Dallas Stars: A Combination Of Problems Is Fueling Losses

The Dallas Stars have hit another rough stretch in their season and a few key problems have led to their poor play.

It started off great for the Dallas Stars. They were winning in bunches and putting together quality games that we hadn’t seen in the past few seasons. At the All-Star break, they rested at a record of 31-14-5, logging 67 points in their first 50 games of the season.

However, since the break, the narrative has been a little different. Besides a streak of six wins in seven games, the Stars have been average at best, with a record of 7-6-2 in their past 15 games. They have been struggling to find the win column more and more, with just one win since Feb. 15.

There’s a few specific elements of their game that have played into their lack of success.

The defense has suffered mightily.

The Stars’ defense has been the weakest link ever since the season started. Even with John Klingberg rising to star status and Johnny Oduya coming in to provide an extra boost, the defense has been the one area that the Stars have needed the most help with.

That has especially been the case in the past month, when the Stars have been giving up 4.4 goals per game. The pairings as a whole are to blame but other mistakes, such as Jason Demers‘ recent stretch where he has been committing almost a penalty a game, have led to easier scoring chances for the opposition.

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Captain Jamie Benn recently spoke on the defensive struggles:

"“It’s getting old now, but it all starts in the defensive end. When you’re not playing the right way or you’re having a tough time out there, you have to work harder and find a way to dig yourself out of that hole.”"

Bad defense leads to other flaws in a team’s game too and that has been the case in the goaltending department.

Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen have not looked good.

There was a time before the break when it looked like Antti Niemi had taken control of the undetermined No. 1 goalie slot for the team. Since playing six games in a row during late January and early February, the spot has been back up for grabs again, with both him and Kari Lehtonen struggling to find any real momentum.

Now, coming back from the break on Feb. 2, they have played nine games each. Niemi has allowed 29 goals with a .830 save percentage while Lehtonen has allowed 25 goals with a .896 save percentage.

Numbers like that are not good, especially when they mean that the team is taking losses to opponents like the Winnipeg Jets, who have had struggles all season long and were without their captain, who had been traded away, when they beat the Stars on Feb. 25.

The two-goalie system is set up to work so that if one goalie is having a rough stretch, the other can take over, but lately, neither of them have been playing well. If the Stars plan on getting back on track for the Playoffs, they are going to need their most important players to get back to the level of play they were at in October and November.

Injuries have plagued the team as of late.

Throughout the first part of the season, the Stars were lucky to avoid any major injuries, and they still haven’t had any season-ending injuries, but a few minor ones have caused some problems.

First of all, Jason Spezza suffered an upper body injury, forcing him to miss six games. Though that ultimately did not impact the team that much, it has been the following injuries that have piled up.

Ales Hemksy and Patrick Eaves both came down with illnesses. Hemsky was able to return fast while Eaves has been out since Feb. 22. The latest injury, and perhaps the biggest, occurred against the Nashville Predators, when Patrick Sharp left the game with an undisclosed injury.

Most of the issues mentioned above are things that the Stars will simply have to play through. They’re fortunate that the other teams in the race for the Central Division (Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues) have not made any significant runs to take control of the division.

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As the Stars continue to fly through one of their best seasons, they will need to overcome some key problems. Fortunately there’s still a month and a half of time left to do that before the Playoffs begin.