Dallas Stars: Breaking Down Their Upcoming Five-Game Road Trip
The First Part: Taking On The West
Dallas will start the trip out with two games against Western Conference clubs. Every possible point in a regular season schedule is important, but ones against the Western Conference carry an even more drastic weight with them, especially down the home stretch.
The mothers of various Dallas Stars players and other members of the team will also be in attendance for the first two games of the trip as they get the chance to see what the life of an NHL player is like on the road. In years past, the Stars have brought their dads along for the trip, but this year brings a change with it.
The Stars have a daunting first two steps out of the gate as they see some familiar faces and go for various sweeps.
Game One: Nashville Predators, 2/7, 7 p.m.
Record against this season: 2-0-1
Future meetings: 2/19 in Dallas
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Predlines
It seems like just yesterday that the Dallas Stars were at Bridgestone Arena taking on the Predators. And while “yesterday” is just a little too close of an estimation, it’s also not too far off.
The Stars were in Nashville just five days ago, squaring off with the Predators for the third time in their 2018-19 campaign. It was a Saturday evening showdown that wrapped up a Central division back-to-back for Dallas.
Less than 24 hours before puck drop, the Stars had pulled off a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild in Dallas to move back into third place in the division. The Predators, however, presented a much taller challenge to a tired Stars squad.
But Dallas hung tough, weathering an early assault by the Predators. They picked up goals from Tyler Seguin, Blake Comeau, and Mattias Janmark and saw another masterful performance in net by Anton Khudobin. In his first appearance of the season at Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 27, Khudobin posted a 49-save shutout and set all sorts of new records for both clubs. This time around, he stopped 38/39 as Dallas picked up the 3-1 win to improve their win streak to four.
There was a lot within the game that made it noteworthy. From the Stars bouncing back from an early deficit, to Khudobin and Esa Lindell scrapping with Ryan Hartman, to the physicality and energy stepping up a notch overall, it set the stage for what could be a great divisional rivalry going forward.
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Thursday night’s contest could be another chapter in the saga. The Dallas Stars are starting this road trip in an arena that sells out more often than not and boasts one of the loudest and most aggressive fan bases in the NHL. It’s also an arena that they have yet to lose in, thanks primarily to goaltender Anton Khudobin, who will once again get the start.
Following their loss to the Stars on Saturday, the Predators followed it up with a 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, they also traded for Brian Boyle and Cody McLeod to add size and physicality to their lineup.
For Nashville, it’s a chance to get within one point of the Jets for top honors in the Central. For the Stars, it’s a chance to move within six points of Nashville with two games in hand.
So, there’s a lot on the line. It’s a raucous environment that the Stars could very well end up facing in the first round of the postseason if they qualify. With that being said, there’s no better time to continue preparing for it than the present.
It’s the Stars’ final time in Nashville during the regular season and gives them an opportunity to capitalize in a four-point contest and create more breathing room in the standings race.
But it won’t be easy.
“We expect it to be a hornet’s nest the first 10 minutes,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said after Wednesday’s practice.
Ain’t nothing like a divisional rivalry to kick things off.
Game Two: Arizona Coyotes, 2/9, 3 p.m.
Record against this season: 2-0-0
Future meetings: None
Although the start of the road trip will present the Dallas Stars with a grudge match, Saturday’s showdown offers another tense storyline.
Dallas will travel to Arizona to take on the Coyotes for the first and only time this season. This is a Coyotes squad that, similar to the Predators, Dallas met up with very recently.
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Puck Prose
The Stars welcomed Arizona to the AAC on Monday night and secured a 5-4 win to push their streak to five. But the game could have gone either way with just a handful of minutes left.
As part of a third period that saw six combined goals scored by both clubs, the Stars turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead in a mere 71 seconds. Minutes later, the Coyotes notched two goals in 61 seconds to make deadlock the game at 4-4. Tyler Seguin scored the eventual game winner with 7:32 remaining in the period, but there was no real certainty as to who would win until the final buzzer sounded. It was a back-and-forth effort between a Stars team looking to continue their surge and a Coyotes team in desperate need of points to stay competitive in the playoff race.
This Saturday should provide a similar opportunity for both clubs. Dallas will be aiming for the series sweep against the Coyotes and will look to keep striding forward in the playoff race. Meanwhile the Coyotes, who dropped a 5-2 loss to the Predators on Tuesday and have a matchup with Columbus on Thursday night, will look to keep themselves alive in the chase. They sit at a record of 23-25-5 and are three points back of the final wild card spot with a game in hand.
Monday night’s game involved a rollercoaster of emotions and intensity. Will Saturday’s showdown provide a similar storyline.
The Second Part: Heading East
Following a tough two-game stretch against Western Conference playoff contenders, the Dallas Stars will get two days off before hitting the ice again.
But after the moms have gone home and the results of the first two games have settled in, it’s off to the Eastern Conference for the next week. And while the competition will provide a bit of a mixed bag, the challenges will be prevalent.
Game Three: Florida Panthers, 2/12, 6 p.m.
