Dallas Stars: Examining Their November 2017 Schedule

The month of October is officially in the rearview mirror and November is in full swing. Here’s what the Dallas Stars have to look forward to in the upcoming month.

Welcome to November, Dallas Stars fans. As October quickly disappears in the rearview mirror, the Stars are probably glad that the “first month” jitters are officially gone.

As the team prepares for their second month of action, there’s a lot to take in. After all, it was a pretty interesting month of October.

Throughout the first month, Dallas posted a record of 7-5-0 with 14 points. Their stretch included a four-game win streak as well as 2 two-game losing skids. It was a rollercoaster performance that luckily got better as the month went on. They now sit third in the Central Division, but things are airtight and one slip up could drop them to the bottom half of the division.

This was a better performance for the Stars than October 2016 when they posted a 3-4-1 record and quickly fell behind in the standings and in the league as a whole. Their early season woes only continued piling up and eventually gave Dallas too deep a hole to climb out of.

Dallas Stars

Luckily, those ghosts seem to be behind them. Although the results may have started out shaky, the Dallas Stars are playing an exciting brand of hockey that seems to grow stronger with each passing game.

And now they face the second month of the season. November is a time for many exciting things: fall weather (we can only hope), the Thanksgiving holidays, and plenty of action in professional sports. It is also a time for hockey teams to set the pace for the rest of their season.

A bad start in October can be overcome, but November is where it must occur. It’s a time for NHL teams to shake off the rust and prepare for the bulk of their season. If they can dominate November, they have a good outlook for the rest of the year. If they struggle, it becomes all the more difficult to imagine them succeeding down the road.

That being said, the Dallas Stars need to take November by the reins. They start it off tonight in Winnipeg when they take on the Jets, yet another Central Division foe.

This will be one of two meetings between the Stars and Jets this month. These meetings will be two of 13 total games for Dallas in November. Here is a complete list of the Stars’ opponents in the month ahead:

Winnipeg Jets (2 games: 1 home, 1 away), Buffalo Sabres (1 game: home), New York Islanders (1 game: home), Carolina Hurricanes (1 game: away), Florida Panthers (1 game: away), Tampa Bay Lightning (1 game: away), Edmonton Oilers (1 game: home), Montreal Canadiens (1 game: home), Colorado Avalanche (1 game: away), Calgary Flames (1 game: home), Vegas Golden Knights (1 game: away), Chicago Blackhawks (1 game: away)

Let’s break that down.

The Dallas Stars will play a total of six games at home and seven on the road during the month. Both their longest home stand and road trip are three games long.

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Four of the 13 games will be against Central Division competition (WPG, COL, CHI), giving the Stars an opportunity to improve their unimpressive 1-3-0 record in divisional play this year. The team needs to improve their divisional record if they want to achieve maximum success, and that can begin in the month ahead.

The Stars will square off with a fair share of Eastern Conference talent this month, with six of their games coming against Eastern teams. One of those is the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are currently tied for the best record in the NHL (10-2-1) and are firing on all cylinders.

November will once again offer the Stars a chance to get ahead, though there are some tough opponents embedded in their schedule. Of the 12 teams Dallas will face this month, nine own a record of .500 or better. Only the Sabres, Canadiens, and Oilers sit below .500, but all three are dangerous in their own regard. Don’t forget that the Stars are already in an 0-1-0 hole against Edmonton this year.

Only five of the 12 opponents currently sit in a playoff spot. But considering it is still early in the year, the standings are tight. For example, only four points separate second and seventh (last) place in the Central Division. So the Stars have an opportunity to cash in this month, but the opposition isn’t going to fall easily.

The Stars have been tested with two back-to-back situations this season, posting a total record of 1-3-0 (1-1-0 on the second night). They have two more scheduled in the month of November. In the first, they will go from Carolina to Florida. On the second, they will go from Dallas to Colorado just before Thanksgiving break. It will be interesting to see how they react in both situations.

Another helpful reminder is Jere Lehtinen’s number retirement ceremony on November 24. Before the game against Calgary, the Stars will host a retirement ceremony for no. 26. Be sure to buy your tickets so you can enjoy the special event honoring one of the Stars’ greatest franchise players.

The month of November may look relatively simple for the Stars, but there are plenty of hidden challenges and obstacles awaiting the team. It will be up to the team to transition their hot play into the month ahead and put to rest all of the October jitters and uncertainties. It’s a new month and a new opportunity to grow stronger and build confidence.

Next: Stars Player Power Rankings For The Month Of October

All in all, it was a pretty successful October campaign for the Dallas Stars. There were positives and negatives, but the team hopefully came out better as a result. Let’s see if they can get off on the right foot in November tonight against the Jets.