Dallas Stars: Series Finale Against Blues Can Further Shuffle Playoff Race

The Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues will meet up for the final time of the 2018-19 regular season on Saturday night. And in this fourth installment, there’s a final chance for both clubs to assert their dominance and make the Central division race all the more interesting.

Only 35 days separate the Dallas Stars from the end of the 2018-19 regular season. But before they reach the end of the line, there’s a thrilling playoff race that must be fought out.

As of Saturday morning, the Stars find themselves in a crowded and airtight race to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. All but two of the 14 teams in the Western Conference are still very much involved in the sprint to the finish, which makes the next five weeks all the more interesting to follow.

Sitting in the middle of that pile is the Dallas Stars at a record of 32-27-5 with 69 points in 64 games. They own sole possession of the first wild card spot, with Minnesota and Colorado both just one point behind. With that being said, one game has the ability to either reaffirm the Stars’ footing or push them out of the picture entirely.

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It also gives them an opportunity to play “catch up” with the rest of the Central division. Just a few weeks ago, the Stars sat in third place in the Central standings with a relatively comfortable lead. But after Dallas followed up a five-game win streak with a 1-3-1 road trip, the St. Louis Blues used an 11-game win streak to break out of the Western Conference cellar and take third in the division, pushing the Stars back into the wild card race.

That was back on Feb. 14. Since then, it’s been a grind for the entire Central division as every team attempts to either grapple for positioning in the playoff picture or simply stay afloat in the race overall.

And on Saturday night in St. Louis, the Dallas Stars will get one last swing at the Blues. That’s important.

After trading wins through the first three games of the season series, the Stars hold the upper hand with a 2-1-0 record. They started the series off in early January with a 3-1 win in St. Louis, but fell to the Blues five days later in Dallas. The third meeting came nine days ago at the American Airlines Center, with the Stars claiming the 5-2 victory.

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This game carries a lot of weight for Dallas. As much as it is an opportunity to finish the road trip on a high note and pick up a tenth Central division win, it’s a critically important game to the standings.

At the moment, the Stars sit in the first wild card spot. While they are looking to keep surging ahead and putting space between themselves and the rest of the wild card race, they are also aiming to take a shot at the Blues, who sit third in the division. There’s a five-point gap separating Dallas and St. Louis right now, but tonight’s “four-point game” offers an opportunity to decisively increase or minimize that separation.

After watching their 11-game win streak dissolve at the hands of the Stars last Thursday night, the Blues have been quietly rebuilding their strong push. St. Louis is 2-1-1 over the past week, though their one regulation loss came at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. Even so, they are 34-24-6 with 74 points, have won seven of their past ten games, and have arguably the hottest goaltender in the NHL manning their crease in Jordan Binnington. He’s 15-2-1 (with one of his two regulation losses coming against the Stars) so far throughout his rookie campaign and is expected to get the start against Dallas on Saturday night.

Every divisional game matters, but this one takes the cake for the 2018-19 regular season so far. If the Dallas Stars can pull off a win, they could find themselves just three points back of third place in the division and with a multi-game lead on the playoff wall. If they lose, they might be seven points away from third and could fall back to the second wild card spot.

This is a chance to see where the Dallas Stars stand mentally. Their play on the road has been an issue for the entirety of the 2018-19 regular season, so capping off a tough road trip with a 3-1-0 mark would serve as a valuable confidence boost. It’s their final chance to square off with St. Louis and directly affect the Blues’ standing. Good playoff teams don’t let these kinds of opportunities go to waste.

It’s an opportunity to once again test their strengths against one of the hottest teams in the NHL; but this time, they will have to make it work without the home ice advantage. Jamie Benn is back in the lineup and Ben Bishop is the projected starter.

Are the Dallas Stars a top team in the Central division? Do they have what it takes to stay in front of the Western Conference playoff race and even vault back in the top of the Central standings?

The puck drops at 7 p.m. CT on another tough test.