On short rest and in need of something positive, the Dallas Stars are in Toronto tonight to face the Maple Leafs. But the challenge they are up against seems to have the odds stacked against them.
The month of January was good to the Dallas Stars.
From winning two of their first three games of the month at home to going 4-0-1 in the middle stretch, the Stars further built their case to be a competitor in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But there were some kinks in the month, too.
One of those kinks came towards the end of the month. The Stars lost their final two games in January and entered February with a narrow one-point lead on the first wild card spot. Of those losses, one came against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Though Dallas outshot the Leafs 40-29, they fell victim to their stagnant power play and lack of generating quality opportunities. The Stars dropped a 4-1 decision at the hands of backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney and entered February with doubt and a long road ahead.
Dallas Stars
Fast forward to today and there’s a lot to take in. The Dallas Stars dropped a 4-2 contest against the Montreal Canadiens last night and fell out of the first wild card spot. They now sit in the second spot with only two points separating them from the outside of the playoff wall.
In other words, not much has changed. Two consecutive losses have Dallas hanging in the playoff race by a hair and in need of a quick resurgence. But with only 12 games to go in the regular season, something needs to be done and fast. The Stars have no room for error and need to get back on the winning track to close out their 2017-18 year.
And now they are right back where their end-of-January woes began. The Stars are in Toronto tonight to square off with the Maple Leafs, and they are facing quite the uphill battle. With that being said, Dallas has a lot to take on.
The Maple Leafs (40-22-7) are closing out a brief two-game homestand tonight after defeating the Penguins 5-2 on Saturday night. They have won ten straight contests at home, dating back to Jan. 31. Not only that, but they currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division and are making a strong push to the playoffs without their best center in Auston Matthews, who was injured on Feb. 22.
But the way the Leafs are currently going about things is almost unbelievable.
Toronto Maple Leafs
When you make your way through the NHL statistics page, one thing seems to stand out: Toronto’s strength. Here are just a few of the Leafs’ impressive stats so far this season:
Goals For: 3.22 (6th place)
Goals Against: 2.83 (12th place)
Power Play Percentage: 21.8 percent (6th place)
Penalty Kill Percentage: 82.7 percent (6th place)
Face-off Win Percentage: 51.6 percent (7th place)
With less than 20 games to go in the regular season, the Maple Leafs are in the top ten in most of the major statistic categories. That’s not easy to do. For example, while the Stars are in the top five in goals against per game average, they are in the bottom half of the league in goals for per game.
So yes, the Leafs are a very good team. They put together a solid run last season after a long rebuilding phase and are now working on taking it one step further this season. They have points in seven of their past nine games (5-2-2) and are heating up at the right time.
The Dallas Stars will have to find a way through them tonight while on short rest. Their offense is stalling and the penalty kill went flat last night. Those will have to take a significant step forward tonight. Their defense/goaltending and power play have looked good recently, but they will still need to be on top of their own respective games as well for the Stars.
This is a must-win game for a Stars team that has had little to no success over the past ten days. It’s not an ideal situation to be in, but Dallas will have to make do with what they have.
Next: Stars Must Take Advantage Of The Pressure And Grow From It
Another chance to see just what the Dallas Stars are made of as they go up against one of the Eastern Conference’s big dogs. Tune in at 6 p.m. to see it all unfold from the Air Canada Centre.