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Dallas Stars News: Stars’ Magic Number In Playoff Race Sits At Two

By Josh Clark

WINNIPEG, MB - MARCH 25: Dallas Stars players celebrate on the ice following a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell MTS Place on March 25, 2019 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MB - MARCH 25: Dallas Stars players celebrate on the ice following a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell MTS Place on March 25, 2019 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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After receiving some more help from the NHL scoreboard on Friday night, the Dallas Stars have a big opportunity at hand on Saturday. While wrapping up a four-game road trip in Vancouver, the Stars could also secure a spot in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win.

Only two Western Conference spots are still up for grabs in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs picture. And on Saturday night, the Dallas Stars will have the chance to claim one of them.

After receiving some more help from the neighboring teams around them in the standings on Friday night, the opportunity is there. With the Arizona Coyotes dropping a 3-2 loss in the shootout to the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars’ magic number shrunk to just two.

That’s a remarkably quick turnaround for a Dallas team that saw its magic number sitting at nine just six days ago. To be completely honest, though, the Stars have no one to thank for it but themselves.

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Upon posting a deflating and potentially harmful 1-3-1 homestand, the Dallas Stars have yet to leave the win column over the past week.

They started things off with a crucial Central division matchup against the Winnipeg Jets that helped kick off a four-game homestand. The Stars secured a 5-2 win in what could be a prelude to the opening round of the postseason and realigned themselves on the playoff path.

Two nights later, they knocked off the best team in the Western Conference with a 2-1 win against Calgary. The Stars faced plenty of adversity and were dealt a handful of obstacles in the game (including losing starting goalie Ben Bishop midway through), but they powered through for another impressive victory.

To top off the work week, the Stars somehow managed to pick up two points in a shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Edmonton outplayed Dallas for a majority of the game and held a 2-0 advantage early in the second period.

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But through the heroics of Anton Khudobin in net and goals from Alexander Radulov and Miro Heiskanen, the Stars battled for a shootout and watched as Jamie Benn grabbed the second point.

And just like that, the Dallas Stars have won three games in a row. They are one win from tying the  franchise’s consecutive road winning streak record and own playoff odds of 99.8 percent. When their situation got tough and a bit cloudy, the Stars found a way to dig in and keep control of their own destiny. They have fixed some of the problems that plagued them early in the year and have set themselves up for an easy road to the finish line. And yet, that hasn’t stopped them from putting 100 percent into every game and trying to enter the postseason on the best possible note.

Friday night’s aid only furthered their cause. With the Coyotes losing in the shootout, the magic number for Dallas now sits at two. That’s one game’s worth of points.

With that being said, we’ve now reached the point in the race where there are many more scenarios that would help the Dallas Stars clinch and only two where the Stars would miss out. Those two have to do with Arizona picking up at least seven of the final eight points in their schedule OR Minnesota winning out in their final four games. Oh, and the Stars would have to go 0-4-0 on top of that.

But in terms of clinching, the Stars have a lot going in their favor.

Simply put: a win against a 33-35-10 Vancouver Canucks team on Saturday night would secure a playoff spot for Dallas. The Stars are 1-0-1 against the Canucks this season and picked up a road win in Vancouver back on Dec. 1. And though the Canucks will likely invoke a similar style as the Oilers did on Thursday (loose with plenty of risk involved), the Stars have already shown their ability to counter it.

If the Dallas Stars can win one of their next four games (1-3-0) or even pick up two overtime/shootout losses (0-2-2), they’re in. If Arizona loses a game in regulation for the rest of the season, the Stars are also in. And with just four games remaining in the regular season, it couldn’t have come a moment too soon.

The Dallas Stars already look bound for the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They are arguably the best defensive team in the league and are heating up at the perfect time of the season.

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All that’s left to do is make it mathematically absolute. That could happen shortly after the puck drops at 9 p.m. in British Columbia.

It’s the final and most important step in the playoff push process.

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