Dallas Stars Enter Bye Week With Another Difficult Task

The Dallas Stars have the next few days off from the rink while the rest of the NHL plays “catch up” or “get ahead.” This waiting game for Dallas could have some negative results for the team.

It’s time for the Dallas Stars to start the longest week of their season.

After stumping the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 on Saturday afternoon, the Stars entered their week-long break. Every NHL team has a break implemented in their schedule at one point or another throughout the season, and it’s time for Dallas to sit back for a week.

It seems like an easy task, right? Some of the players have taken to vacationing with their few days off. Whether it’s Mexico or California, various Stars players are taking the time to enjoy the sun and get away from the rink.

But there is still a game that must be played, and it’s called the waiting game. And for the Dallas Stars, this may be the toughest game of all.

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars currently sit in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. With the win on Saturday, they gave themselves a bit of an extra cushion in the playoff race. But things are still incredibly tight. Just 11 points separate first place from last place in the Central Division and there’s always a chance for rearrangement.

That rearrangement could very well come this week, and that could leave the Stars in a bit of a compromised position (at least at first glance).

The Stars sit with a record of 24-16-3 and 51 points. That puts them just three points out of third in their division, four points out of second, and six points out of first. So that looks pretty good at the moment.

Things get tricky when you look at the teams below Dallas. Colorado, Minnesota, Anaheim, Chicago, and Calgary all sit within five points of the Stars, and some teams have games in hand on Dallas.

That’s where the waiting game could affect the Stars. As Dallas sits out until next Saturday when they take on the Avalanche in what is shaping up to be a crucial divisional showdown, their standing might take a hit. And there’s a chance that this hit could be a pretty substantial one.

While some of the teams like Colorado and Anaheim are also on their bye weeks at the moment, the other teams are trudging along. With their bye weeks scheduled later in the month, they have an opportunity to get ahead and even potentially challenge the Stars for their spot. The worst part is that the Stars cannot fight back. All they can do is collect games in hand and hope that the other teams falter.

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In addition to the teams below Dallas scrapping to get into the playoffs, the teams directly above Dallas have a chance to jump ahead. The Blues and Predators only have one game to go before their own bye weeks, but the Jets have three. It’s a chance for these teams to build on their leads on the Stars. That could make it more difficult to push into the top three in the division.

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With all that being said, there is a chance that Dallas could exit their bye week in a more difficult position than they entered in. Having to sit and watch it happen is difficult, but they may have to deal with it.

That’s why coming out of the bye week strong will be even more important. The Stars may have ground to make up or teams to bout with for position. A week long break can cause a team to struggle when trying to get back to playing. But the Stars may not have time to “charge back up.” They could very well need to hit the ground running right out of the break.

While the Dallas Stars will have the tools they need to rally back with the games in hand that they will have accumulated, they will run into a bit of a tough schedule to start off the week with Colorado, Boston, and Columbus all coming into contact.

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The waiting game is never a fun one, especially for a team filled with so much energy. But depending on how the standings play out, it will be interesting to see if the Stars can keep that energy going come Saturday night.