The win in Florida on Tuesday night was a good first step for the Dallas Stars in terms of regaining their momentum. But if they are aiming to restart their surge going forward, they will need more.
The Dallas Stars defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 on Tuesday night in Sunrise. And while the final score may lead one to believe that it was a substantial victory, the game itself was much closer.
Tyler Seguin tallied a goal to open the scoring in the first period, Esa Lindell capitalized with a goal after some solid puck movement by the Dallas offense in the second, and Seguin wrapped the game up with an empty-net goal in the final minutes of the game.
But the Panthers put forth an admirable effort and even looked to be in charge for parts of the game. Had it not been for a 30-save shutout by Anton Khudobin and a few shots off of the post by Florida, the contest could very well have ended with a different look.
Dallas was outshot 30-19 (including a 12-5 shot difference in the middle frame), only won 37.5 percent of the face-offs, and went 0/2 on the power play. The Stars did some good things, though, including going 4/4 on the penalty kill against one of the NHL’s best power play units and the offense coming up with timely goals.
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Though Florida dominated certain aspects, the Stars did enough to win the game. They are 29-22-5 on the year with 63 points and defended their third place spot in the division with St. Louis surging just behind them.
It was an important win. After losing 3-2 in Arizona on Saturday and falling into their first winless streak (0-1-1) in almost a month, the Stars bounced back and picked up a big victory on the road.
But, it was a first step forward. Outlasting a Florida team desperate to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race is impressive, but the Stars will need more if they want this momentum to carry on and develop.
The Dallas Stars have a five-game stretch coming up against some of the more challenging opponents in the NHL. They will be in Tampa Bay on Thursday night to take on the Lightning, who currently sit atop the league standings with 88 points. Two days later, they will be in Carolina to battle it out with a Hurricanes team just one point out of the Eastern Conference wild card standings right now.
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Following the end of the road trip, Dallas will be back home next week to take on the Nashville Predators (who sit above the Stars in the Central standings), the St. Louis Blues (arguably the hottest team in the NHL right now), and the Hurricanes again.
Simply “doing enough” won’t help the Dallas Stars get the job done over the stretch ahead. It’s a slate of top opponents just as hungry for points as the Stars.
It will be up to Dallas to access their speed and style from the first part of this recent hot streak that led to five wins in a row for the Stars. In those games, they did what was necessary to win and did so in a dominant way. As a result, no opponent or situation seemed too tall of a task.
Tuesday night’s win was a good first step forward for the Dallas Stars in regaining their momentum from the beginning of the month. But there’s a need for a next step starting Thursday night in Tampa Bay. The Stars will be up against the league’s best team and will have to be the ones to set the pace and tempo throughout the game. They did so when the two teams first met up back in mid-January, but still found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 final. Thursday night is an opportunity to use their recent surge and the next step forward in powering ahead to the finish line.
Tuesday night was a nice first move in the right direction. But over the next two weeks, there is a need for more. We’ll see what kind of level the Dallas Stars can reach on Thursday in the bay.