The Dallas Stars enter a critical month of February with their backs against the wall. To make matters even more challenging, this month’s schedule will test them in a lot of different ways.
With the All-Star Break out of the way and around 30 games to go, it’s crunch time for the Dallas Stars.
The NHL playoff race is heating up and the Stars are right in the middle of the fire. That could either be really good or really bad, depending on how they play it. But one thing is for sure: the month of February might make or break the Stars.
The month of January had its ups and downs, just like every other month for the Stars this season. Dallas turned in a record of 6-4-1 through the month but only raised more questions throughout the 31-day journey. While the Stars played some quality hockey at points during the month, so did other teams around them. And now that Dallas hit a slump and turned in two consecutive losses to end the month, the other teams are starting to creep up.
The Dallas Stars currently own sole control of the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. But there are four teams just below them that are all within two points of that same spot. So things are pretty tight, to say the least.
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The Stars put together an impressive performance in the first 25 days of January. They won two in a row at home before their week-long break and also went 3-0-1 on their only road trip of the month. But the two losses to close out the first month of 2018 are what’s hurting the team in the standings right now.
But as the focus transitions to the month of February, there’s no time to dwell on the past. That’s because February brings with it a test like nothing this 2017-18 Dallas Stars team has seen before. College football is over, the Super Bowl will wrap up the NFL season this weekend, and then it’s down to basketball and hockey. The focus is shifting and the race is getting more intense by the day.
The Stars kick off their February campaign tonight in Arizona where they will face the Coyotes. It is a brief one-game road trip before the team comes back for two in a row at home. Let’s take a look at the Stars’ February opponents and matchups:
Arizona Coyotes (1 game: away), Minnesota Wild (1 game: home), New York Rangers (1 game: home), Chicago Blackhawks (1 game: away), Pittsburgh Penguins (1 game: home), Vancouver Canucks (1 game: home), St. Louis Blues (1 game: home), San Jose Sharks (1 game: away), Anaheim Ducks (1 game: away), Los Angeles Kings (1 game: away), Winnipeg Jets (1 game: home), Calgary Flames (1 game: home)
Now let’s break this whole thing down.
It’s another quiet month for the Stars, who only play 12 games this month. Last month they played 11 games, but that included a one-week break and the All-Star Break. So it’s another month with a fairly regular amount of games, even though there are only 28 days in the month itself. This is a bit different than playing 15 games in 31 days like they did in December.
Dallas Stars
These games don’t necessarily follow any specific pattern, either. The Dallas Stars play a total of seven home games and five away games during the month of February. This includes both a three-game homestand and three-game road trip, but the rest of the games are scattered and shuffled. The Stars are 17-8-1 at home and 11-11-3 on the road this season.
A large chunk of this month involves games within the conference, with 10 of their 12 games being against the Western Conference. Four of those ten games are against the Central Division. With success against the division being critical at this point in the season, the Stars will need to be in top shape.
Not only that, but the standings race could be vastly affected by this month. Five of the Stars’ ten Western opponents are within five points of Dallas in the standings. Three of them are trailing the Stars by two points or less in the wild card race. With that being said, those games will give Dallas a great opportunity to get ahead or a chance to bury themselves.
Besides Arizona and Vancouver, every other opponent this month is either in the playoff picture or is in the thick of the race. So there’s no room for error for Dallas.
The Dallas Stars will take on two back-to-backs this month, with the first coming February 8-9 (Chicago and Pittsburgh) and the second one coming on February 21-22 (Anaheim and Los Angeles).
Their longest break of the month is a four-day span from February 12-15. That could pose to be a serious problem, considering the Stars have fallen flat in just about every game that follows an extended break this season. Their week-long break (4-1 loss to Colorado) and the All-Star Break (3-0 loss to Los Angeles) are the most recent examples.
The Stars will need to stay focused and make sure that the rest doesn’t get to them. It can become easy to sit back and relax when there is a gap between games, so Dallas will need to stay alert. Good, playoff-bound teams know how to do that.
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Overall, February offers an intense challenge to the Dallas Stars. It will by no means be easy and could very well determine how the playoff picture shapes out. The competition is either at or above their level, and it will be up to them to rise to the occasion.
Time to see what this Stars team is actually made of.