Dallas Stars: Recent Surge Against Central Division Helps Playoff Push

There’s no telling how the race to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs will play out for the Dallas Stars. But in order to win a spot at the table, a team first has to succeed within their own division. The Stars are doing so right now against the Central.

You could say that the Dallas Stars have been playing “playoff games” for the past few weeks. Andrew Cogliano did.

“This is playoff hockey at this point,” said Cogliano back on Feb. 1 after the Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild. “When you start winning those games, you gain confidence and then you start really believing you’re a good team and you can do some good things. Those are the games you want to win at this point of the season.”

You could also say that they have been preparing for the postseason with the games they have played over the past few weeks. Tyler Seguin did.

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“These are the kinds of games that get you ready for playoffs,” Seguin said on Feb. 1. “I think that’s what we say about the Central. Everyone talks about how it’s gotta be the hardest division in the league, if not sports. But when you come down to the last 30 games or so, you’re playing playoff games already. That was a good one to win.”

Whatever you may want to say, the point is this: it’s an important time of the year.

As the 2018-19 regular season campaign quickly approaches a close, the playoff race is ramping up. Some teams are already looking ahead to next year, some teams are getting more desperate for points by the day, and some teams are sitting in favorable positions with less than 15 games to go.

Sitting wedged somewhere between those reference points is the Dallas Stars.

At 35-28-5 with 75 points, the Stars currently hold sole possession of the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. They are four points behind third place in the Central and sit two points from the playoff wall with games in hand. That’s due to a handful of different reasons.

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On the one hand, their play has been fairly consistent over the past month. After slipping out of the playoff picture altogether at the end of February, the Stars have bounced back. They are 3-1-0 in the month of March and are 11-7-1 since All-Star Weekend. In that span, Dallas has continued playing solid defense, received a slight boost in the scoring department, and continues to receive stellar goaltending from Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin on a nightly basis.

They are also getting some help in the standings. While the wild race is still tight, the Colorado Avalanche are 2-4-0 to start the month of March while the Minnesota Wild are 2-2-2.

But amongst all of these factors lies a particularly important one. It’s one that has plagued the Dallas Stars for the past two seasons and has held them back from taking the next step and earning a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: their play against the rest of the Central division.

“Yeah, it’s really tight and every game matters,” said Roope Hintz. “We have to be at our best every night, especially against the division.”

Playing against other teams in the division has been a struggle for the Stars over the past few years. In 2016-17, they posted a horrible 9-15-5 mark versus the Central. Last season, they earned a subpar 12-14-0 record that included just one combined win when going up against Nashville and Winnipeg (the top two teams in the division).

It’s been a problem and has become a measuring stick of sorts when trying to figure out how far away the Stars are from hanging with the top teams in the Central.

This time around, however, the Stars are finding ways to hold their own when competing with the division. Dallas is 11-8-2 on the season against the Central. That’s big. And when you consider that they started the year on a 1-4-1 note within the division, it’s a game changer.

“It’s huge,” said Jason Dickinson. “Like I said, everything’s tight right now. Every point is important, but those are doubly important. We have to make sure we’re capitalizing on those and keep them out of overtime.”

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The Stars have found a way to pick up critical points in the Central race over the past few weeks. They are 4-1-0 in their last five games and 7-2-1 in their last ten against the division. That’s been a key element in keeping Dallas in the thick of the playoff race, even when different losing skids struck.

And the competition is definitely still there. The Central is regraded by most as the toughest division in hockey. With teams like Chicago, St. Louis and Minnesota to fight through over the past five seasons and Nashville and Winnipeg now joining the list of NHL elites, the Central always feels like a playoff bracket.

This season, everyone is doing well through 68 games. Need an indicator? The Blackhawks currently sit in last place in the division but are five points out of a postseason spot with one game in hand.

“I think so,” Dickinson said when asked about if the Central is as tough as it’s been in years past. “Looking at how tight things are, it’s kind of just a great indication of how tight and how tough things are in our division.”

As a result of the tightness in the standings, each game against a Central opponent continues to have a critical feel to it.

The Dallas Stars picked up a big win against the Blues three weeks ago to snap an 11-game winning streak built by St. Louis. 10 days ago, they were in St. Louis and knocked off the Blues again to keep their hopes at catching third place alive. On Thursday night, they defeated the Colorado Avalanche at home to not only keep their own hot streak alive, but also push the Avalanche further from the wild card wall.

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“They already feel like playoff games,” Hintz mentioned. “Every game matters a lot, but especially games against those guys.”

But for the Stars, it’s not all about circling their Central division games on the calendar. Instead, it’s simply about trying to win every game, regardless of the opponent.

“I don’t think we’re focused that much on the Central,” said Mattias Janmark. “We had a bad stretch there, and then we were getting out of it. But then we played Carolina and that was probably our worst game of the year. I remember us having a talk after that game and saying that’s not acceptable at this time of the year. That maybe woke us up as a team and then the trade deadline passed and we knew what we had in here. I think it’s just the urgency of the time of the year.”

The playoff race is loaded in the Western Conference and every game against the Central division is twice as important in the long run. But every game offers two valuable points, and those are the points that the Dallas Stars are focused on.

Mattias Janmark said it best when asked about the Stars’ recent hot streak against the division and how important it was at this point in the year.

"“Yeah, it’s important. But still, what’s been has been. There’s a new game ahead and we have to look forward to the next game. If we were to lose some games in a row, we have to just do the same and focus on the next game. We can’t afford to look back; we have to win the next game every time. There’s always two points on the line and it’s huge for the playoff race, so we have to look forward.” –Mattias Janmark"

The success against the Central division is a big boost in the playoff race. The Stars are beating the teams around them and are keeping their opponents from picking up valuable points in the process.

But in the grand scheme of things, every game is of critical importance for the Dallas Stars.

With 14 games to go on the regular season slate, five of them will pit the Stars against a divisional foe. And when each one of those games arrives, it will probably carry large implications with it. But so will the games against Buffalo, Vegas, Pittsburgh, Calgary, and others. Every two points matters.

At the moment, though, the Stars’ play against the Central division has been nothing short of encouraging. They have defeated every team in the division at least once this season and own multiple wins over each of the top three teams.

That’s a good jumping off point in the playoff race. But in order to win the race and get a seat at the postseason table, they have to keep the hot streak alive across the board. That includes finding ways to win games both inside and outside of the division.

And if the Stars can find a way in and get into the Central bracket, that’s where things could get really interesting.