The Dallas Stars are staring down another tough week ahead as they continue a five-game road trip. Before heading to Florida, however, they held practice in Frisco on Monday morning. Here’s the Monday rundown.
Things are tightening up for the Dallas Stars with less than two months remaining in the 2018-19 regular season.
Dallas opened up the month of February with a six-game point streak, going 5-0-1 from Jan. 19 to Feb. 7. The 11 of a possible 12 points against some of the better teams in the NHL (Nashville, Winnipeg, Minnesota, etc.) helped push the Stars into third place in the Central division and seemingly had them within striking distance of the Nashville Predators.
That momentum took a step backwards on Saturday afternoon as Dallas dropped a 3-2 contest to the Arizona Coyotes. The loss pushed the Stars to 0-1-1 on their current five-game road trip and left them in unfamiliar territory after three weeks of consistent success. Somehow, even after weeks of success, the loss seemed to put Dallas in a tight spot.
That spot grew even tighter on Sunday when the St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, and Chicago Blackhawks all picked up points in the Central division standings. As a result, the Dallas Stars now own a narrow two-point lead over the surging Blues for third in the division and are ten points back of the Predators for second. They are also only six points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks, who currently sit last in the division.
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The developments from this past weekend create an odd situation for the Stars. They are arguably on their most impressive stretch of the season and yet, they seem to be in more danger than ever before in the playoff race.
And that’s what makes this upcoming week so important. With the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline two weeks away and Dallas sitting in the midst of the playoff race, the time is now to decide what their immediate future could look like.
That all starts with the next three games. As the back half of a five-game road trip that began last Thursday, the Dallas Stars will be in the Eastern Conference for a three-game stretch in the week ahead. They start things off on Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers, follow it up on Thursday night against the NHL-best Tampa Bay Lightning, and wrap the trip up on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s a critical week. One or two losses could push Dallas out of the playoff picture with the way the West is trending. A handful of wins, on the other hand, could create some separation for the Stars and get them back in a position to challenge for second place. Either way, the need for success is prevalent.
Before heading out on this crucial trip, however, the Stars were in Frisco for practice on Monday morning. And as they gear up to continue the swing, there is plenty to catch up on.
Here is the Monday rundown.
Bishop still not ready
During a 5-4 victory against the Arizona Coyotes last Monday in which he stopped 38 of 42 shots, Ben Bishop “tweaked” something. This tweak was eventually categorized as an upper-body injury and wasn’t made out to be anything serious.
Three days later, Anton Khudobin started for the Stars’ in the first game of their road trip at Nashville. His start was predetermined due to obvious reasons (mainly being his 2-0-0 record and .989 save percentage at Bridgestone Arena), but the Stars recalled Landon Bow to serve as a backup after deeming Bishop unable to fill the role.
SenShot
The public hope was that following Khudobin’s start in Nashville, Bishop would be able to start against the Coyotes on Saturday. But once Saturday afternoon rolled around, Bishop was still considered unable to play, which led to Khudobin starting in his second straight game.
On Monday morning, Bishop once again was not on the ice for practice. It was revealed following the skate that the goalie was still not ready to return and that Dallas wanted to be as careful as possible with their starter. The hope is that Bishop will be able to play against Tampa Bay on Thursday or Carolina on Saturday.
This is a smart move by the Stars. Last season, Dallas lost Bishop to injury during the month of March. Upon rushing him back after two weeks, the goaltender quickly re-injured himself and spent the rest of the season on injured reserve.
With the Dallas Stars currently holding a decent position in the playoff race, there’s no need to rush Bishop back and do further damage. Khudobin has done an outstanding job as the backup this season and has even given the Stars a “1A-1B” option in the crease.
Playing it safe is the best way to play situations like this. We’ll see where Bishop stands in the days ahead, but Khudobin will get the Eastern Conference swing started off against the Panthers on Tuesday night.
Polak back in action
After being boarded from behind and exiting the game midway through the first period on Saturday, Stars defenseman Roman Polak was back on the ice at practice. He was cleared from concussion protocol and seems to be fine.
He is expected to play tomorrow night in Florida.
Let the line juggling continue
After putting together a gutsy lineup combination on Jan. 19 against the Winnipeg Jets that turned into a 4-2 win, it looked as though the Stars had finally found a winning combination.
Jamie Benn – Radek Faksa – Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano – Jason Dickinson – Jason Spezza
Denis Gurianov – Roope Hintz – Brett Ritchie
This lineup on offense led Dallas to five straight victories and put them back in the thick of the Central division playoff race.
But on Thursday night, Stars head coach Jim Montgomery made some in-game adjustments in an attempt to get his offense going against the Predators. Two days later, he returned to his trusted lineup to start the game against the Coyotes; but by the end of it, he had juggled them yet again.
On Monday morning, the Dallas Stars had a new look altogether on offense.
Roope Hintz – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov
Jamie Benn – Jason Dickinson – Blake Comeau
Andrew Cogliano – Jason Spezza – Brett Ritchie
Mattias Janmark – Radek Faksa – Valeri Nichushkin
While the defensive lineup is expected to look the same as it always does, this offensive combination could shift the Stars’ output. While Seguin and Radulov, Benn and Comeau, and Cogliano and Spezza are sticking together, each line will welcome in a new member. That leaves the door open for both success and dysfunction for a Dallas Stars team that has been searching for offensive consistency since the beginning of the year.
Hintz adds speed to the top line, Dickinson adds size and a two-way approach to the second line, Ritchie provides a physical punch to the offensive-minded Cogliano and Spezza, and Nichushkin’s return to the lineup will round out a youthful fourth line.
Shortly after practice ended, the Stars hopped a plane bound for Sunrise.
And on Tuesday night at 6 p.m., we’ll see how these new developments affect a Dallas Stars team in need of valuable points.