Dallas Stars Need to Assess What Has Not Been Working

If there’s one word that accurately describes the Stars’ 5-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, it would be “ouch”. Dallas managed to outshoot the Sharks 30-26 but failed to get enough past goaltender Aaron Dell to outscore their opponents.

Being a Dallas Stars’ fan this season has not been an easy feat. It’s been like a broken record, listening to the constant reassurance that next game would turn around their luck. Both sides, the team, and fans held out hope that they’d defy the odds.

Ultimately, those odds against the Stars continued to stack up and eventually condemned the season. What would have made this season great? There isn’t a checklist of magic steps to success, but it’s kind of understood what it takes to make a season great.

Here are a few components to the ideal season:

Minimal amount of injury,
Winning streaks longer than three games,
Ability to perform on the road,
Playing goaltenders with pride,
Positive relationships with the coaching staff,
A place to bring new teammates on board, not having to let go

It’s not a complete list, but a few things for consideration. As for this season, some things just aren’t meant to be, and captain Jamie Benn puts it simply:

"“It’s embarrassing,” Benn said."

From a fan’s standpoint, it’s hard to watch. Y’all, please continue to wear your victory green with pride. It’s not a time to lose faith in your team, they need help finishing out the season.

Let’s take a moment to dive into the heart of the game. How does a team win a hockey game? The question seems like it suggests an obvious answer. Score more points than the other team, duh! In essence, yes, scoring more points will yield a victory, but it’s a little more intricate than that.

A victory comes from a team in unison. It’s a complementary organization of offensive, defensive and goaltending efforts. If one or more of those parts is not in-sync with the rest, winning is likely not in the cards for that game.

Starting between the pipes.

The goaltender is pretty much the most important man on the ice. Without a confident goaltender, the team is doomed. Both goaltenders for the Dallas Stars, Antti Niemi, and Kari Lehtonen, have struggled this season.

Another fun point brought on by last night’s loss: the Dallas Stars are now tied with the Colorado Avalanche for the most GA.

The Stars have switched out goaltenders during the game 11 times during this 2016-2017 season.

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Here’s a quick comparison of the Stars’ goalies during the past two season vs. leaders in the league. The numbers are filtered by current games played during the season.

2015-2016:

Leader: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings. He went 40-23-5 out of 68 games started, with a .918 SV%.

Stars: Niemi ranks 21th, with 27-13-7 with .907 SV%. Lehtonen ranks 25th with 25-10-2 with .906 SV%.

2016-2017:

I went with Devan Dubnyk, even though Cam Talbot is leading the most games played. Out of 54 games played, Dubnyk led the Minnesota Wild 36-14-3, with a .931 SV%.

Stars: Because of the constant switching of goaltenders, both Niemi and Lehts rank close to each other. Lehtonen ranks 18th in games played, with 16-21-6 and a .902 SV%. Niemi ranks 32nd, with 11-10-4 and .895 SV%.

It’s interesting to play around with the numbers, but any way you slice it, the goaltender situation this year has not been positively notable. The best thing to do is to fost

er a positive environment and get ready for the next season. More than likely, both goaltenders will be returning to the Dallas ice, so get ready.

Next, comes the defensive effort.

These two players, provide support on both ends of the rink. They’ve got to be fast, agile and know how to anticipate the opposing forward’s move. Playing the defensive end is just as much of a mental game as it is physical.

Imagine having to study the other team’s moves. Like walking into an exam without cracking open a book, it’s just a defeating feeling to have the other team crash the goal.

The Stars have a fairly younger defensive line, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t be advantageous. The younger players are still able to mold their tactics to the team’s needs. If a defensive end lacks an aggressive player, someone will be able to conform to fill the position.

One thing that Dallas seems to struggle with is keeping their heads on a swivel. When the other team is attacking, it’s not the time to be unaware of every single movement in their zone.

The defensemen are outnumbered by one player, so here the goaltender has to offer some guidance to his team.

More often than they should, the Stars forget that point. They focus on the puck, not the man they should guard, which is a fatal mistake. It takes one second for the forward to crash the open goal and take a shot. Many of Dallas’ GA are because someone forgot about the unguarded forward in front of the net.

If the defensemen had their head on a swivel, they’d be able to locate the opponents in their zone, the puck, and then decide the most immediate threat. It’s a lot to handle, but in a professional league, awareness is a key part of their job.

When it comes to scoring, having a skilled offensive line is almost a given.

Talented shooters will put pucks in the net, but without the chance to do so, they’re left to chase the puck up and down the ice.

The Dallas Stars seem to really like the dump-and-chase method. I’ve touched on it before, but it’s just a play that does not work for the Stars. Simply and bluntly put: This works brilliantly for some teams, but the Stars just are not fast enough run it successfully.

Here’s why it doesn’t work:

With this method, the puck is passed into the deep end of the opponent’s defensive end. When the Stars’ run this, they bank on being able to outskate the man marking them and having enough time to make a quality play. This method should work, as the defensemen have to pivot around and make up the momentum that the Stars’ forward has already begun to exert towards the loose puck.

And they do.

This has caused just about every turnover you can imagine. Given, sometimes the method works, but it’s due to some forward being in the right place at the right time.

Well, if that doesn’t work, what do they do?

It’s hard to look at this and have a definitive answer because hockey strategy varies from team to team. If the players could to slow down time and assess the different opportunities presented, I bet things would be a bit different.

It’s pretty easy for an outside perspective to see the errors of the game, but when the game is happening, players make decisions in a matter of milliseconds. That’s just the way it goes.

Next: Dallas Stars' Bad Luck Excuse Only Goes So Far

The Dallas Stars will travel to Edmonton on Tuesday for a matchup against the Oilers.

Nine of the next 11 games are on the road, so take a deep breath and let the season end gracefully. It’s time to start accepting that the Stars’ time is winding down, so the most we can do is buckle up and prepare for the final leg.

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