Lately, we have seen Dallas leaving points on the ice. The Stars do have games in hand but they play a short fifty-six-game schedule, throwing in the fact that many of these games are compacted together.
Due to weather, and covid the Stars’ rest is virtually behind them this early on.
Especially with the same eight teams playing each other eight times, the Stars want to string together some wins against their seven divisional rivals. All teams know this, and we see which teams are getting the job done.
The Stars have work to do to sneak into the top four. They have to take advantage of their games in hand, and will their way to more wins.
Having this many games in hand is not as easy as it sounds.
Since February first there are no multiple days off in between games. Just one day or the games are back to back.
Photo: APStars’ goalie Jake Oettinger is no stranger to back-to-backs. With his college experience playing for the Boston University Terriers, Oettinger is comfortable playing twice in two days. It’s often different in the NHL, however.
Often times you’re not playing the same team, or even in the same arena two nights in a row. Still an advantage any team wouldn’t mind; a goalie accustomed to playing twice in two nights.
While the Stars do not play every game back to back, the compacted schedule catches up to them even when playing every other day. Radek Faksa was not happy with ending the game with another loss.
“It’s always frustrating when you play good hockey and keep finding ways to lose games.” Faksa continues. “We don’t know the reason, but we need to keep playing hard and hopefully turn this around.”
As a professional athlete, of course, Faksa doesn’t want to make excuses.
The Stars certainly do have issues with parts of their game. Namely with turnovers, and penalties.
Once again pointing out the obvious, their packed-in schedule won’t allow the team much time to correct those problems.
Featured Image: Associated Press
