Dallas Stars: Four Keys To Qualifying For 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

With the final full month of the regular season underway, the race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs is in full swing for the Dallas Stars. Here are four things they need to do that just might help in getting them over the hump and into the postseason.

It’s March 2, 2019 and the Dallas Stars sit in a playoff spot in the Western Conference. And for the time being, that’s big.

That’s because through the first 64 games of the 2018-19 regular season, the Stars have been riding an inexplicably intriguing rollercoaster. Since they opened up their “new era” under first year head coach Jim Montgomery with a 3-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 3, the ride has provided consecutive twists and turns.

But this Dallas Stars rollercoaster isn’t like the ones from past seasons. In this year’s journey, the number of thrilling highs, humbling lows, and uphill battles have been at a maximum. On top of that, each one has perfectly countered against the other to provide a perfectly imbalanced balance.

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They’ve had long win streaks that were almost too quickly erased by long losing skids. But at other times, they have found ways to bounce back from difficult losing skids with equal victorious surges.

Back and forth the pendulum has swung, allowing the team to get neither too far ahead of behind. One win, one loss. Three wins, three losses.

With that being said, the Stars have yet to break free and hit a consistent stride that could carry them to the top of the Central division race. On the other hand, they also have not sunk to the bottom of the Western Conference race.

Instead, they sit in the middle of a crowded postseason race at 32-27-5 with 69 points. It’s a race that has only gotten tighter over the past month as more teams have jumped into the fold using either a midseason surge like the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche or a complete resurrection from the ashes like the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.

As a result, the Dallas Stars have plenty of company to associate with in the race both for the two Western Conference wild card spots and a top-three spot in the Central division overall.

But time is running out. With the final month of the season underway, this race begins to have a shelf life. Some teams will rise and some teams will inevitably fall over the next few weeks. It happens with every passing season and helps set the stage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And for each of the past two seasons, the Stars have found themselves in a similar spot to where they currently reside here in 2019: digging through the middle of the playoff hunt. Sure, their 2016-17 standing pinned them as a long shot; but they still found themselves within striking distance through the opening days of March. The hope was still there.

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2018 was a different story. Dallas sat in third place in the Central division in the opening days of March and looked to be a playoff challenger. But, after a catastrophic meltdown in the middle of the month, the Stars fell apart and watched their postseason hopes shatter.

This time around, they are in an eerily familiar spot: battling with the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, and Colorado Avalanche (among others) for supremacy in the standings.

So, how do the Dallas Stars make sure that this sprint to the finish boasts a different result than the devastating one that they have endured in their past two attempts? How do they make sure that this mediocre ride ends with a thrilling corkscrew that propels them into the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs? How can they limit their downs, maximize their ups, and turn this season into an ultimately thrilling one that extends past game 82?

It’s going to require a full-team effort. The wild card standings are airtight, with six teams sitting within six points of each other. On top of that, the Stars are only five points out of third place in the Central and have the potential to make a run at reclaiming their spot in Central division prominence.

But, amidst simply winning and staying one step ahead of the competition, here are a few things that might help provide the spark that gets them into the dance.