Even in rough patch, Dallas Stars are still in the thick of the race

The Dallas Stars went 1-2-1 over the course of the past seven days. Not particularly good for a team that hasn’t left themselves much room for error in a suffocating gaggle at the bottom of the NHL’s Western Conference playoff picture. This was low-lighted by a bad loss at home on Saturday to the floundering New Jersey Devils.

While we’re here, I feel compelled to address some personal feelings about that specific game. Namely, that was the first loss in quite some time in which I felt that the Stars might not be ready for a playoff push. Sure, they took a 1-0 lead into the third period, but they cratered in a way that resembled their early season habits and looked awful in defeat.

Despite a week of shaky returns, the Dallas Stars improved their playoff lot.

It was so bad that local lightning rod, head coach Rick Bowness, called his team out in his post game remarks, and deservedly so. Now, if you’re part of the very vocal faction of fans that want to send him out on the next available bus to nowhere, it was just another case of the bench boss deflecting blame from his own coaching tactics.

Fair enough, I suppose, but I recall it being referred to as “motivation” when past coaches would lambaste their players in public. But one way or the other, that third period collapse to the Devils was something of a catastrophic moment in a season that has had a lot of them, especially early on and before the team righted the ship towards playoff contention.

So almost in spite of their recent lackluster results, the Dallas Stars–at least as of this moment–find themselves in sole possession of the second wild card spot, two points clear of the Vegas Golden Knights with a game in hand.

Not too shabby for a team that wobbled considerably against some subpar competition over the past week. The Stars have this maddening tendency to play to the level of their competition. Losses to the Seattle Kraken and the aforementioned Devils display that in spades.

Yet they managed to bounce back and grab a point from Toronto on Thursday night that they surely didn’t deserve. And they also navigated a goofy 6-4 win yesterday in Chicago that helped to redeem the weekend. Chicago’s awful, but they always give Dallas trouble, so getting the full two points on the road was huge, irrespective of the competition.

Crazier yet, the first wild card spot is in play because Nashville and Los Angeles are falling back in the standings. In essence, there is a four-team group–the Kings, the Predators, the Stars, and the Golden Knights–bunched within three points of each other for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference.

It makes for some gut wrenching nights in the scoreboard watching department. But at the end of the day, it’s kind of fun too. Some of the fans won’t admit it, but they’re also lying if they tell you they’re not nervously keeping an eye on the standings. The good news for the Dallas Stars is that they’ve got seven of their last ten games at home. They’ve got every chance to write their own script directly into the postseason tournament. Let’s go.

• Published on 04/11/2022 at 11:37 AM
• Last updated at 04/11/2022 at 11:37 AM