Stars know mistakes must stop to end their early-season struggles
Preseason predictions don't mean a thing - just ask the Dallas Stars.
After winning the Central Division a year ago, many expected the Stars' lethal offense to keep them in the thick of the playoff mix, but 30 games in, it's been a much different story.
Due to a weak Western Conference, Dallas sits just two points out of a wild-card spot, but the team owns a record of 11-13-6, and is only 3-6-1 in the last 10 games.
The latest setback was a 3-1 road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the club's second loss in as many days.
"It's not good enough, it's not good enough with the type of team we have," forward Jason Spezza said, according to Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. "It doesn't matter if you play well if you don't win games. It's a results-oriented business, and these losses get tougher and tougher because we know we have a hole to climb out of."
The frustrating part for Dallas is they feel they're playing good enough to win, but are getting burned by mistakes. Many of these mishaps have been penalties, evidenced by the Stars' 27th-ranked PK unit (76.4%).
"We got out of a lot of games last year where we're winning games 5-3 and mistakes weren't killing us. Last year, the big mistakes we could wash some of them under the carpet. This year, the big mistakes are standing out," head catch Lindy Ruff said.
Coming up, the Stars play eight of nine at home, where they're 7-4-2. It's a monumental homestand in the eyes of Ruff.
"This will be the season for us, I really feel," Ruff said. "For me, I think all of the season is going to land on this homestand."