From fisticuffs to goalpost luck, we’re taking a look at the Dallas Stars through every 10 game stretch of the season. Today? We hit the big 3-0.
The Dallas Stars are like a generations old quilt right now. It’s the best analogy we can foster. If you held them up to anyone on the outside looking in, the seams might not make much sense. The patterns wouldn’t be easily understood or discernible.
In fact, you might look at the whole and not really know what you’re seeing at all. And yet the quilt is beautiful. It simply works. It doesn’t matter how.
The Stars defense to this point? Stitched to the ice with needle and thread, a patchwork project built of necessity while Dallas searches for a miracle cure to its injury-laden blue line.
And yet … while the parts and pieces have been sewn together by way of call-ups, rookies and trading cards, the result has been nothing short of eye candy.
John Klingberg is still likely to miss the next seven games.
Stephen Johns is, well … we aren’t sure if he’ll even play this season. Marc Methot continues to battle having termites eat at his knees and Connor Carrick could be back with Klingberg after having missed so many games now I’ve honestly lost count.
You’d think the Stars would be decimated in the standings. You’d be wrong.
We knew the group would have to fight to hold its head above water. They have and then some. Gavin Bayreuther? Taylor Fedun and Joel Hanley? Had you drawn these names from a hat at the start of the year, the casual fan might not even know their placement on the ice.
To sit third in goals against average and fifth in penalty killing is a testament to a lot of things surrounding this team: Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin have been warriors in net and the coaching staff has worked some kind of magic on the nightly.
Roman Polak has been vital and those are words not often spoken across the NHL.
But it’s those replacements who have shined. The Bayreuthers and the Feduns and the Hanleys. Miro
Pointskanen
Heiskanen isn’t a replacement, but he’s still a rookie logging heavy minutes AND scoring goals. I could go on. I won’t. Let’s get to the record which speaks for itself.
Currently:
16-11-3
Home: 10-3-1
Road: 6-8-2
Last 10: 5-4-1
Through 30 games, the Stars are fourth in the Central Division. They are three points back of third. Oh yeah, and they’re four back of first after having a four-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
Not too shabby for a group of misfits on that back-end. But we digress. Here’s to hoping we didn’t jinx them ahead of another difficult stretch.
Next 10:
@ Anaheim Ducks
@ San Jose Sharks
@ Colorado Avalanche
Calgary Flames
Chicago Blackhawks
@ Minnesota Wild
New York Islanders
@ Nashville Predators
Detroit Red Wings
Montreal Canadiens
Half of those are on the road, which at this point isn’t surprising. But the 6-8-2 record away from home has us feeling okay about it, yes? Sticking around .500 in foreign territory while dominating your own turf is a recipe for success so we’ll take that. Let’s get to some notes:
- The Stars have been inordinately lucky when it comes to opponents hitting the goal post. I’m not sure what the number is, or if anyone is even keeping track at this point, but it has to be near the top of the league. Unfortunately it’s been offset by the fact that they’re also getting in the way of Tyler Seguin’s goals. The broadcast clocked him once some games back at nine hit so far. It’s been more since. He leads the league in that category. Major ugh.
- Esa Lindell is uh, suddenly a powerhouse bruiser? The rest of the NHL has apparently been put on notice.
- Speaking of that Edmonton Oilers game, can we please have some more? Don’t hold back your animosity, fellas.
- Brett Ritchie wants to stay in the bigs, we guess. He has three points since being reinserted into the lineup three games ago, including two goals.
- Heiskanen could hit 15 goals and 40 points this season and I’m not sure we should be surprised.
- Let’s take a dip for a sec outside of the NHL and look at Stars prospect Jason Robertson. He has 31 goals and 59 points playing in the Ontario Hockey League. He’s seen 31 games. Is that good?
- Every year there seems to be this debacle concerning Jamie Benn and his ability. He’s just streaky. We aren’t sure why that’s hard to understand. After going seven games without a goal, he has five in the previous eight. He has seven points in that span as well. We’re reminded of last season when his ability was (again) questioned and he scored two hat tricks in about four days, Let’s pump the breaks.
- The powerplay is coming around, but boy does it look bad at times. Hard to watch, really. The biggest issue? Faceoffs. The Stars struggle to win faceoffs in the attacking zone when they’re on the man advantage. It’s bananas (please, Alexander Radulov, don’t eat this article). Losing the faceoff pretty much kills the entirety as it leads to the next biggest issue: struggling to even enter the offensive zone. We hope it will right itself when Klingberg comes back, but the curious passes and questionable decisions to rim it around the boards with nobody on the other side is frustrating. Ahhh and breathe.
So … how should I feel?
With all that’s gone on in the health department, with Bishop missing a handful of games, and with Seguin struggling to hone in on the net instead of iron … you should feel damn good right now.
Keeping pace at 95 points with a new coaching staff isn’t easy, but to do it with this number of hurdles is something else. Give head coach Jim Montgomery and his assistants a lot of credit for the results on the ice and we’ll see ya at 40.