There’s no such thing as Thanksgiving Break for the Dallas Stars this year, who have a rough schedule the next two weeks as they play seven out of eight on the road.
The Dallas Stars will play five games in seven days this week, including two back-to-backs.
After that, they’ll take off two days before another back-to-back.
Let’s break down the schedule and see how they can try to come out of November still in a playoff spot while also dealing with injuries.
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Today, they play the Islanders in a matinee game, then the Rangers tomorrow night. Luckily, this pair of games doesn’t involve the team traveling, so it’s a little easier on them. It’s also nice because today is an earlier game and they flew in yesterday, making it not as bad as it could be.
Both the Rangers and the Islanders were supposed to miss the playoffs, but now they’re both sitting in a playoff spot while the Eastern Conference is certainly not shaking out how people expected.
The Stars swept both teams last season, so a repeat of that would be nice, but even coming out of New York with three points would be great.
After they leave New York, they’re headed to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Normally, Pittsburgh is a talented team that’s hard to beat, but they’ve fallen hard this season and now they’re last in the East with a 7-8-3 record. That said, this is still a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, so it’s not like it’s going to be an easy victory, but the Stars can certainly win this one.
The Stars return to Dallas for one game on Friday, when they’ll take on Ottawa. They lost to them on the road a few weeks ago, but hopefully the Stars can change that outcome for the home crowd.
After the game against Ottawa, the Stars will head up to Colorado for a game the next night. That’s a much rougher back-to-back than the pair of New York games, since it’s the fifth game in seven nights, involves travel, and is going into Denver where the Stars have often struggled.
It’s hard to imagine this team will come out flying against the Avs on Saturday night, but if they’ve picked up six or seven points from the other four games, that’s fine. The Stars don’t need to win every game, and if that’s the one they look terrible in, it’s understandable.
After playing in Colorado, the Stars will get two nights off before they head to Canada. They’ll play Edmonton and Calgary the following Tuesday and Wednesday, and then head to Vancouver for a game on Saturday. The days off next week will certainly be welcome, but the Stars will still have their work cut out for them as they try to beat a few teams that could potentially have an effect on their wild card standings by April.
The Stars will have to rely heavily on Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin here. Both goaltenders have been playing well lately, and the Stars will need that with the three pairs of back-to-backs. Expect Bishop and Khudobin to swap back and forth almost every game, because this is going to be a grueling stretch for them, especially this week.
This team’s got a roster full of injuries, most notably John Klingberg, but they can still pull off a decent record here. That’s especially true if Bishop and Khudobin are on top of their game. It won’t be easy, but it is possible, and if they can come through this schedule in good shape, their playoff chances are looking great.