Dallas Stars Stuck In Tight Race With Islanders For Jennings Trophy
By Josh Clark
With the 2018-19 regular season just a little over 24 hours away from wrapping up, the Dallas Stars and New York Islanders are in a dead heat for the Jennings Trophy. The airtight race makes the final games for both teams all the more important.
Whether players and coaches admit it or not, they consistently keep an eye on statistics, trends, the standings race, and races for certain awards. And as of Friday afternoon, the Dallas Stars have their eyes set on one race in particular.
After clinching a playoff spot for the first time in three years on Tuesday night with a 6-2 thumping of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Stars are gearing up for action past game 82. They own a five-game points streak (4-0-1), sit in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference, and are waiting for their first round opponent to be determined.
But there are still two games to go in their regular season schedule. And while they are important in terms of building momentum, one point is all they need to secure their spot in the West standings as the playoffs approach.
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The Stars will start their final stretch tonight in Chicago against a Blackhawks team that was eliminated from the playoff race a few days ago. Following the game, they will head home for a Saturday night bout with the Minnesota Wild as the NHL regular season officially wraps up.
It’s two Central division showdowns against non-playoff teams that should provide the Stars with one final challenge before postseason play begins.
But right now, the focus is on an award that the Dallas Stars franchise has only won one more time: the William M. Jennings Trophy.
The Jennings Trophy is awarded annually to “the goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it based on regular season play.” And right now, the Stars are in the thick of the race.
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The Dallas Stars are a defense-first team. That’s been prevalent for the majority of the 2018-19 campaign and it shows in the stat book as well. Going into game 81 of the season on Friday, the Stars own the second-lowest goals against average in the NHL at 2.43.
That can be attributed to strong play in the defensive zone and a decent balance of depth, speed, and skill, but it can largely be attributed to the play of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin.
The goaltending duo for Dallas has been nothing short of stellar in the 2018-19 year. They’ve been great at times and brilliant at others and have kept the Stars in just about every game, which has in turn transformed Dallas into a playoff contender.
Through 45 games played this season, Bishop is 26-15-2 with a .933 save percentage and 2.03 goals against average. Those are both career-highs for the 32-year-old starter and have him sitting in first place and second place in the NHL, respectively. He’s been named an NHL Star of the Week on two separate occasions and has him name linked to the Vezina Trophy race for the NHL’s best goaltender.
Backing him up is Khudobin, who owns a 16-16-5 record along with a .926 save percentage and 2.47 goals against average through 40 games played. This is the first time that he’s hit the 40-game mark in his NHL career, and he’s doing so with some of his best numbers.
The tandem has been rock solid in the backend for the Dallas Stars and is giving them a boost of confidence as the Stanley Cup Playoffs approach.
But why not earn some metal along the way?
As of Friday afternoon, the Stars are tied for fewest goals against with the New York Islanders. Considering the Jennings Trophy race counts shootout losses count as an extra goal on the record, both the Stars and Islanders currently sit at 196 goals against. The only difference? The Islanders have played in one more game.
Like Bishop and Khudobin, the duo of Robin Lehner (.928 SV%, 2.18 GAA) and Thomas Greiss (.927 SV%, 2.28 GAA) has been nothing short of incredible for the Islanders as well.
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And so, the race intensifies in the final 35 hours of the regular season. The Stars will take on the eighth-highest scoring offense (Chicago) in the NHL on Friday and the fifth-worst scoring offense (Minnesota) on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Islanders will visit Washington to take on the Capitals on Saturday. Washington currently sits fifth in the NHL in scoring.
Besides Jennings Trophy bragging rights, both teams have other outlying factors to play for as well. For the Stars, they still need at least one point to secure the top wild card spot in the Western Conference. For the Islanders, they are still trying to clinch home ice advantage in round one and need at least one point against the Capitals to clinch second place in the Metropolitan division.
Both clubs still have something to fight for, which makes the race all the more intense. But still, it’s an impressive mark for both teams to hit, especially considering the team with the third-lowest goals against total (being Boston) currently sits at 209. That’s about a five-game difference in terms of goals against.
And so, we’ll see how the final two days pan out. The Islanders hold the current advantage considering they only have one game left to go, though it is against one of the best offenses in the NHL and will play out on the road.
The Stars, on the other hand, will lean on Khudobin tonight and a different lineup tonight in Chicago and attempt to walk away with as few goals against as possible. Khudobin is 1-0-0 at the United Center this year, stopping 44/47 in a 4-3 win. If he can get away with a shutout or 1-2 goals against, the race will become even more interesting as the final day of the year approaches. Any more than that, however, and the Islanders could be in a favorable spot to clinch the trophy in game 82.
If Bishop and Khudobin can dig in and find a way to lock up the trophy, they would be just the second tandem in Dallas Stars history to win the award, joining Ed Belfour and Roman Turek (1998-99).
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Whatever happens, the race will be a fun one to follow. And with both teams already locked into playoff spots, it’s the next best race to focus on and follow.