Dallas Stars: Central Division Race Continues Catching Up With Stars
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars took a beating from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. The loss ended up pushing the Stars out of the top three in the Central division and back into the wild card race. It isn’t getting any easier.
After rolling through the beginning of February and building a 6-1-1 streak, the Dallas Stars laid a ghastly 6-0 egg in Tampa, Florida on Thursday night.
Going up against the league’s best team, the Stars couldn’t muster up any sort of scoring and had each one of their mistakes brutally capitalized upon by the Lightning. And though Dallas put up a fight and seemed to generate some momentum at certain points, the writing was on the wall midway through the first period. From there, it only got worse.
And just like that, the Dallas Stars are back in the thick of the wild card race in the Western Conference.
Wait a minute.
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Yes, you read that right. Around 11 p.m. on Thursday night, the Stars were passed up by the St. Louis Blues and shifted back into the first wild card spot in the West.
This is a Stars team with points in seven of their last nine games. It’s a Stars team that has fended off some of the best competition in the NHL over the past month as they search for their true identity. It’s also a Stars team that has turned their midseason struggles into positives as they keep themselves afloat in an ever-so-tight postseason race.
And yet, they are back in the wild card push.
This movement and shuffling is telling of a few different things. For one, it’s a testament to the St. Louis Blues and the rest of the Central division.
A little over one month ago, the Blues sat dead last in the Central division and were a bottom-three team in the NHL. Teammates fighting in practice, the head coach being fired, and falling well short of the bar set for them in the preseason topped the list of troubles that had plagued their franchise through the first half of the year.
But since defeating the Stars on Jan. 12, the Blues are 11-2-1. That includes an eight-game win streak that they currently boast after pummeling the Arizona Coyotes 4-0 on Thursday night.
They are averaging 4.00 goals per game through seven games in February, their defensive play has shored up remarkably with a 1.86 goals against average in the month, and rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington is stealing the show with a record of 11-1-1 as well as a .931 save percentage and 1.69 GAA.
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They are surging at the most important time of the season and have gone from bottom-feeder to postseason challenger.
But they aren’t the only Central division group making a push. The Chicago Blackhawks, who accompanied the Blues at the bottom of the Central a few weeks ago, have won eight of their past nine contests and are just two points out of the final wild card spot in the West. With the Colorado Avalanche in a 1-3-3 slump and the Minnesota Wild on a 1-4-2 skid so far through February, the Central division standings have quickly tightened.
That’s becoming a problem for the Stars, but it’s also become a challenge.
This is one of the most telling times of the year for any NHL team. With only 25 or so games remaining on the schedule, the 2019 Trade Deadline quickly approaching, and the standings becoming inevitably tighter, this is a time that requires Dallas to succeed.
Their recent surge was impressive, but it didn’t gain them much ground; instead, it merely helped them hold steady amongst a handful of other surging teams. As a result, one slip has caused them to lose their footing entirely in the top three of the division.
With the loss behind them, the Stars now sit 29-23-5 on the season with 63 points. That’s the same record as the Blues, though St. Louis holds the upper hand in goal differential. Behind Dallas sits the Wild in the second wild card spot with 59 points. On the other side of the playoff wall, Vancouver boasts 59 points, while Colorado and Chicago sit close behind with 57.
The Central division race is tightening up all the more as the deadline and final few weeks of the season come into focus. It’s a trying time for every NHL team and requires a dive into their own conscience in search of an identity.
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What will the Dallas Stars’ identity be this time around? Will they fall at the hands of the packed division race and crumble down the stretch? Or will they pick themselves up after a tough loss, dust themselves off, and push back at a Blues team that is currently on fire? One thing is for sure: it will be a fight to the finish.
We’ll find out over the next few games.