Despite the Dallas Stars’ meltdown on Sunday, they have a chance to get their mojo back tonight and make moves in the Central Division at the same time.
It feels like it’s been forever since we had some Dallas Stars hockey to watch, but the burn of their last lost is still fresh as ever. And not for any particular reason. The Stars had a hot spell spanning five games before that, and we’re believers that they’ll make it back to that starting tonight.
But sometimes losses like that make you slow your own roll and realize, well gosh, I guess my team isn’t perfect. If it helps, the Blackhawks are having to swallow swallow a much stronger dose of that than we are right now;
Even though it’s okay (and who are we fooling, also actually really healthy) to acknowledge that things go sideways in a super sucky way sometimes, today feels like a great day to dust our hands of that and look forward.
Tonight, the Stars take on the Blues.
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Yes, this has happened before. But there are a few special circumstances involved here that raise the stakes a bit. St. Louis sits in the Central’s third place spot, and if the Stars take home a regulation win tonight, they also get that third place position.
While that’s sweet enough by itself, that would be the perfect way for the Stars to move forward into their next phase, which is comprised of six straight games against Western Conference playoff contenders.
Are we saying that clinching third place before facing these guys would be a helpful intimidation factor? A great morale booster? An ego stroker?
Well, yeah, all of it. The Stars have done a great job at holding down their own morale and forging forward when there wasn’t much of a surviving ego to stroke, and it would be so fortuitous for them to start out what could seem like (under different circumstances) a death march with a pretty big victory.
However, it’s not all in the bag just yet. The Stars and Blues have played three out of their five for this season season, and the Blues have taken the majority with a 2-1-0 record. If we wanna get technical, though, the Stars did win their most recent match against the Blues, which I think is a good indicator that they may have found their stride. But again, nothing in stone.
The Blues are struggling a bit to keep their games contained to regulation time, too. Their most recent game ended in an overtime loss to Nashville, 4-3. This game was a familiar story in which the Blues led by a lot early on and then squandered the lead to a hungrier team in the third and lost it from there. Yep, not a familiar one at all.
It’s safe to say though that this has perhaps gotten into the Blues’ heads and they’re feeling some kind of way about it, as this has been the first time St. Louis has dropped consecutive games since the beginning of January. Maybe they can see the Stars in their rearview? Objects in the mirror are more determined and aggressive than they appear?
Next: Forget Central Top Three, Wildcard Path Is Better For Dallas
Hopefully the Stars will take the home advantage to heart tonight. It’s not like there will be drastic repercussions if they lose. They’ll stay in a wilcard spot and move forward like they would have anyway (and for an extra dose of optimism about this, read the article linked above!). But this chance to move up before moving out is too great of one to squander, I think, and I really hope the Stars are with me on this one.