Dallas Stars Can Play Spoiler On Final Road Trip Of Season

The Dallas Stars may be mathematically eliminated from the playoff race, but the regular season rages on. In their final three games of the season, Dallas can still create a ruckus.

The 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs will not include the Dallas Stars. While that may still come as a shock to you, it’s the mathematical truth now.

The Anaheim Ducks’ overtime win last night sealed the deal on the Stars’ 2017-18 fate. They had their chances and were given plenty of opportunities to earn a playoff spot, but they didn’t cash in at the right time. That’s why they now sit on the outside, looking in for the eighth time in the past ten seasons.

But what else is there to say? The Stars put on a horrific performance in the month of March and became the first ever team in the NHL salary cap era to have 80 points at the 66-game mark and still miss the playoffs. They fatally wounded their playoff hopes with an eight-game losing streak (0-6-2) and fell from third place in the Central Division to 10th in the conference in a matter of three weeks.

It’s an unprecedented collapse that will take some serious mulling over in the offseason. The stage is set for Dallas to have a bounce back year next season after a few offseason changes, but only if they play their cards right. This year, that obviously didn’t happen.

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But before we get to the offseason or next season, we have to get through this year. The Dallas Stars have three more games to get through this season before closing up shop for good. And in those three games, Dallas could still manage to pull off a few things.

After beating the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night to finish out the home portion of their schedule, the Stars will head west for their final three games. Over this final week, Dallas will take on San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles. These are three games against three opponents currently in playoff spots. Seems easy enough, right?

But there’s no reason Dallas cannot pick up some wins along the way and cause some havoc in the standings. After all, the Stars are 1-1-0 against each of these teams this season.

San Jose, Anaheim, and LA are all within four points of each other in the Pacific Division standings right now. They also all have three games remaining in their respective seasons.

The Sharks currently control second place in the Pacific with 98 points, while Anaheim controls third with 95 and LA sits in the first wild card spot with 94. There is still plenty of time for the standings to shift around, and that’s where the Stars come in.

If the Dallas Stars can fend off any of these three teams, it could be a matter of getting home ice advantage or playing the Golden Knights in the first round of the postseason. Depending on how the Stars do in each game, they could end up juggling the Pacific Division standings.