Dallas Stars Shooting For The Playoffs

The Dallas Stars weren’t shining too brightly earlier this season when CEO Jim Lites ripped into high-priced forwards Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn at the end of December. The team was sitting in the last wild card playoff spot in the Western Conference at the time and are now in third place in the Central Division.

The Stars haven’t exactly been on fire since Lites’ public outburst, but they’ve gradually climbed the standings. Fans are certainly hoping they don’t begin to fade now as they try to make the playoffs for just the third time in the 11 seasons.

Tyler Seguin was leading the squad in scoring with 32 points and captain Jamie Benn was right behind him with 30 points in 38 outings when Lites tore into them. Since then, the 27-year-old Seguin has produced 22 points in 18 games while the 29-year-old Benn has chipped in with nine points in 17 outings.

Dallas has managed to go 6-3-1 in the last 10 games though and had a six-point lead over the Vancouver Canucks who were just outside the last wild card spot. The St. Louis Blues were just two points behind them and the Minnesota Wild four back in the race for third place in the division.

The Stars are 1-1-1 on their current five-game road swing and have been a bit inconsistent lately with a five-game winning streak followed by a two-match losing skid and then another win. They’ve won six of their last eight however so at least they’re on the right track. If they hope to secure a playoff spot Dallas will likely have to improve on their current road record of 11-14-3 as of Feb. 14^th as half of their remaining 26 games are away from home.

Head coach Jim Montgomery has been relying on goaltender Anton Khudobin lately as Ben Bishop hasn’t fully recovered from his upper-body injury. The 32-year-old Khudobin of Kazakhstan was signed as a free agent last summer and has gone 10-10-3 in 25 games this year with a pair of shutouts. He has a sparkling goals-against average of 2.34 with a 92.7 save percentage and has proved to be a solid acquisition.

Overall, the team has played well defensively with Bishop and Khudobin sharing the crease and the blue liners pulling their weight. In fact, Dallas had the second-best goals-against average in the league at 2.50 on Feb. 13^th. However, when it comes to the offensive end of the rink they’ve struggled on more than one occasion. The Stars have scored two or fewer goals in 31 of their games this year and have gone 8-19-4 in them.

Their offensive output was ranked 29^th in the 31-team league at 2.59 goals-per-game while the Tampa Bay Lightning led the way at 3.84 and the league average was 3.03. Dallas is the lowest-scoring team in the league to currently sit in a playoff spot and this puts a ton of pressure on the netminders and overall defensive game.

It’s possible the Stars can hang onto that spot for the rest of the season, but their chances of making the playoffs will improve immensely if they can start putting the puck in the net. Especially on the road where they sit dead last in goals for.

Montgomery has tried to kick start the offense by juggling the lines, but he hasn’t come across the right chemistry as of yet. This means general manager Jim Nill might be busy between now and the Feb. 25^th NHL trade deadline as he tries to find some scoring help.

One player who could do with picking up his socks is 23-year-old Russian forward Valeri Nichushkin who was drafted 10^th overall by Dallas in 2013. The 6-foot-4-inch, 205 lb right-winger has just seven assists in 40 games this season with a minus-5 mark while playing 12:19 minutes per game on average. His goal drought is a concern as he notched 23 goals and 41 assists for 64 points in 166 games with the Stars prior to this season between 2013 and 2016.

Nichushkin spent the past two campaigns toiling in the KHL with CSKA Moscow and posted 27 goals, 24 assists and 51 points in 86 contests and was a plus-36. He contributed 14 goals and 20 assists as a rookie with Dallas in 2013/14, but played just eight games the next season due to hip surgery. He added nine goals and 20 helpers in 2015/16 in 79 outings, but couldn’t agree to a new deal with the Stars so headed home for two years.

He agreed to a two-year deal with Nill last year for a total of $5.9 million, but hasn’t done enough to earn his paycheck as of yet.

Head coach Montgomery recently told the Dallas media, “Nichushkin’s had plenty of opportunities to have at least five goals this year, it just hasn’t gone in. It’s hard. We try not to talk about results with him.”

The lack of production has resulted in Nichushkin being named a healthy scratch on several occasions and Montgomery added, “We consistently have to be penetrating the middle of the ice inside the dots. He needs to understand that he’s going to score goals from the hash marks to the goal line and the blue paint. That’s where he needs to be in order to have success.”

It’s possible Nichushkin is simply taking a lot longer than expected to readjust to the smaller 200 x 85 foot NHL ice surface. But he can really help the team’s playoff chances by finding the back of the net a few times during the stretch run. He’s not hurting the team defensively, but will struggle to stay in the lineup of he can’t pick up his offensive game.

On the other side of the coin, it’s going to be hard to post points while playing on the fourth line. Perhaps Montgomery would have more success playing Nichushkin with Seguin for a few games. If things don’t soon change though, the big Russian could find himself shipped out of town by the trade deadline.

In the meantime, the Stars will continue to shoot for the playoffs with their shining defensive displays and hopefully unearth some consistent scoring along the way.