Record against this season: 0-0-0
Future meetings: 3/19 in Dallas
The Florida Panthers are always a mystery. On the one hand, they are 21-22-8 on the season and sit a substantial 11 points away from the final wild card spot in the East. But, on the other hand, they recently made a trade for veteran forwards Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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The Rat Trick
And though they seem to be out of the postseason race at the moment, the Panthers finished the 2017-18 season on an 18-5-2 note and fell just one point short of qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
One year they will miss the playoffs by a wide margin, but will follow with an Atlantic division title in the next year. Who knows. It’s always an adventure with the Panthers, making it difficult to ever fully count them out.
That’s why this could become a trap game for the Dallas Stars if they aren’t careful. The Panthers have been on a bit of a hot streak lately, winning four of their last six contests. But with games against Pittsburgh, Washington, and Tampa Bay before their matchup with the Stars, Florida could very well approach next Tuesday on a losing note.
Their offense is a top-13 unit in the league and they own the third-best power play in the NHL. Their defense, however, has struggled all year with keeping the puck out of the net.
Florida has all the makings of being a surprise team that can turn the corner at any moment. Then again, they could just as easily implode and sink into the NHL cellar.
Either way, the Stars will need to stay focused in the third stop of the trip.
Game Four: Tampa Bay Lightning, 2/14, 6:30 p.m.
Record against this season: 0-1-0
Future meetings: None
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Bolts by the Bay
The Dallas Stars met up with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the American Airlines Center less than one month ago. And in that first meeting of the year, the Stars did a lot of things right. But they still found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 decision at the end of the game.
Dallas outshot Tampa Bay 35-21, unloaded an offensive assault in the final 40 minutes, and looked like the more determined team. And yet, they lost.
That’s a testament both to how good the Lightning are as a team as well as how far Dallas was from being able to outdo the best.
Now, is this Dallas Stars team better than they were on Jan. 15 when they played the Lightning? There’s an argument to be made that they are better by a substantial margin. But, this is the best team in the league that we are talking about. Tampa Bay is 39-11-3 through 53 games and owns a record of 20-5-1 on home ice this season. Their offense is electric, their defense is strategic, and their goaltending is difficult to penetrate.
That makes for a tough mountain for any team to try and climb. But for the Stars, it provides a measuring stick to see where their compete level sits. Are they a stronger and more capable team now than they were last month? Can they run with the top team in the NHL while on the road?
There’s a lot of questions to be answered before next Thursday’s game, and how the Stars do in these first three contests could determine their mindset going into game four. But Tampa Bay will provide the best possible test in determining how well this Dallas Stars team and their new strategy can succeed in this league.
Game Five: Carolina Hurricanes, 2/16, 7 p.m.
Record against this season: 0-0-0
Future meetings: 2/23 in Dallas
The Stars will round out their 10-day excursion next Saturday evening with a showdown against the Carolina Hurricanes.
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Cardiac Cane
Currently boasting the longest playoff drought in the NHL at nine seasons, the Hurricanes have been desperately searching for a winning recipe over the past few years. They have come close on various occasions, but have always come up short.
This year, they once again find themselves in a promising position. After making some offseason and in-season trades (including for Nino Niederreiter and Dougie Hamilton) to boost their offense and defense, the Canes find themselves sitting at 26-21-6 through 53 games and just three points out of the final wild card spot in the East.
As a result, this game could carry a similar vibe as the contest against Arizona. Between now and the matchup, Carolina will face the Sabres, Rangers, Devils, Senators, and Oilers. Those are five teams all currently outside of the playoff picture, giving the Hurricanes a chance to gain some ground against struggling teams. Their game against the Stars will be the second leg of a back-to-back that begins with Edmonton on Friday, but both games will take place at PNC Arena, meaning there will be no travel involved.
If they can build momentum going into the game next Saturday, it could pose a heavy challenge for a Dallas team that will likely be focused on the light at the end of the tunnel after a long trip.
The Stars split their season series with Carolina last year and are 7-3-0 against them since the 2013-14 season.
But the last game of a road trip can sometimes be the most difficult part of the journey. Need proof? In road swings this season that have been longer than one game, the Stars are 1-5-0 in the final contest before returning home.
On top of that, the last game of a road trip can sometimes define how the trip as a whole pans out. After all, a 4-1-0 trek sounds a lot better than a 3-2-0 trek, just as 3-2-0 sounds a lot better than 2-3-0.
The Dallas Stars are staring down one of the final large hurdles in their race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Playing on the road has been one of the team’s more consistent weaknesses this season, and this upcoming trip presents plenty of potential obstacles.
Playoff teams know how to win both at home and on the road. And right now, there’s a need for the Stars to continue generating momentum as they try and build on their current hot streak. In the upcoming swing, they will have a chance to do that against some top teams in the league, some teams on the playoff wall, and some teams striving to stay in the race.
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A five-game road trip over the next 10 days. Plenty of possible ups and downs. Let’s see what the Dallas Stars make of it.