This is it folks: crunch time. The race for the two Western Conference wild card spots is now down to just three teams, but the fight for the postseason appears tighter than ever.
The Dallas Stars, winners of five of their last six games heading into Thursday night, suffered a minor setback at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, thus squandering one of their precious games in hand on the Phoenix Coyotes and missing an opportunity to gain ground on the seventh-place Minnesota Wild, who dropped a point in Chicago.
Now, in my opinion and that of many Stars fans, last night's loss was hardly indicative of the how the game went. The Stars generated quality chances but were turned away time and again by Anton Khudobin, who finished with 33 saves. I watched Khudobin play in the minors several years ago, and believe me, even then I could see potential and lots of it in that prospect from Kazakhstan. Regardless, the Stars need to cover better in their own zone and better protect the puck against oncoming forecheckers. Believe me, Dallas' upcoming opponents are sure to send additional pressure against the Stars' defensemen after they view the tape from Thursday's game. Also, the penalty kill for the men in green was just plain bad. What's so remarkable about this is that, on Tuesday, that same unit shut down Alex Ovechkin and one of the NHL's best power plays in Washington. Lindy Ruff has got to be scratching his head trying to figure out how that happened.
BUT, it's not all doom and gloom in this post! Last night the Phoenix Coyotes dropped a heartbreaker in the shootout to the lowly Edmonton Oilers.
The 'Yotes led 2-1 remaining with under a minute remaining, but then goaltender Thomas Greiss, in for the injured Mike Smith, fumbled the puck behind his own net and it was played to a wide open Sam Gagner, who had an easy tap in to tie the game for Edmonton. Both teams had chances in overtime, but the game would inevitably come down to the skills competition. Both Greiss and Oilers netminder Ben Scrivens were perfect against the first seven shooters, but then Gagner stepped up with a chance to win it and made no mistake against Greiss, deking him out and slotting it home to send the Phoenix faithful home unhappy. This was a huge result for the Stars for reasons that I will explain in-detail in a minute. The Coyotes did pass Dallas to take over sole possession of eighth place in the West, but with two games in hand for the Stars, Dave Tippett's crew could very well be left looking back upon this game as a moment in which their playoff hopes were dealt a severe blow.
With all of last night's results in, here are the updated wild card standings. Please note that the Vancouver Canucks, who I included in the race in my last post, have been all but mathematically eliminated at this point.
GP W L OT PTS ROW
WC1 Minnesota 77 39 26 12 90 32
WC2 Phoenix 78 36 28 14 86 30
9th Dallas 76 37 28 11 85 34
Minnesota (90 Points, 32 ROW)
4/5 - vs. Pittsburgh
4/7 - @ Winnipeg
4/8 - vs. Boston
4/10 - vs. St. Louis
4/13 - vs. Nashville
Phoenix (86 Points, 30 ROW)
4/8 - @ Columbus
4/10 - @ Nashville
4/12 - vs. San Jose
4/13 - vs. Dallas
Dallas (85 Points, 34 ROW)
4/5 - @ Tampa Bay
4/6 - @ Florida
4/8 - vs. Nashville
4/9 - vs. Columbus*
4/11 - vs. St. Louis
4/13 - @ Phoenix
*The Stars-Blue Jackets game on April 9th will be a full 60 minutes, but will start with the Jackets up 1-0, the scoreline at the point when it was suspended due to the Peverley incident last month.
WHAT ALL THIS MEANS:
Both the Coyotes and Wild are, momentarily, still well within the Stars' reach. Phoenix had a chance to put Dallas in a tight spot by beating Edmonton, because that would have put them at 87 points, meaning that the Stars would have had to win one of two in Florida just to tie the Coyotes. Now, all Dallas has to do is win one game in either Tampa or Miami to pass the 'Yotes and take a one point lead with an even number of games played and just four contests to go apiece. Or, if the Green Machine starts clicking again, they could take a commanding two or three point lead heading down the home stretch by taking three or all four of the points available this weekend.
Right now, the Stars magic number sits at nine. That means: if the combination of points that Dallas gets and points that Phoenix fails to get (like the one they dropped vs EDM) totals nine from now until the end of the season, then the Stars are going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To clarify, if Dallas gets a win or Phoenix loses a game in regulation, the magic number will drop to seven.
In regards to the Wild, Dallas needs some help to catch them, but the circumstances aren't too far-fetched. While the Stars are visiting the Lightning tonight, the Wild will be hosting the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins. If the Stars win and Minnesota loses, the deficit will be cut to three points AND the Stars will have the opportunity to close within one with a victory in Miami on Sunday afternoon. That would give them one week to make up a single point, not a very difficult task given Minnesota's brutal schedule to finish the season.
Here's what the Stars are looking at in terms of competition this weekend:
 |
| Hooray! He doesn't play for them anymore! |
Tampa Bay (42-26-9, 93 PTS) - The Lightning beat the Stars 4-2 on March 1st at the American Airlines Center with a dominating performance by goaltender Ben Bishop. While he stood on his head keeping out a flurry of Dallas shots, Martin St. Louis potted a pair of goals to give the Bolts the cushion they needed. HOWEVER, this game will have a decidedly different feel to it as St. Louis has since been traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for center Ryan Callahan and a pair of draft picks. So consider one Star-killer been eliminated from the equation. However, you also have to add a Star-killer to the equation as center Steven Stamkos has since returned from his brutal leg injury and has been playing as good as ever. Game time is 6:00 on FSSW+.
 |
| Uh, Dan? What's up with your pads? |
Florida (27-43-8, 62 PTS) - This one against the Panthers is your prototypical trap game. The Stars will surely be eager to get home after this lengthy road trip and the Panthers are a far cry from the team that won in Dallas way back on Opening Night. Regardless, Florida cannot be taken lightly if you're the Stars. One reason is their goaltending, as Roberto Luongo was somehow reacquired by the Panthers after spending many of his prime years in Vancouver. On a good night, he is, without a doubt, one of the league's top netminders. If not Luongo, then the Stars will be facing a familiar face in Dan Ellis, who was traded to Florida for current backup Tim Thomas. Ellis can be either very good or very bad depending on the night. The men in green, who used to always hope for the former, will now be hoping for the latter. Game time is 4:00 on TXA-21.
A few lineup notes:
- Ray Whitney only played one shift in Carolina before he left the game with a lower-body injury. He is listed as day-to-day and will not play against the Lightning.
-Erik Cole is listed as questionable for the game against Tampa Bay with an upper-body injury, but he has been skating in practice, so my guess is that he plays in the wake of the injury to Whitney.
-Aaron Rome has an undisclosed injury but Stars fans are certainly not fretting his absence, as they are more than happy to sink or swim with prospect Patrik Nemeth, who this team will be relying on very heavily in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment