The grueling month of February is finally over for the Dallas Stars and now they have just one full month remaining in their schedule: March. Not to inflate anyone’s hopes too much, but a serious run in March could work wonders for the Stars.
Exactly 731 days ago, the Dallas Stars were running on fumes. The 2014-15 season had been extremely sour to them and pinned them in a hole with little chance of getting out.
They sat at a record of 27-25-10 with 64 points and were nine points out of the final playoff spot in the West. After losing to the Anaheim Ducks on Mar. 1, they only had 19 games left to work with and had little hopes of meeting the expectations that were put in place for them during the preseason.
So, just as any team with little hope at a postseason berth in late February does, the Stars turned into sellers. They traded Erik Cole to the Detroit Red Wings on the day of the game against Anaheim and lost a veteran and likable presence in the locker room.
After losing 3-1 to the Ducks, things continued to roll down the darkened path. Everyone was looking forward to 2015-16 (and had no idea what they were in for). But the Dallas Stars had not given up just yet.
Dallas Stars
Two days after the loss to Anaheim, the Stars rallied to defeat the New York Islanders in overtime by a score of 3-2. Two days after that, Dallas flew to Sunrise and defeated the Florida Panthers in a shootout. Just like that, the Stars had acquired four straight points and were on a winning streak. They ended up finishing the month of March with a record of 10-5-0. If you only count the games after the trade deadline, they were 10-4-0.
That’s 20 of a possible 28 points. Those numbers ended up not being enough to punch their ticket to the postseason, but the Stars fought hard to narrow the gap and even had it down to four points at one time. Their drive gave the fans hope.
The point is, they went on an impressive run in the month of March and put the wild card race on its heels. It was exciting to watch and continually map out new scenarios on how they could clinch.
This year’s team is a lot like the one from 2014-15. Inexperienced and unenthusiastic defense, inconsistent goaltending, and a dire need for change.
After finding a way to fend off the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the Stars moved to seven points out of the final playoff spot. That’s closer than last time.
Not to mention that unlike in 2014-15, the teams around Dallas don’t seem to be in too big of a hurry to claim a playoff spot with a dominating lead. All of the teams around the Stars (Los Angeles, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and St. Louis) seem to be on the same rollercoaster as the Stars.
Now this team is still a long ways away from being playoff-caliber. But as Sylvester Stallone said in Rocky, “It’s not over till it’s over.”
It would take an almost impossible and near miraculous run for the Dallas Stars to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season. Dallas plays 14 games in the coming month, and ten of them are on the road, where the Stars have been abysmal this year. It won’t be easy, but it could be done. It would just take a lot of purging, regrouping, and executing. They start it off with the Islanders and Panthers, who interestingly enough were two of the first three teams Dallas faced in March 2015.
Next: Remembering Jordie Benn: His Best Moments As A Star
A trade deadline can do a lot of things for a team. So can having their backs against the wall. Until the mathematicians says so, the Dallas Stars are not out of the playoff hunt. Maybe this is the start of something beautiful, or maybe it’s just another hopeful win with a few crushing losses to follow.
Either way, one thing is clear: the month of March will determine what kind of team the new Dallas Stars truly are.