Dallas Stars Falling Victim To Ebbs, Flows Of 2018-19 NHL Season

There’s nothing like failing to score a goal in 120 minutes of hockey to blow your ego. The Dallas Stars are struggling to score, and it’s affecting their playoff standing. Unfortunately, they’ve simply fallen victim to the ups and downs of an NHL season.

Every 82-game regular season will have its ebbs and flows. There are guaranteed to be times of success and others of failure where there appears to be no presence of puck luck.

The Dallas Stars are in a low point of their season where fatigue, injury and, quite frankly, lack of sincere motivation are hitting them hard. The good news is that there is still a lot of hockey left to be played and the season is far from over. But, a quick turnaround will be required to preserve their place in the postseason race.

The Last Two Games

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Losing by a touchdown against the best team in the league? Not great by any means, but not necessarily detrimental to the mental state of a hockey team. The Tampa Bay Lightning do have a substantial hold on the Eastern Conference and are running away with the top spot in the league. Getting your butt handed to you by the top squad in the NHL isn’t the most emotionally draining thing that could happen.

However, hitting the ice two days later against a team fighting to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race and still being unable to put up goals? That can sometimes be the equivalent of your ego stepping on a landmine.

But both of those outings are in the rearview mirror. Whether you lose by one goal or half a dozen, the points system remains the same. It’s two for a win, one for an OT/Shootout loss and zero for a loss. As long as that mentality stays at the forefront of the Stars’ mind, there’s no reason that the last two games have to be season-defining.

Fatigue Playing its Role

With Ben Bishop out, the baton has been passed to Anton Khudobin. While he’s certainly a great backup, he’s not necessarily suited to be playing as many games as he’s been required to as of late. Hopefully, Bishop can make a splash in his return to the crease to give Dobby some much-needed rest from consistent action.

The long season also shows its ugly head in other players. Forwards put in a lot of minutes skating and shooting and sometimes not scoring at all — looking at you Val Nichushkin. Failing to perform up to par with previous seasons or even just failing to contribute can leave offensive-focused players with the lack of confidence they need to improve.

Searching for Confidence

We’ve seen it time and time again. Guys like Jamie Benn opting to pass instead of shoot. Jason Spezza making a change instead of taking advantage of an odd-man advantage going to the opposition’s net. Young guys over-skating passes because they’re excited to be there and not expecting the puck to come their way.

Collectively, that makes for a cluster of a hockey team, which is exactly what the Stars have been of late. They’re not meshing and are finding ways to lose. It can be hard to remember the success of early in the season, or even a few short games ago, when things are going so poorly.

Really, it takes one game to turn it around. One game where the puck bounces go in the Dallas Stars’ favor. One game when the man in the crease dominates. One game to get them back on track and remembering what it’s like to win. The question is how long it will take for that game to happen.