Dallas Stars: Central Division Standings Provide Playoff Race Pressure

The playoff race is heating up in the Western Conference with two months to go in the regular season. In the Central division, however, the race is already airtight. That should provide some serious pressure and motivation for the Dallas Stars down the stretch.

There’s a scene in the film The Dark Knight Rises that always sticks out to me whenever I watch the movie. And, if you’ve seen the movie before, you’ll likely know what I’m talking about.

There’s a scene early on in the movie where Batman meets up Bane in the sewers of Gotham City. Batman has been hunting Bane for the first part of the film and, upon running into him, finds out that Bane knows plenty about him, including his secret identity and his backstory that led to him assuming the role of the masked vigilante and unadopted hero of Gotham.

The two eventually square off in hand-to-hand combat, and Batman quickly finds out that Bane is stronger and more skilled.

At one point in the brawl, Batman throws a punch that Bane suppresses entirely using one hand. As he is restraining Batman from landing the blow, he says, “Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.” 

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Take that in for a minute. The quote was directed at the fact that Batman had fallen victim to his own complacency. After defeating the Joker a few years prior, the city of Gotham had fallen into peacetime, leaving him with no worthy challenger to keep him sharp and on his toes. As a result, he crumbled at the hands of Bane, a new foe with a witty plan and plenty of strength that was prepared to outdo Batman in almost every way.

And if the Dallas Stars aren’t careful, they could very well find themselves in the same situation as Batman: allowing recent victories and a cushion to lead to their downfall. That all has to do with how the Central division standings are panning out.

Now, the Central has long since been regarded as the toughest division in the NHL. Since the league realigned in 2013-14, the Central has seemingly reigned supreme. That’s largely due to the impressive balance within the division.

For instance, the Central is the only division in the NHL where every team has qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs at least twice in the past five seasons. It’s the only division where a different team has won the regular season title each year since 2013-14, a trend that will likely continue this season if the Winnipeg Jets stand their ground.

It’s the division that witnessed and endured the final years of the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty. It’s also the division that has seen Nashville rise to NHL superiority with a 2017 appearance in the Stanley Cup Final and a President’s Trophy in 2018.

Last season, the Central owned a remarkably high combined goal differential of +143 while the other divisions all posted negative marks (Pacific: -31, Metropolitan: -31, Atlantic: -81). This year, it’s one of only two divisions with a positive combined goal differential at +28.

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Simply put: it’s a division loaded with competition, close races, and frenetic action from top to bottom. The offenses are explosive, the defenses are remarkably sound, and the goaltending is top-notch. And when it comes to the playoff race, there’s never a stale moment or a lack of competitors.

“I think that’s what we say about the Central,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said on Feb. 1. “Everyone talks about how it’s gotta be the hardest division in the league, if not sports. But when you come down to the last 30 games or so, you’re playing playoff games already.”

The Dallas Stars lost a 3-2 contest to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday afternoon. The loss ended a six-game point streak for Dallas and pushed the Stars to 28-22-5 on the season with 61 points. Their position in the standings remained unchanged, however, as Dallas retained control of third place in the Central division.

But, as you take a look at the divisional picture, something becomes apparent: the Central race is becoming tighter. And that’s not just for a handful of teams; it’s for the entire division.

Here’s a quick look at the Central division rankings as of Sunday morning:

Winnipeg and Nashville have been racing ahead for first and second place for a handful of weeks now, but spots 3-7 have yet to be determined. And by the looks of it, they are far from being solidified. For a Dallas Stars team that is 7-6-2 against the division this season, that’s important.

As of now, there are eight points separating the Stars in third place from the Chicago Blackhawks in last place. That’s a Blackhawks team that is currently riding a six-game win streak that could be seven if they can defeat a struggling Detroit Red Wings team on Sunday.

Just above them sits the Colorado Avalanche with 54 points. While the Avs have slipped rapidly over the past few weeks, they are still in the hunt and capable of making things more interesting in the race.

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There’s also the St. Louis Blues, who currently possess the second wild card spot in the West after sitting outside of the playoff picture for the past few months. Once assumed to be left for dead, the Blues have won five in a row and are riding a 9-2-1 tear that has helped them climb back into the fight.

The Stars hopped the Minnesota Wild nine days ago with a 3-1 victory to put Dallas back in the top three of the division. But, after a win against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, the Wild now rest just two points back of Dallas.

In the Pacific division, 15 points separate third place from last; in the Metropolitan, there’s a 17-point spread between third and the bottom. Heck, 22 points currently separate the third-place Montreal Canadiens from the eighth-place Ottawa Senators in the Atlantic.

Other divisions have already created separation, at least between the top three and the rest of the pack. But in the Central, there is still plenty of potential juggling to be done. There doesn’t even seem to be enough space to breathe in the standings.

And that’s exactly why the Dallas Stars cannot afford to fall into the same fate as Batman.

The Stars have enjoyed some immense success over the past three weeks. Since Jan. 19, they are 5-1-1, picking up 11 of a possible 14 points. During that time, they defeated teams like the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, and Minnesota Wild. They built one of the longest win streaks in the NHL, found a way to outdo every opponent and situation they faced, and surged into third place in the Central.

And yet, that victory could still very much defeat them in the end.

The divisional standings are still airtight. Unlike around the rest of the NHL, the Central division is up for grabs.

This is a spot where the Dallas Stars cannot afford to get complacent. There are 27 games remaining in their regular season campaign, and a lot can happen. They built a hot streak over the past few weeks, but so did most of the division. A few days ago, the Stars had a multi-game lead on third place. Now, the Wild and Blues are within immediate striking distance after one Dallas loss.

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The win streak was nice, but the Stars cannot let that “peace” cost them their strength during the most important span of the season. They cannot allow their own victory to serve as their ultimate defeat.

With two months to go in the 2018-19 regular season, the race is only just beginning. There’s no telling which teams have surges in store and which teams will hit a skid over the next eight weeks. But one thing is for sure: the final standings in the Central division are far from being determined. With the way the standings are trending, there is a dire need for Dallas to stay alert and continue succeeding on a regular basis. Their season could very well depend on it.

Two or three losses could quickly move Dallas into the bottom half of the division. On the other hand, two or three wins could end up building a sturdy base for them to jump on. It’s all a matter of focusing on their own process and making it work while hoping for a little bit of luck along the way.

“I think we look at the standings fairly often,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said last month. “It’s nicer to look at after a win than it is after a loss; that’s just the way it is. But, I’m always more concerned with how our team is playing and how we’re growing. The frustrating part sometimes is you don’t see enough growth and then you do see growth and you get excited about how good we could be. Trying to get to that level where we start to see what we are on a daily basis is when we’re not going to have to worry about looking at the standings. We’re just going to know where we should be and we’ll be there.”

Will the Dallas Stars rise above the rest? Or will they crumble in the grasp of recent success? We’ll find out through the remainder of this road trip and the rest of the regular season.

They cannot let a good stretch cost them their strength in crunch time. Otherwise, it could be a long and potentially insurmountable climb out of the pit.