that they were witnessing.

Less than a month earlier on New Year’s Eve, the Stars defeated the Nashville Predators 5-1 at home to take sole control of first place in the Western Conference and NHL. After that, they took a sharp turn off the NHL mountain and fell into mediocrity. This caused them to forfeit their position, and they fell to second in their division, and third overall in the West and NHL.

It was not a good month. But it was nothing that a long break could not fix, right?

Right. Immediately after the All-Star Break, the Dallas Stars put up two straight wins against division opponents on the road. Now on Valentine’s Day, the Stars are 36-15-5. They are also 5-1-0 this month. This performance has been good enough to put them back in first place in the division and conference, and they are once again challenging for the top spot in the league.

Their past two wins are definitely the most impressive of the month and possibly even of the season. On Thursday night, the Stars traveled to the United Center and obliterated the Chicago Blackhawks. Though the final score was 4-2, the Stars scored four unanswered goals in the first period, with three coming from Patrick Eaves.

They hopped a plane and flew home for a one-game home stand on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals. Once again, the Stars experienced a four goal, no answer period. But the final score came out as 4-3. Still, a win is a win.

These two teams were both ahead of Dallas in the standings when they played them. Considering the Stars were third place in the NHL, I hope you can piece together what I’m saying. If you still don’t get it, the Stars handed losses to the two best teams in the league in back-to-back games. That is nothing short of impressive.

But with winning there always comes critiquing, and the Stars are no exception. Both games were definitely entertaining, and the Stars held the reins for the first 40 minutes in both games. But it was the third period where things started to slip.

The problem was, the Stars never scored a third period goal in either game, and gave up a combined five goals. Though they still found a way to escape without being overthrown, it’s not healthy for any team to let things get that close after building a commanding lead.

It’s obviously natural for a team with a huge lead to relax in the final minutes of a game. But the Dallas Stars were playing two of the best teams in the league, and giving them all the open ice they want may not  be the best idea. Especially if it were to happen in the postseason.

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The Stars tended to slack off for the majority of the third period. They did not take advantage of some opportunities they received from the other team’s desperation and sat in their zone for the majority of the final 20 minutes.

If they want to continue their winning ways, they will need to not only protect, but continue to increase the lead over the final period. Whenever the opponent takes a risk by pinching or pulling their goaltenders, the Stars need to take advantage. If not, the rest of the season could be rough and the playoffs will definitely be a disappointment. The postseason has a different atmosphere, and any team can do anything.

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But the wins were impressive, that’s for sure. Let’s hope they can keep it up this week against four rather desperate teams.