Dallas Stars Are Surprisingly Still In Excellent Position

The Dallas Stars once again fell just short of securing a win yesterday in Vancouver. On the bright side, even their average start still has them in good standing.

The Montreal Canadiens are definitely one of the bigger surprises of the 2016-17 NHL season so far.

After an offseason of intense criticism and speculation that pinnacled with trading superstar defenseman P.K. Subban days before the opening of the free agency market, many had the Canadiens taking a hard fall in the upcoming season.

Last year, it seemed as though Montreal had all the pieces necessary to make a Stanley Cup run. After starting the year 9-0-0, injuries and inconsistency over the remainder of the year helped them quietly slip out of the playoff picture and into an early offseason.

Things definitely were not leaning in their favor at the commencement of this year. But now they’re sitting at the top of not only the Eastern Conference, but the NHL as a whole. They own a record of 13-2-1 with 27 points and a goal differential of +19. They’re burning through their schedule and leaving the NHL in awe.

So, in other words, the Canadiens are sitting in the position that most expected the Dallas Stars to be in around this point in their own season. The Stars concocted a dominant 2015-16 campaign last year that ended with a Central Division title and a trip to the Western Conference semifinals.

The 2016 offseason saw a lot of players depart from Dallas and a couple of new ones come in. By the end of it, the majority opinion was that the Stars were more than likely a better team than they were in the season before. Some upgrades to the defense, rookies turning into sophomores, and the goaltenders having a better grasp on the demands of the two-goalie tandem were all factors that could potentially lead to a stronger season.

Instead, injuries reigned supreme and crippled the Dallas Stars before the season even began. In early September, Stars players began to hit the IR in the midst of the World Cup of Hockey, training camp, and into the preseason.

Due to that and some other in-game deficiencies, the Stars are nowhere near reaping the kinds of successes that the Canadiens are hoisting. Dallas currently boasts a record of 6-6-4 with 16 points.

Yesterday, they concluded a five-game road trip which included the regular three-game Western Canada swing (Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver). They suffered an overtime and regulation loss to kick the trip off, but followed it up with two strong wins against the Flames and Oilers. It was their first winning streak of the season and it looked as though Dallas had finally figured out their play.

But then came Sunday afternoon’s game at Vancouver. The Stars dominated the first 40 minutes of play and carried a 3-1 lead into the third period. In less than three minutes, the Canucks tied the game up at 3-3. Antoine Roussel tried to take on the role of hero and scored midway through the third to take the lead. But Vancouver jumped right back into the game with time dwindling.

As overtime approached, the Dallas Stars’ chances of winning grew incredibly slim. Just 1:27 into the extra period, Markus Granlund ripped one past Kari Lehtonen to take the game by a 5-4 advantage.

The game reeked of inconsistencies that the Stars had shown earlier in the season. The game also proved that Dallas is still not at the level they were hoping to be at this year. There are plenty of things to blame their lack of progress on, but they need to get their play figured out before it’s too late.

Fortunately for them, the rest of the NHL seems to be going through some similar growing pains. That’s giving the Stars a sizable advantage that they normally wouldn’t have in a typical season.

As of Monday morning, the Dallas Stars hold the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. So if the Stanley Cup Playoffs started today, the Stars would face the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round. The point is that they would still be in the postseason race.

But it gets better. The Stars currently sit in eighth with 16 points. The St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild are tied for third in the Central Division with 17 points, the Winnipeg Jets are holding second place with 18 points, and the Chicago Blackhawks currently hold first place with 24 points. That makes for a very tight race.

Dallas is now heading home for a three-game home stand that will span from Tuesday to Saturday. Hypothetically, if they win all three of their games this week (and the teams in front of them go winless over the next six days), the Stars will be sitting in second place with only two points separating them from the top spot. How crazy is that?

The fact that no one team in the Central Division or even Western Conference is running away from the competition is a favorable blessing for Dallas. While the Stars await the return of some of their star players like Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp from the injured reserve, they are still in good standing.

Next: Stars' Struggles With OT Continue In 5-4 Loss To Canucks

If the Stars had experienced this same deficiency and slow start last year, they might not have gotten off so lucky. So there’s something to be thankful for as the Thanksgiving holiday draws near. The Dallas Stars are still very much alive in the playoff race and their best play has yet to be shown off.

But these standings can change at anytime. The Stars still need to keep up. Their next chance to do that is this week when they welcome the New Jersey Devils (Tuesday), Colorado Avalanche (Thursday), and Edmonton Oilers (Saturday) to town. No matter how the other teams perform, the Stars are still in control of their own success at the end of the day. It’s time to see if they can grab the reins.