Dallas Stars: The Ups, Downs, And In-Betweens Of October 2018

The Downs

While the positives do bring encouragement and positivity to the team and their outlook, there were a fair share of things that didn’t go according to plan.

Here are some things that didn’t work in the Stars’ favor and helped contribute to their five losses in the first month.

Struggling On The Road

When you take away the two straight road wins in early November, the Dallas Stars’ road game looks like a problem. And considering we are talking about only October, let’s assess their road problems.

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The Stars went 1-3-0 when away from home during October. That is a small sample size; but when you look at each game, you can see the problems.

In their three losses, the Stars were outscored 11-3. That includes being shutout by the New Jersey Devils and giving up at least three goals in each game. They even lost to the Detroit Red Wings, who owned the worst record in the NHL at the time.

They went winless on a back-to-back trip and consistently fell short against teams that they had the strength to beat. It looked to be more of a mental issue than anything, but Dallas couldn’t seem to get it right.

Their 4-1 win in Montreal at the end of the month has now translated into three straight road wins, and they finally seem to be going in the right direction after two straight seasons of road woes.

But through October, things definitely looked bleak.

Superstars Were Surprisingly Inconsistent

Through the first four games of the season, it looked as though the Dallas Stars would be dealing with the exact same offensive problems as they had trudged through in 2017-18. Those problems had to do with one-dimensional production.

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Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and John Klingberg combined for 14 goals and 31 points through the first four games of the season. Those are insane numbers, if you couldn’t already tell. 82.4 percent of the Stars’ goals in games 1-4 came from one of the names above.

But then, all of a sudden, there was a transition. The depth scoring all of a sudden became relevant and consistent, but the top dogs fell off in an unusual way.

In the final seven games of the month, the four names mentioned above only combined for three goals and 11 points. That’s only 17.6 percent of the team’s total goals. As a result, the Stars went 3-4-0 with their bottom three lines carrying the load.

So, where did it all go? That’s the question. The Stars’ superstar players hit a slump, which isn’t natural. Now, they have contributed two goals and five points in the first two games of November, so that could signal a turnaround. But the final few games of October were just odd not seeing Seguin, Benn, Radulov, or Klingberg littering the scoresheets.

Injuries Hurt

This one isn’t one that the Dallas Stars can control, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t holding them back.

In the first month of the regular season, the Stars had to play without starting defenseman Stephen Johns. Connor Carrick exited the lineup after suffering a lower-body injury in Detroit. Marc Methot was in and out of the lineup with a sore knee. And to top it all off, the Stars have been without superstar winger Alexander Radulov in six of the past seven games.

The injuries are dealing the Stars a certain dose of adversity, and they have responded rather well for the most part. But it’s always tough thinking about where this team could be with a fully healthy roster through one month.