Dallas Stars: Is It Time To Panic?

Entering the second half of the season, the Dallas Stars look like a shell of the team that started the year. Are they reverting back to last year’s form?

The short answer is probably “no”. The NHL season is an approximate six month grind that serves as a precursor to a death march second season that starts in April. Along the line, there are bound to be ebbs and flows. It just so happens that the Dallas Stars find themselves in the biggest ebb they’ve faced in the course of the 2015-16 campaign.

As December wound to a close, the Stars found themselves playing a division-heavy portion of their schedule. They responded by going 5-1-1 between the 19th and 31st. In that stretch, they pounded the Minnesota Wild on the road, then came home the following night and destroyed the Chicago Blackhawks. They split a home and home with the St. Louis Blues, and then put the cherry on the sundae by annihilating the Nashville Predators on New Year’s Eve.

Led by captain Jamie Benn, the Stars played some of their grittiest hockey in games that had chippy playoff atmospheres. The wins seemed to foreshadow a glimpse into a long playoff run. In hindsight, however, it’s easy to see they more or less emptied the clip during that run.

Since then, the Stars have stumbled into the month of January, slumping while losing four of five. The improved defense has faltered. The goaltending has been game, but even then, there have been occasions where it’s been a sieve. Most importantly, the white-hot scoring from players like Benn, forward Tyler Seguin, and defenseman John Klingberg has cooled off.

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In short they have the look of a tired bunch. Even their most recent win on January 7th against the Winnipeg Jets had the feel of an ugly, low scoring football game. To their credit, the Dallas Stars dug deep and earned the full two points in a shootout. The product on the ice, however, didn’t resemble the scintillating up-and-down style we’ve become accustomed to during the first half.

But that’s the bad news. The good news is that they’re in the midst of a five day break. Truthfully, this couldn’t have come at a better time. Various nicks and dings should have time to heal. The rest will put some spring back in their step. Furthermore, despite only picking up three of the possible ten January points, they’re still six points clear of the resurgent Blackhawks in the NHL Central Division.

In other words, they’ve given themselves some margin for error. So while the law of averages plays itself out, the Stars can afford to take on a little water while they get their second half legs underneath them. The team simply has too much veteran, playoff-tested leadership to let this slide turn into something catastrophic.

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It may be easy to consider this the other shoe falling, given the recent history of this club, but the reality of the situation is that this was probably bound to happen. Better for them to get it out of their system now. If this turns into something larger, it’ll just have to be a bridge to be crossed later. In the meantime, the Stars should be able to weather this lull and get back to playing solid hockey.