A humbling road trip for the Dallas Stars came to a close on Saturday night with a loss in Carolina. As a result, they have watched their comfortable lead in the standings diminish and push them into the wild card race. It’s just another dose of adversity to endure in their twisting 2018-19 campaign.
You could make a serious argument that the Dallas Stars deserved to win their Saturday night contest against the Carolina Hurricanes. But then again, there’s an argument to be made that they didn’t.
The Stars controlled the tempo and pace for most of the game, generated quality offensive zone time, and finished the night with a 33-27 advantage in shots and plenty of high-danger chances at the net.
But that was in the final 50 minutes. Through the first 10 minutes, it was all Hurricanes. Carolina was quick out of the gate, pushing their transition game and playing quick with the puck while the Stars struggled to keep up. That turned into goals for Justin Williams and Brock McGinn and pushed the Hurricanes into a commanding 2-0 position. Mix that with a stellar showing from Petr Mrazek and a late power play goal from Micheal Ferland and you get a 3-0 Hurricanes victory.
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And, just like that, the Dallas Stars wrapped up a five-game road trip on an incredibly somber and humbling note.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Stars were riding a five-game win streak, had ascended to third place in the Central division, and looked like a team poised to finish near the front of the Western Conference playoff race. In fact, it’s only been 13 days.
Since then, however, things have changed substantially. The St. Louis Blues are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games. Chicago is 8-2-0. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild are 3-4-3 in their last 10 and Colorado has only won one game since Jan. 21.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars responded to a 5-0-0 surge with a 1-3-1 road trip over the past 10 days.
All of that has combined to dramatically alter the Central division landscape. One month ago, the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks were at the bottom of the conference alongside the struggling Los Angeles Kings. At the same time, the Wild were in the top three of the division standings and the Avalanche and Stars were vying for the two wild card spots in a loaded race.
Now, the script has flipped. The Blues now sit in third place, the Blackhawks are only three points out of the final wild card spot, the Avalanche are plummeting, and the Wild are barely holding steady in the wild card picture.
So, where does that leave the Stars? In the first wild card spot with a record of 29-24-5 with 63 points through 58 games played. They’re two points out of third place in the division with a game out of hand.
They’ve got another disappointing road trip to thank for their recent demise.
It all started in Nashville on Feb. 7. The Stars were gunning for a third consecutive win against their budding divisional rival, with all three potentially coming at Bridgestone Arena. And though they made a valiant push and showed some bright spots in their execution, they couldn’t close the game out in overtime and fell 3-2.
Blackhawk Up
Two days later, they were in Arizona to take on a Coyotes team fighting to stay in the postseason picture. They had defeated the Coyotes just six days earlier at the American Airlines Center to cap off their five-game win streak and were aiming for the season sweep. But Arizona came out swinging on special teams while the Stars struggled to find their footing, which led to Dallas dropping the 3-2 contest.
After a brief trip back home for practice, the Stars headed for the Eastern Conference. They started the second leg of the trip with a 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers. While it wasn’t the most complete performance, it was enough to get the job done.
Two nights later, that progress was effectively wiped out as Dallas suffered a 6-0 beating at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Stars generated chances and controlled certain parts of the contest, but they lost the special teams battle and couldn’t solve the hot hand of Andrei Vasilevskiy. As a result, they watched their lead in the Central standings evaporate entirely.
Saturday night’s loss to the Hurricanes looked very similar to the one in Tampa Bay, though on a less devastating scale. Mrazek stole the show while the Stars couldn’t use their determination to rally after falling behind because of a slow start, so Carolina walked away with the 3-0 victory.
And in many ways, Saturday night’s game was the most telling of the entire trip. It served as the deciding factor between the trip being viewed as decent or bad. If Dallas had won, they would have wrapped up the trip with a 2-2-1 record and would have been tied for third in the Central going into Sunday morning.
Instead, they fell short and finished the swing in the first wild card spot with a 1-3-1 mark. That skid included an 0/11 run on the power play, a penalty kill success rate of 64.3 percent, an .897 combined save percentage, and a -8 goal differential.
“Everyone talks about how it’s gotta be the hardest division in the league, if not sports,” said Tyler Seguin on Feb. 1. “But when you come down to the last 30 games or so, you’re playing playoff games already. So, that was a good one to win.”
The trip helped wipe out many of the positive thoughts of progress that the Dallas Stars had established during their hot streak. On top of that, it helped force their problems further into the spotlight.
The Stars tallied a total of seven goals during the trip for an average of 1.40 per game. And of those seven goals, the only forwards to find the back of the net were Tyler Seguin (twice), Brett Ritchie, and Alexander Radulov. That’s less than 25 percent of the forward group they utilized during the trip.
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The offense continues to struggle, especially on the road. Anton Khudobin has been stellar for Dallas this season, but began to falter and show signs of fatigue down the stretch as he started all five games while Ben Bishop continues to recover on IR. The defensive effort was impressive in Nashville, Arizona, and Florida, but was mutilated by the creativity of Tampa Bay and Carolina.
The Stars also watched their record away from home drop to 11-16-3. They are the only team currently in the playoff picture with a road record below .500. And with 11 of their final 24 games coming on the road, there is a pressing need to figure out the key to success in the road.
With these issues continuing to shine, the 2019 Trade Deadline continues taking center stage in Dallas Stars chatter. Will GM Jim Nill take a swing at the market in an effort to boost his offense or defense (or both)? Will he stand pat again and risk another late-season collapse similar to last season? Those questions will be answered over the next eight days.
But this road trip has dealt the Dallas Stars another dose of adversity. On the bright side, it’s nothing they’ve become rather used to adversity this season.
"“Well, we’re always trying to get better. But, it’s a tough balance. You look in the standings and we’re in an okay position, but nobody’s happy with a lot of parts of our game. So anyways, we’re trying to get people in the right frame of mind to play to their strengths which will allow us to address some of those deficiencies that we see.” – Jim Montgomery on Jan. 12"
They faced a similar battle with a mass of injuries to their starters early in the year. A winless road trip in December dealt them a similar blow. Heck, even a four-game losing streak on home ice in mid-January pushed the Stars into a corner. They have figured a way out of each corner so far this season, and this is simply another opportunity to rise to the challenge.
Dallas is back in the middle of the Western Conference wild card push. They’ve watched as struggling teams have forced their way back into the playoff picture, which has in turn made the final seven weeks of the regular season all the more interesting.
The 2018-19 Dallas Stars are heading back home for a three-game homestand against some of the top competitors in the NHL (Nashville, St. Louis, and Carolina). This recent road trip makes the week ahead all the more critical. The road trip was a punch to the gut, but it’s in the past.
Now is the time to look in the mirror, refocus, and reclaim their drive from a few weeks ago. They’ve done it many times this season. But with the Central division standings heating up, it’s imperative that they get back into the driver’s seat before their competition surges out of reach.
That begins on Tuesday night in Dallas.