Do The Dallas Stars Have What It Takes To Make A Playoff Push?
By Cole Mentzel
It was just Saturday when the Dallas Stars had given up a lead in the 3rd period that dropped them 10 points out of the final Wild Card spot in the West. However here we are, after one Stars win and one Jets loss, discussing a run to the Playoffs.
It will certainly take a lot of help from opponents of the Jets, Wild, Kings, and everyone else in the race, but it isn’t exactly insane to say the Dallas Stars could make the Playoffs.
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The Stars recently got Tyler Seguin back from injury which is obviously a huge help despite the fact that he said he isn’t near 100% yet. That didn’t seem to hold him back though as he netted 2 goals in that game against the Lightning. There are many things that factor into stringing some wins together but it all comes down to your biggest stars being on the top of their game.
Another important factor is the strength of schedule for all teams involved in the race. The Stars obviously need to win every game that they can but most of those wins need to happen now since they end the season against St. Louis, San Jose, Anaheim, and Nashville twice. The Wild, Jets, Kings, and Flames all have average schedules that bounce around and are mixed with contenders and non-contenders which could be a good or bad thing.
Now, if we know the Stars, we know that injuries always happen at the worst possible time. With that in mind, the Stars are currently without Trevor Daley for a few weeks and John Klingberg has been battling injury as well. Klingberg was first injured in the game against the Lightning when he suffered a lower body injury. He toughed it out and played against the Flyers on Tuesday up until he received a cheap shot from Zac Rinaldo, which didn’t help his injury at all. So the key, even if the whole team isn’t healthy, is learning to play with the team you have at the moment.
The Stars have definitely taken advantage of their situation in the past 4 games. They’ve won 3 out of 4 with the lone loss coming in a 3rd period meltdown. Their wins came over the Islanders, Panthers, and Flyers in which the Stars goalie playing that night (Lehtonen or Enroth) never allowed more than 3 goals.
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That brings us to the topic of goaltending. It was great to see Kari Lehtonen doing what we needed him to do all year against the Flyers on Tuesday night. That was a vintage Kari performance with great saves and the right timing. I would love to see him keep it up for the rest of the regular season.
So by factoring in scheduling, injury, and the performance of the leaders on the team, do we have the right to believe that a Stars team, with so much dysfunction throughout the season, can actually climb out of a huge hole and make the Playoffs? The short answer for that is: Yes, simply because in the NHL, you never know when teams will get hot or when teams will get cold. It would take a lot for the Stars to make up that much ground while also having the Jets, Wild, etc. all lose quite a few games but it’s something that has happened before and it can definitely happen again if the Stars really focus and set their eyes on the prize ahead.