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How do the Dallas Stars fix their regular season overtime woes this year

By Brian Sweet |
SUNRISE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach Pete DeBoer of the Dallas Stars handles the bench during the third period against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on November 17, 2022 in Sunrise, Florida. The Stars defeated the Panthers 6-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
SUNRISE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach Pete DeBoer of the Dallas Stars handles the bench during the third period against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on November 17, 2022 in Sunrise, Florida. The Stars defeated the Panthers 6-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

There was one reoccurring theme last season that was the sole reason for not winning the division, overtime. Dallas Stars Head Coach Pete Deboer’s terrible management of three-on-three OT got so bad that fans on Twitter immediately chalked up every overtime as a loss. With the game evolving to three-on-three overtime starting in the 2015-16 regular season, teams can lose a division if they don’t take care of the puck in OT. Let’s take a look at some pairings that could fix the issue.

Dallas Stars Overtime Woes: What three-on-three entails

Basically, three-on-three OT is exactly what it sounds like. Each team will send out three players, usually two forwards and a defenseman for five minutes. You’re allowed to change players on the ice to get some fresh legs out on the ice. If no one scores in those five minutes, then it will go to a shootout to determine the winner of the game.

What the issue was for the Stars last year was they kept changing up who would start overtime every time they made it to OT. It felt like DeBoer pointed at three random players on the bench to start OT. The other issue was the opponent that the Stars were playing basically attacked right out of the gate and it threw the three Stars’ players off on the ice. Let’s take a look at some potential (not set in stone) OT linemates for this upcoming season.

Seguin-Hintz-Heiskanen

Benn-Robertson-Harley

Johnston-Pavelski-Lundkvist

Smith-Dadonov-Suter

Dallas Stars Overtime Woes: Conclusion

Hopefully, the Stars can fix this woe this season. Three-on-three overtime has been going on for a while and it’s not going away anytime soon. If the Stars would have at least won a bunch of their OT games last season, they would have won the division. The Stars need to come out of the gate in OT and blitz their opponents.

I would be very concerned this season if this streak of overtime losses continues. The Stars have the talent in order to fix this issue, it’s up to the coach to put the pieces of the puzzle together to fix it.

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