The four-game road trip is over and the Dallas Stars are flying high with a 3-0-1 streak. This current points streak is giving them something that every NHL team wants at this point in the season: confidence.
The Dallas Stars turned in an impressive 3-0-1 record this past week on their four-game road trip. Raise your hand if you ever thought you would read those words following the trip.
It’s no secret that the Stars have struggled away from the AAC this season. Prior to the trip, Dallas owned a subpar 8-11-2 record when playing on the road. And after dropping a flat 4-1 loss to Colorado last Saturday, the hopes of an ultimately successful trip were a bit slim.
All of that doubt it gone now, though. The Dallas Stars started the stretch off with a “storybook” 3-2 overtime win against the Boston Bruins. The B’s carried a 9-0-3 streak into the game, but Dallas found a way to slip out a gritty win over one of the league’s hottest teams.
Around 30 hours later, they traveled to Detroit for a matchup with the Red Wings. Though Detroit is struggling this season, the Stars made sure not to take them lightly. They finished the Wings off in a dominant 4-2 fashion and only allowed 15 shots in the entire game.
Dallas Stars
Then came their biggest test against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night. The Stars had already lost to Columbus once this season back on January 2 and were trying to split the season series. Though they couldn’t pull out the win, they fought back in the final minutes to tie the game at 1-1 and claim a point before losing in the shootout.
But the Stars bounced back from the loss in a big way on Saturday afternoon in Buffalo. They throttled the Sabres 7-1 and showed little signs of fatigue, error, or mercy in their play.
Besides an odd bounce that led to a power play goal by Buffalo, everything went right for the Stars. Three of the four lines tallied goals and the Stars received incredible depth scoring from players like Mattias Janmark, Remi Elie, Radek Faksa, and Tyler Pitlick. They went 3/4 on the penalty kill and 1/3 on the power play. Kari Lehtonen was spectacular, stopping 26/27. And finally, John Klingberg only further solidified his spot in the Norris Trophy race by tallying three points and a +4 rating.
Overall, they showed signs of a team that will do anything to win. And that’s what makes this road trip so special for them.
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With the second half of the season well underway, things are getting down to the nitty gritty. Every point matters considering how tight the Central Division standings are, and the Stars are taking that to heart.
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They had struggled on the road early in the season, but showed no signs of uncertainty on this trip. They bounced back from a tough home loss against a Central Division opponent and are now on an impressive run.
The Dallas Stars have something brewing right now, and it’s definitely special. They are giving an extraordinary amount of effort in each game and scrapping for each point. And it doesn’t matter who the competition is: the Stars are taking each game in the same light and bringing the same intensity. That’s an important quality to have for teams that want to play past game 82.
With the win, the Stars are now just one point out of both second and third place in the Central Division. They are also two points out of first and have a commanding lead with the first wild card spot.
It’s unsure of how things will go through the rest of the season considering the mass amount of talented teams in the playoff race. But if the Stars keep playing well and digging for points in each game, that’s all they can do.
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And if they keep playing like they have over the past six days, playoffs should be no problem at all. What a finish to a long week.