Dallas Stars Continue Riding Roller Coaster Of Inconsistency
There’s just something not right about these Dallas Stars. Whatever is wrong, they need to get it fixed soon before it’s too late.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is known for a lot of things. The Fort Worth Stockyards, Reunion Tower, Jerry World, The Texas State Fair, all of the sights and shops, and even the massive DFW Airport.
One location that sometimes goes unnoticed but still plays an influential role in making the metroplex a hot tourist spot is Six Flags Over Texas. The massive number of high-thrill rides and lavish attractions have it high on any tourist’s to-do list (unless they are afraid of heights or fast speeds, of course).
The Dallas Stars have spent the last three seasons hosting a special event for season ticket holders at Six Flags. Season ticket holders are given the opportunity to ride some of the rides, take pictures, socialize, and get autographs from Stars players.
The event happens a few days before the regular season starts, giving the players a chance to relax and interact with fans before getting serious and focusing in on the season.
But this year, it seems as though the Dallas Stars may have stayed at the park and took the Batman for a couple more spins. At least their play on the ice this season would leave most believing that to be the case.
With seven games now under their belt, it is clear that this Stars team is not the one most were expecting. A record of 3-3-1 is enough evidence to that claim.
Now of course there are some excuses. The overarching one is the significant number of injuries that Dallas has suffered in the past month. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Antoine Roussel, and Radek Faksa are the only starters on offense from last season that have not missed a game this year.
Ales Hemsky, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp, Cody Eakin, Jiri Hudler, and Mattias Janmark are all currently on the injured reserve. As a result, the Dallas Stars have been forced to rely on small-name pickups from the offseason and rookies that they called up from the AHL. In other words, things aren’t as great as they could be.
Then there’s the defense. After losing three of their 2015-16 starters on defense, the Stars took a new route and decided to try trusting a young but almost fully developed blue line. Besides signing free agent defender Dan Hamhuis, the Stars planned on using a very recognizable lineup on defense to start the year.
So far, it’s clear that there are plenty of growing and molding pains that the defense still needs to get through before it’s too late. The Dallas Stars have given up an average of 32.4 shots against per game, which has them at eight highest of any team in the NHL. Meanwhile, they have only taken an average of 28.9 shots per game. It’s not like the Stars to be outshot on a routine basis.
The goaltending of Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen has been solid for the most part. There are some bumps that have been met, primarily because of mistakes made by the defense.
All in all, the Dallas Stars can’t seem to get off this brutal roller coaster of inconsistency that they currently find themselves trapped on. They have yet to win two games in a row this season or put together any sort of strong effort on a consistent basis.
Last Tuesday night, the Stars put on their strongest effort of the year and gave the Nashville Predators all they could handle. They outshot the Preds 37-28, set the tempo throughout the game, and won 3-2. 48 hours later, Dallas gave was outshot 39-20 by a winless Los Angeles Kings team in what would turn out to be a 4-3 overtime loss.
This week was more of the same. The Stars outdid the Jets on Tuesday night and came out with a 3-2 victory. But last night, the Jets flipped the script. They put up 22 shots on net in the first period alone and ended with 36 in a 4-1 routing of the Stars.
It seems as though this is becoming a repetitive problem for Dallas. Though they’re only seven games in, things need to be fixed quick.
Next: Stars Aren't What We Expected And That's Okay
If the Dallas Stars are truly a team capable of winning the Central Division or at least staying in the competition, they will have to adapt to these tough conditions and make the most out of them. They know that the bland efforts they are giving isn’t going to cut it, so now it’s time to step past it and pick up the pace.
There are different areas that need editing, and it’s up to Dallas to rally together and build up a strong unit. Otherwise, all hope could be lost. After all, remember the beginning of the 2014-15 season?