Dallas Stars’ Patrick Sharp Proving Worth In Mid-Season Struggles
Although the Dallas Stars have come out of their last week of games a bit black and blue, they are showing signs of improvement and attempts at consistency thanks to several key players.
After a month dominated by losses both narrow and deserved in the most epic of ways, the Dallas Stars have clearly been searching for the positive in a sea of negative- the one thing that could help pull them up by the bootstraps and keep on keeping on as they head into the All-Star break and beyond.
In the three game losing stretch working up to the break, one thing was clearly chipping away at the Stars game by game: confidence, or lack thereof. Elementary as it may seem, it appears that the Stars have a hard time scoring when they’re down because they feel badly about not scoring. And if that won’t give you a headache, nothing will.
So we can sympathize with the difficulty of this last stretch of failed games, with losses coming past regulation in two of the three, when mental toughness can be the most elusive thing to achieve.
However, the Stars were able to dig their heels in against Buffalo, aided by one thing in particular: farsighted positivism and action on the part of a veteran of the game who has seen win and loss streaks come and go, and hoisted the Cup enough to prove that the lowest ebb is indeed the turn of the tide.
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I’m talking, of course, about Patrick Sharp. He scored the opening goal against the Sabres on Thursday and went on to also score the third of the Stars’ four goals that night.
Ask Sharp what keeps his motivation up and his perspective fresh, and he will credit Devin Shore as inspiration, who in turn will credit Sharp as his role model. So at the end of the day, what’s the real culprit for success here?
Between the two of them, the most outstanding quality shared is the optimistic spirit that will keep fighting, no matter how far down. As a player who has seen ups and downs in the context of a whole season and not just a stretch of games, Sharp has a unique perspective that the Dallas Stars could really use right now, and did to their advantage on Thursday night.
And from Shore’s performance, we can see that this attitude is definitely rubbing off. Despite some trouble that the Stars have experienced with goalkeeping this season, Kari Lehtonen‘s performance was another that really helped seal their victory over the Sabres to send them into the All-Star break on a win.
Lindy Ruff told the media after the game that both Lehtonen and Niemi were under the weather, and Lehtonen had been dehydrated when he was sent in to replace Niemi after the second. You wouldn’t have known that he wasn’t at full capacity by the way he hung onto the Stars’ lead for them with big saves and confident carriage.
One quote from Sharp to the media postgame really says it all: “It’s been an up-and-down 50 games. We haven’t hit our stride that we’re capable of. T he last three, four, five games we’ve played really well. Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come. It’s just a matter of stringing some games together and staying within striking distance.”
Clearly Sharp recognizes that the Stars haven’t reached their full potential yet this season, but also knows that fretting over it will only pull their game down further. With that attitude in mind, Thursday’s win against Buffalo certainly earned them the two points, but counts much more as a morale booster.
Next: Dallas Stars Arguably Playing Their Best Hockey In A While
With two days left in a four day break, the Dallas Stars will hopefully take some of it to let that outlook sink in and let their last win encourage them. With the Stars only three points out of the final Wildcard playoff spot in the West, it’s the perfect time for them to pull themselves up by the boot- or, the skate laces, and just keep on keeping on.