Dallas Stars Could Still Win Games Even Without Defensive Overhaul
The Dallas Stars are losing game after game and all but shattering their playoff hopes in the process. The defense is largely to blame. Luckily, there may be a solution around that.
Over the past few years, the Dallas Stars have never seemed to truly find a happy medium in their style of play. While not many teams find the medium on a consistent basis, the Stars can just never seem to find it at all.
What I mean by this is that every hockey team has a three-pronged attack: offense, defense, and goaltending. Most NHL teams can be considered strong in at least two of these categories and are decent in the final one. Very few possess dominance in all three, but when they do they have a strong shot at Lord Stanley.
For the Dallas Stars, they have never seemed to find their balance. Their offense is rarely the problem. For the past three years, the scoring has remained consistent and at times excessive. The defense and goaltending have been their pitfalls.
Sometimes it’s average, sometimes it’s inconsistent, and sometimes it’s just flat out inexcusable.
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While Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi have been less than admirable over the past few months, this year’s struggles have primarily been brought on by the defense.
The Stars currently sit 29th in the league in goals against average with an ugly average of 3.17. That’s a steep jump upwards from their average of 2.78, which turned out to be good enough to give Dallas first place honors in the Western Conference.
But over the past few weeks, the Stars have sunk into a rut that has been brought on by defensive woes. They are 3-5-2 in their last ten games, are currently on a three-game losing skid, and now sit seven points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. These are dark times indeed for the Stars as the season begins to draw to a close.
Their recent struggles have come at a time where Dallas is actually playing a decent brand of hockey in terms of energy and motivation. The Stars seem to be playing with plenty of heart and grit over the past few games, but have not gotten the results they have wanted due to one or two simple mistakes. Those mistakes have largely come on defense.
The Dallas Stars defense has surrendered at least three goals in 12 straight games. They have allowed 30+ shots in eight of those 12. As much as you may want to blame the goaltenders for not keeping the Stars in a certain game, the defensive mishaps are the true culprits.
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The defense has been unbearable. The opponents are being given too many glorious chances and are cashing in on them. The offense is producing, but cannot seem to outscore the inefficiencies.
So where’s the solution? The Stars are quickly running out of (or may already be out of) daylight and their chances of making the playoffs seem few and far between.
Assuming that the defense cannot be fixed overnight and that this is what the Stars are stuck with until the offseason, there’s only one other way to patch up these woes: puck possession.
It seems simple enough. But the fact of the matter is that the Dallas Stars have been producing some poor puck movement over the past few games. Once they get the puck in the offensive zone, they either try to get fancy and end up handcuffing themselves or they take one shot before immediately switching back to defense.
In order for consistency to come true, the Stars need a balanced offensive attack. That all starts with controlling the puck and setting the tempo of the game. They not only eat clock, but also produce more offensive chances and wear down the defense of the other team. It seems crazy, but it could be the only way to salvage their play.
The blue line is currently in shambles and is leaving the Stars stranded in each game. If Dallas has any hope of getting back into this playoff race, they will have to go on a run sooner or later. That run starts with wins, and wins can be accrued by succeeding in the balancing act mentioned above.
Sure the offense can score and the goaltending can give a decent effort here and there, but the defense has to turn it on. If that cannot happen, then puck possession will be key. There aren’t many more ways to save this season, but that could very well be one. We’ll see what happens tonight against the Senators.
