Dallas Stars: Five Takeaways From First Quarter Of 2017-18 Season

1. It’s Not As Bad As It May Look

There is a lot of negativity floating around the Dallas Stars community at the moment.

“This team really isn’t good.” 

“How is this any different than last year?”

“The Stars are wasting Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin’s best years”

The negative comments continue to flow in as the Stars roll along in their 2017-18 campaign. When the team loses, it’s all about how they’re a bad hockey team. When they win, it’s all about nit-picking their flaws and inadequacies. In other words, it doesn’t seem like the Stars can ever win.

Dallas Stars

But it’s not been as bad as people are making it. Instead, the Stars have struggled with bouncing from one polar end to the other. There’s no in between with them.

One night they lose by a significant margin and look like a lost and misconstrued hockey team. Two nights later, they dominate every facet of the game and win in overbearing fashion.

This team is lacking consistency in their play, but they are also lacking consistency in their effort. It’s almost like they either show up or stay home on a given night. They are experiencing the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde phenomena.

But there have been plenty of good signs in the Dallas Stars play. The Stars are making significant strides with each passing game, whether it looks like it or not. They just have to start finding a way to harness all of the good stuff in a game-by-game basis.

They did that for the most part in last night’s contest. After starting slow, Dallas eventually woke up after giving up the first goal in the second period. The Stars responded quickly, bringing offensive pressure and depth scoring into the picture. On defense, they minimized chances and cleared the puck out of the zone with efficiency. And in net, Ben Bishop didn’t budge after the early power play goal.

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From the time of the Montreal goal with 7:56 left in the second to the end of the period, the Stars outshot the Canadiens 12-2 and outscored them 2-0. They were resilient and responded to the wakeup call properly instead of buckling and giving in.

Dallas needs more of that in their game. But they also need to add in other elements, like a quick start and smarter play which leads to less penalties.

That is much easier said than done, as we know. The Dallas Stars proved last night that they can be a good hockey team and can face adversity head-on when they choose to. It’s all about making that decision and taking the first step forward.

But it hasn’t all been bad. The Stars have shown some very good things in their play as the season has rolled along. Here is to hoping that they keep showing those good things as the next quarter starts.