Dallas Stars Showing Some Serious Grit Down The Stretch
The Dallas Stars have been powering through lots of odds lately. And their timing couldn’t be better.
When the odds are against us, sometimes we can make ourselves feel better by coming up with excuses before we even know the outcome. It gives us something to fall back on, to make us feel as though we saved our efforts for something we had more chances of succeeding at. Excuses keep us from feeling responsible and disappointed.
I used to do this a lot when it came to the Dallas Stars. If you’re like me, you’d make excuses about why they were predisposed to not do well in a certain circumstance. So when they bombed (like in 2016-17), it was the expected outcome and I was well prepared.
Well, the Stars we’ve come to know in recent days have not needed any of our excuses. Last night’s overtime win against the Penguins seemed like the exclamation point on the new team manifesto the Stars have been working out in their play.
While recently going through my settling in process for a recent game viewing (piling blankets on the couch, accumulating various snacks, congregating everything I could need around me so I wouldn’t have to move for the rest of the night, that kind of stuff), I started thinking about which aspect of the Stars’ game was most responsible for their successes this season.
Dallas Stars
Goaltending? Depth scoring? Defense? You can’t narrow it down to any one of these categories, because the biggest improvement the Stars have made this season is making all these categories work well and work together.
Take it a step further: the biggest improvement the Dallas Stars have made this season is sticking to their mental game in all these categories, even when the odds are against them. Long story short, the Stars are ditching their need for excuses.
The Stars’ victory over the Blackhawks, for me, was one of their most telling of the season. In their last meeting of the season, Dallas had the chance to sweep their season series with Chicago for the first time since the 2005-2006 season. It wasn’t a particularly pretty or dominating win. The Stars had to fight for everything they got in a rough, physical, grubby game.
But the key against Chicago was that they fought and they fought hard. Despite some ill-advised Stars penalties and some concerning injuries during the game, the Stars never checked out. Their second period was the strongest, but the Stars stayed in it right up until the end, when Seguin scored an empty netter to put them even further on top.
Then when the Stars came back to the AAC, I made a mental excuse for them again. They got back in to Dallas late enough that morning that the outcome of the game seemed inevitable. But the Stars demonstrated once again that they have no more room for enabling or excuses.
The Penguins seemed the stronger team coming in, and the Stars barely held on in the first period, but came back strong and jumped right back on top in the third. When things went to the shootout, Tyler Seguin came up big and pushed the Stars into the win column for their fifth straight win.
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For two games back-to-back, the Dallas Stars proved that their personnel were all in and refusing to say die. Goaltending seems better than ever, with Ben Bishop holding strong against the Blackhawks and Kari Lehtonen with a stellar and determined performance against the Penguins.
It’s become a thing of beauty to keep up with the Stars stats recently. If you’re keeping a keen eye on assists, it becomes that much more obvious that Dallas has established a harmonious team effort that involves everyone.
That’s making it difficult to evaluate what the Stars’ weak link is now. We have a team that is fighting and determined to keep doing so. Defenders like Stephen Johns, Dan Hamhuis, and of course, John Klingberg, who are making the Stars’ two-way efforts truly intimidating.
Depth forwards like Radek Faksa, Tyler PItlick, and Antoine Roussel, who have shown up and played like first liners. And of course, guys like Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Alexander Radulov, who are letting everyone play their parts and filling in with exactly what the Stars need when they need it most. More of a functioning tandem goaltending situation than the Stars ever tried to have before.
Dare I say it- things are gelling for the Dallas Stars, and not at all due to any lucky stars. This team is winning out of sheer will to do so, and it’s the version of the Stars that I think we hoped this offseason that we would see, and that we’ve hoped in seasons past would become a reality.
Next: Three Reasons Stars Should Stay Quiet At Trade Deadline
With playoffs growing ever closer, the Stars are on a streak that’ll lead them straight to the offseason is they continue to keep their heads down and their games gritty.