That was some of the best hockey I've seen in over two weeks. I want to go back in time and witness it all over again. Congrats to Team Canada for their fantastic win last night. USA shouldn't have allowed Connor McDavid all that space in front of Connor Hellebuyck. There's a reason why Canada is still the most dominant country when it comes to hockey. However, during the Winter Olympics, we will see more best-on-best hockey next year.
Now that everyone is back together again, the Dallas Stars still have their mission of competing for the Stanley Cup this year. It might be rough this weekend as players get used to playing with each other again. This usually happens after a long break, like the one they just went through. However, there are a lot of points the Stars can pick up in the next five games they are playing. Let's look at the upcoming road trip and some of the homestand for the Stars.
Dallas Stars Upcoming Schedule: 2/22 @ New Jersey Devils
The Dallas Stars kick off their road trip against the one team they haven't played this season, the New Jersey Devils. Many players were in the 4-Nations tournament, like Sweden's Jesper Bratt and USA's Jack Hughes on the Devils. This won't be an easy game for the Stars to kick off their post-4-Nations break. Hopefully, the Stars can navigate rough patches in this game to earn two points and keep their win streak going. I would love to see Mikael Granlund score a goal or two tomorrow night.
Dallas Stars Upcoming Schedule: 2/23 @ New York Islanders
The Stars finish their back-to-back games this upcoming weekend on Sunday with a late game against the New York Islanders. USA's Brock Nelson will take the ice for the Islanders as they look to trip up the Stars after the 4-Nations break. While the Islanders don't look like a team the Stars should worry about, Dallas can't get looking at the St. Louis Blues. The Islanders are a team that loves to trip up teams when they least expect it.
Dallas Stars Upcoming Schedule: 2/25 @ Columbus Blue Jackets
This will be an intriguing matchup to end their three-game road trip. The Blue Jackets previously lost to the Stars in their first meeting at the American Airlines Center this season. Columbus will look to trip up the Stars heading into their homestand at the American Airlines Center to end February. Kirill Marchenko will look to be a pain in the Stars's butt. He is their leading goal scorer this season with 21 goals and 34 assists. I hope the Stars don't get too relaxed for this rematch against the Blue Jackets.
Dallas Stars Upcoming Schedule: 2/28 Los Angeles Kings
The Dallas Stars play their second and final home game of February next Friday against the Los Angeles Kings. A former Pacific Division rival, the Kings would love nothing more than to hand the Stars a loss going into March. However, they are playing in one of the rowdiest home crowd environments that has waited almost a month for another home game. The home crowd should spark the Stars to end February with a win over the Kings.
Dallas Stars Upcoming Schedule: 3/2 St. Louis Blues
The Stars begin their March schedule against their division rivals, the St. Louis Blues. Canada's starting goalie, Jordan Binnington, will look to prove why he won in overtime in the championship game last night. Dallas Stars prospect Christian Kyrou's brother Jordan will be a scoring threat when the Stars next Tuesday. Even though the Blues might be out of the playoff race this season, expect them to shake up the Central Division with some possible upsets.