Dallas Stars finally adding missing element: excitement

A disheartening loss last week masked an overall positive trend for the Dallas Stars. They have righted the ship and now look like playoff contenders.

The Dallas Stars had a pretty good stretch of games a couple of weeks ago. Between October 19th-24th, they won three in a row and looked like they were pulling out of their nightmare 1-7-1 start. But then, on October 26th, they got thoroughly outclassed by the Pittsburgh Penguins en route to a 3-0 loss. All those baby steps forward seemed to come crashing down in the span of a horrible third period.

It didn’t get better at all in their next game last Tuesday. Facing a similarly struggling Minnesota Wild squad, the Stars fell behind 3-0 in the waning stages of the second period. To that point, they looked like the team that had been wrestling with themselves for the majority of the season. In fact, I tweeted during the first intermission that they looked ready to quit. To be sure, had they lost that game, rumor was that head coach Jim Montgomery might have lost his job the following morning.

What happened in the final twenty-one minutes of that game was nothing short of miraculous. The Stars finally started skating and playing with purpose, and their efforts were rewarded when forward Alexander Radulov pole-axed a puck into the net to cut the Wild lead to 3-1. The third period proved even more cathartic as the Stars put in five more unanswered goals to overwhelm the Wild, 6-3.

At the sake of sounding overly hyperbolic, that sequence saved the Stars’ season. It was their “Eureka!” moment. It was the time in which they rediscovered their game and learned once again that they’re a really good hockey team when they play with total effort. I can only imagine how it felt as a player, but as a fan, it felt like a cleansing. For whatever reason, the switch finally flipped. Hockey looked easy for this team when it mattered most.

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Of course, one win against a bad team does not constitute a winning streak. It remained unclear if the Stars could keep it up against better competition. Well, they answered that question emphatically–on a back-to-back, no less–when they beat the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens on Friday and Saturday respectively. The win against the Avalanche featured a playoff-like intensity. Budding star Roope Hintz scored twice in the 2-1 win. But the effort against the Canadiens the following night may have been more impressive. Montreal had won five of their previous seven games, but the Stars dominated after weathering an early push and pulled away for the 4-1 triumph.

The overriding theme in winning six of seven is simply pure excitement. The fan base has been longing for a stretch like this since last May. They’ve been yearning for a Dallas Stars bunch that comes out and swarms and outworks their rival on a given night. So when they go out and beat a good team at their arena, and them come home and beat a hot team at home, it’s cause for actual optimism.

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The obvious point of contention is the 7-8-1 overall record. Despite their recent torrid pace, the Dallas Stars are still under .500. What’s more, they have another matchup with the Avalanche–this time at home–on Tuesday night. There’s no room for error, and until they find themselves thoroughly in playoff contention, recent results give them no reason to get complacent. The push must continue.

Published on 11/04/2019 at 12:00 PM
Last updated at 11/04/2019 at 11:59 AM

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