The Dallas Stars have climbed back into the Western Conference race thanks to a seven-game winning streak to close 2024 and start 2025. The winning streak has Dallas suddenly hot on the heels of the top contenders in the West. Dallas is back near where it expected to be before the season started.
“We’re climbing back in,” head coach Pete DeBoer told the media at Friday’s practice in Montreal. “We lost a lot of ground early; didn’t have a great start to the season. We started slow, and we’re just starting to hit our stride and rhythm now. We’re trying to make up ground. We’re closing the gap but we were, at one point, probably 12, 14 points behind some of the leaders. Now, we’re at least within striking distance of some of the teams at the top of the conference.”
Dallas Stars Scoring Goals
Dallas’ scoring struggles, or more accurately struggles with balanced scoring, were part of the reason behind the slow start. After some offseason and early season injuries and the toll of back-to-back Western Conference Final appearances, many of the Stars’ expected standout players simply struggled to put the puck in the net.
The one line that remained consistently good was the combination of Matt Duchene, Tyler Seguin, and Mason Marchment. However, two of those players (Seguin and Marchment) have recently departed the lineup because of injuries. Marchment is expected to return after facial surgery. Seguin will miss the remainder of the regular season.
The injuries caused the lineup to shuffle. However, it also seem to have awakened the Stars’ offence and coincided with many players finally finding their feet offensively. Forwards Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn, and Roope Hintz have all caught fire since the brief break over Christmas. Dallas has scored at least three goals in every game during its current winning streak before the win on Saturday night. That’s thanks to its deep lineup suddenly performing to its high expectations.
“I think our team has kind of galvanized around that and really paid attention to the details of the game,” DeBoer added. “We haven’t beat ourselves because of losing two players like that. It’s made us more detailed in trying to win games.”
Emerging Contributors
Another contributing factor to the Stars’ recent run is the development of the young rookies on the team. Logan Stankoven was the headliner of the bunch entering the season after impressive outings in spurts in the NHL last season. This was particularly true in the playoffs. Mavrik Bourque was coming off an MVP season in the American Hockey League (AHL). Oskar Back was expected to be a key defensive forward.
Back earned a contract extension for his play and Stankoven has produced points despite struggling to score goals. However, Bourque may finally be hitting his stride. The forward still only has three goals on the season but has points in back-to-back games for the first time in his young career.
“I’ve played some good games this year, but I knew I had to show I could play good games back-to-back,” Bourque remarked after a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on January 9. “I felt good. I’m just trying to turn things around here and build on the last two games.”
Veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov has also been a terrific surprise contributor. He is on pace for his best season as a Dallas Star and playing along the top line. Through 40 games, he needs just one more goal to match last season’s total. The veteran has been excellent in shootouts and on penalty shots.
Challenges to Dallas Stars’ Winning Streak
The Dallas Stars winning streak has the defending Western Conference champion within six points of the top spot in the conference. This is with 42 games to play. Stars fans should be ecstatic about the recent run given the struggles early in the season. However, how far can Dallas climb?
The Stars are still third in their division, trailing Minnesota and Winnipeg. They also trail Pacific Division-leading Vegas. However, this is the best Dallas has played all season. The the goal scoring is suddenly coming every night instead of in two-or-three-game spurts. If it continues, we may see a run from Dallas like it had to close last season.
However, they are on their longest road trip of the year and have not been a good road team this season. Games against teams like Toronto, Colorado, Carolina, and Vegas also loom this month. So, while the winning streak was much needed and absolutely has boosted the team’s confidence as it slowly rises up the standings, at some point it will come to an end.
When that time comes, the Stars’ response will tell us what kind of team Dallas has this season and how deep of a run they can make.
Main photo by: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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