The Dallas Stars road woes are confusing and potentially disastrous

One of the great mysteries surrounding the Dallas Stars this season is their record at the American Airlines Center versus their road record. Prior to the previous four game road trip, Dallas had a dismal 4-12-1 record on the road. Compare that to their home record (14-4-1) and you can see why its a topic of discussion.

It should be stated that Dallas has improved their road record with a four-game sweep over teams that are currently out of the playoff picture. That aside, all of the numbers here are prior to their four game road trip.

The Dallas Stars home/road split is a curious one and potentially disastrous…

Obviously in the NHL, you can’t win games if you don’t score goals. At the American Airlines Center Dallas is outscoring their opponents by 19 goals (68-49). On the road, its a much different story. Away from the AAC, Dallas has been outscored by 29 goals (61-32).

The second period seems to be the Achilles heel for the Stars. Dallas only managed to score eight goals in the second period in road games. The Stars opponents have put the puck past the goaltender 26 times in the second period of road games.

The third period is another one in which Dallas has been outscored by quite a bit. Opponents have scored 24 goals in the third period to only 12 for Dallas.

Until the Sabres game last week, Dallas had yet to win a road game in which they didn’t score the first goal. The Dallas Stars are 2-0 in one goal games at home. Until this previous road trip, they hadn’t won such a game on the road.

I don’t propose to know the answer as to why the Dallas Stars play so differently on home as opposed to the road. I’m not sure if this is a coaching thing or if it has to do with travel. All I know is that the team Dallas puts on the ice at the American Airlines Center seems to play vastly different than the team that shows up on the road.

Analysts often talk about road trips galvanizing a team and bringing them together. Perhaps this past four game road trip (all wins) will do just that. Perhaps they’ll go back on the road and assert themselves. Luckily for them, they have a six game home stand to put together some more wins and build additional momentum.

Going forward, they have 20 more games on the road. If they want to make the playoffs, they have to start winning away from the AAC.

• Published on 01/28/2022 at 13:21 PM
• Last updated at 01/28/2022 at 13:21 PM