It’s crunch time around the NHL as the race to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs heats up. For the Dallas Stars, their final 17 games will play a definitive role in their postseason push. This time around, they may have the schedule working in their favor.
The Dallas Stars aren’t known for being a particularly prolific team on the road. And while the same can be said about most NHL teams when playing away from home, the Stars are stuck in a multi-year slump.
Since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, Dallas is a humbling 42-61-13 when playing away from the American Airlines Center. Buried in that mark is an untold number of losing skids and inconsistent streaks that have ultimately led the Stars to two straight seasons of falling short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Meanwhile, their record on home ice has served as the sole key in helping the team salvage their seasons. In that same timeframe, the Stars are 67-35-11 when competing at the AAC and have established themselves as one of the better home ice teams in the NHL.
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But for the past few seasons, that is how the pendulum has swung: turning away and preparing for the worst when the Dallas Stars hit the road and breathing a sigh of relief when they return home.
And for much of the 2018-19 season, it’s been the same way. Through 65 games played, the Stars are 19-10-2 when on home ice and are 14-17-3 when on the road. While those combined records (33-27-6) have pulled them to sole control of the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with just over one month to go in the regular season, some sizable improvement is needed, particularly on the road.
Part of that has to do with alluding to the past. Around this time one year ago, the Dallas Stars sat in third place in the Central division and looked more and more like a shoo-in for the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But, after an eight-game losing skid occurred in the middle of March (that included an 0-4-2 mark during a six-game road trip), the Stars watched as their playoff hopes dissipated.
So yes, a strong finish to the year at home and on the road seems necessary. After all, the Stars are the only NHL team currently holding a playoff spot with an away record below .500. Good playoff teams can win anywhere.
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Dallas took a sizable stride in becoming one of those teams throughout last week. While trekking through a four-game road trip and facing a mountain of adversity at each stop, the Stars did what they had to do and managed to pull off an impressive 3-1-0 mark from the swing. They knocked off some challenging opponents in some of the toughest buildings in the league and further strengthen their case in the playoff push.
And that brings us to the final 17 games of the regular season. The Dallas Stars are back home and will open up a three-game homestand on Tuesday night with a visit from the New York Rangers. None of the Stars’ three opponents in the upcoming stand (New York, Colorado, Chicago) currently sit in a playoff spot, but a few are still technically still in the race. The need for points is at an all-time high for every team in the league right now as the race reaches its peak.
For the Dallas Stars, this next month is all about finishing on a strong note. It’s about avenging last year’s collapse with a surge to the postseason this time around. It’s about using their positive road trip as fuel in the final month of the regular season and wrapping up the race in the best shape possible so they can catapult into the playoffs.
And when looking at their schedule, the Stars are set up nicely to do just that.
Of their final 17 games, Dallas will play 10 of them at the American Airlines Center. That includes a three-game homestand this week, a five-game homestand in the middle of the month, and two of their final three contests in the final week of the season.
Playing on home ice is a luxury for most hockey teams, especially at this time of the year. With the need for consistency and points being more prevalent than ever, it’s typically easier to build a hot streak when playing in front of your home fans. And with the AAC averaging a 98.1 percent fill rate through 31 games this season, the Dallas Stars should be able to benefit from their home crowd.
That leaves them with seven road games. These road games are split up between a two-game trip in the middle of March, a four-game swing through Western Canada to end the month, and a visit to Chicago for game 81 in April.
While that may seem daunting for a team still trying to find its road legs, the Stars have reason to be encouraged. Of the seven teams they will visit to close the year (Buffalo, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Chicago), they are already a combined 4-1-1 against on the road this season. In other words, they are undefeated against the Wild, Flames, Canucks, and Blackhawks when playing them away from home this season. Their only road losses came against Winnipeg on Jan. 6 and Edmonton on Nov. 27 (in overtime).
At this time in the season, a team’s schedule can either provide a boost in their postseason push or a crippling blow to their hopes. Last season, it did the latter for the Dallas Stars. But this time around, they might just be set up for the former.
That bodes well for a team stuck in the thick of the race and needing a lengthy surge to cap off a chaotic but entertaining year.