Dallas Stars: Loss To Sharks Puts Team In Dangerous Position

The Dallas Stars have now tied their season-long losing streak at three games after dropping a 3-2 contest in San Jose last night. As a result, they are quickly marching into dangerous territory.

There are certain moments in every Dallas Stars regular season campaign that define the team as a whole. What’s more interesting, though, is that we typically don’t realize the defining moment until we reflect on it at the end of the year.

For the 2013-14 Stars, their moment was digging in through the final month and outlasting the Phoenix Coyotes (as they were called back then) for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. The 2014-15 Stars had two separate five-game losing streaks early in the year that held them back from truly taking the next step.

In 2015-16, the Stars began their year on a relentless 17-4-0 run that ended up earning them both the Central division and Western Conference regular season titles. The 2016-17 Stars lingered in the playoff race until a catastrophic meltdown against the Nashville Predators in February seemingly ended their push. And in 2017-18, it was an eight-game skid in the month of March that singlehandedly removed Dallas from the playoff picture.

Sure, there are some good memories and bad memories. But, each defining moment tells a story about a specific Dallas Stars team.

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So, what will the defining moment of the 2018-19 season be? It’s probably still too early to tell. As mentioned above, it’s hard to pinpoint one until you see the final results of the season.

Through 32 games, however, it seems as though there have been plenty of potential defining moments for the Stars. An early-season plague of injuries and a 6-2-2 stretch throughout November seem to be prime choices so far.

But, another one seems to have emerged over the past few days, and it’s not an entirely pleasant one: a three-game losing streak.

That may not seem like a decisive factor in a season at first glance. After all, the Stars suffered a three-game skid in the first two weeks of the regular season but found a way to bounce back and negate it. Three losses in a row is usually not considered a crippling blow to any hockey team. So, why does it seem like it is for Dallas?

On Sunday evening, the Dallas Stars visited the Vegas Golden Knights to kick off a four-game road trip. After going 2-1-1 on their previous trip and coming off of a 3-2 win over San Jose two days prior, the Stars seemed to be in solid shape. They had won four games in a row (their longest streak of the year) and looked to have their road problems solved.

But after dropping 4-2 to Vegas, 6-3 to Anaheim, and 3-2 to San Jose over the past four days, all of that promise seems to have evaporated.

In Vegas, it was a matter of not playing with a 60-minute effort. In Anaheim, a strong second period was not enough to outweigh a furious comeback by the Ducks in the third. And though they showed effort and determination against the Sharks, a bad odd-man rush against and an unlucky bounce were enough to do them in.

And now, here the Stars sit. They are 16-13-3 on the season with 35 points. They have lost three games in a row and are in danger of going winless on the road trip when they close it out on Saturday against a Colorado Avalanche team that already defeated them a few weeks ago.

This current slump has removed Dallas from the playoff picture as other teams in the West continue to heat up. The Edmonton Oilers seem to have new life under head coach Ken Hitchcock, the Golden Knights are bouncing back after a slow start, and the Minnesota Wild continue to hang around.

A few days ago, the Dallas Stars were above all three of these teams in the wild card race; now, they are at the bottom of the pile.

This is the first time the Stars have been outside of the playoff picture in over a month. And, while there are still 50 games remaining in the regular season, the clock is ticking. The rest of the West is shifting into high gear, making these December games count for even more. And so far, Dallas cannot seem to answer the bell.

At the moment, the Stars sit eight points out of first place in the Central, four points out of third, and two points out of the final wild card spot in the West. These are manageable deficits, but only with positive and consistent forward progress. Over the past five days, the Stars have gone nowhere but backwards.