Dallas Stars Facing Their Early Season Struggles In Upcoming Stretch

The regular season struggles of the Dallas Stars are evident. In this upcoming stretch, the Stars will be tested against just about all of them. Will they be able to keep their win streak alive?

It’s game night in Chicago and the Dallas Stars are in a prime position to finally take the reins on their season. They have a lot riding on tonight’s matchup against the Blackhawks and could benefit or suffer greatly from the results.

The Stars are lined up perfectly to secure just their second 3+ win streak of the 2017-18 season. They are currently riding a two game win streak against two Pacific Division squads, being the Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights. Both of those wins came in quite the stellar fashion.

Dallas ended Thanksgiving week with a 6-4 victory over Calgary on Jere Lehtinen’s jersey retirement night. The Stars fell behind on three different occasions during the game but fought back every time. In the third period, they scored three unanswered goals (including a hat trick from Tyler Seguin) to claim the victory. With the win, Dallas negated their loss two nights prior to one of their Central Division rivals, the Colorado Avalanche.

Two nights back, the Dallas Stars hit the road with their dads/mentors to start the two-game trip that they will end tonight. They started off in Vegas against the NHL’s newest (and one of the hottest, for that matter) team. The Golden Knights had already spoiled the Stars’ season opener at the AAC in October and were looking to shut down their bid for consistent performances.

Dallas Stars /

Dallas Stars

But Dallas got the better hand. Behind Radek Faksa’s first career hat trick and Ben Bishop’s shutout, the Stars emerged with a 3-0 victory for their second straight win. It was also just their fourth win of the season away from home.

And now the attention turns to the Windy City, where the Stars and Blackhawks are set to face off for the first time this season. But this game means a lot more than just determining which team has sole control over the first wild card spot (since both teams currently sit at 27 points). This game is one of multiple opportunities for Dallas to get ahead in the near future.

But these next few games aren’t going to be easy. In fact, the next couple of games on the Stars’ schedule will help paint a clear picture of where the team is at. That’s because the Dallas Stars will square off against their biggest weaknesses in the next week and a half.

The Dallas Stars have succeeded in the recent past, but struggled for a majority of the season. That’s why they sit at a record of 13-10-1. Among a few in-play issues, there are two primary factors giving the Stars grief: playing away from home and facing Central Division opponents.

Tonight, they will clash with both of those negatives. They will take on the Blackhawks in hopes of securing just their second Central win of the season. It will also be their first win in the division since October 14th.

Dallas holds an ugly 1-6-0 record against the Central this season and needs to build on it significantly. These next seven days could help specifically with that. The Stars’ next five games are all against Central Division opponents (Chicago x2, Colorado, Nashville, St. Louis). If Dallas can somehow pull out points in at least four of the five, they could come especially close to getting their record back to even at .500.