The Dallas Stars were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoff race last night. But don’t worry, yesterday wasn’t all bad for the Stars organization.
Math has never been fun. Whether it is required when doing your homework in fifth grade or to do your taxes, chances are everyone has disliked math at one point or another.
That dislike came to a climax yesterday for the Dallas Stars. With St. Louis and Nashville both winning their respective games on Monday night, the Stars were mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoff race for the second time in the last four years.
It’s another tough burden to bear for a team that seems destined for greatness due to their extensive arsenal of young and thriving talent. It’s not often that you have players like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, and John Klingberg all on the same roster. Some teams would call themselves lucky to have two of those players in their lineup.
But it seems as though there has yet to be anything that has gone the Stars’ way this season. From multiple injuries boiling up at different points of the year to a young and inconsistent defense giving way at the blue line, Dallas has been fighting to stay afloat since game one.
Dallas Stars
And now it has finally crashed down on them. The Dallas Stars have fallen from first place in the Western Conference to one of the bottom four teams in the conference in a span of 365 days.
That being said, the Stars will play the final seven games of their season merely for pride and even to potentially play spoiler for different teams. They’re simply going for broke at this point because there is nothing else left for them to fight for besides pride.
Unfortunately, the Dallas Stars have turned it on as of late. With playoffs hopes dashed, the Stars have improved to 4-1-1 over their past six games. The defense and goaltending have allowed a measly 1.50 goals against over the span. All in all, the Stars are playing some of their best hockey of the year. Why it couldn’t have happened 60 games ago will remain a mystery.
Dallas has four more games on their current road trip before finishing the season out with three straight at home. They play tonight against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre in hopes of tacking on a third straight victory.
Lehtonen claims NHL’s Second Star of the Week
Though the mathematical elimination is always a stinger, there was a bright spot in yesterday. That was Kari Lehtonen being named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week.
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Between Nikita Kucherov and Ryan Getzlaf in the “Three Stars of the Week” ranking, Lehtonen has been a shining star for Dallas. Over the past week, he went 3-0-1 while posting a 0.98 GAA and .959 save percentage. He defeated the San Jose Sharks twice and the New Jersey Devils and fell in the shootout to the Chicago Blackhawks. He also posted his second shutout of the season in his first game against the Sharks.
The 33-year-old Big Finn has largely been the only positive light in the crease for the Stars this year, considering Antti Niemi has struggled down the stretch in finding consistency in his starts. Lehtonen has been an influential part of the Stars’ success over the past week and will look to help them close out the season on a similarly high note.
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And that’s all that is fresh off the press for the Dallas Stars at the moment. Make sure to keep up with the game tonight as Jamie Benn and Jordie Benn face off for the first time in their professional careers. It promises to be a good one. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Montreal.