Stars skid into NHL playoffs on 7-game losing streak and have season on the line again
The Dallas Stars enter the playoffs on a seven-game winless streak and face a tough test immediately. Still the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, Dallas opens Game 1 at home Saturday against Central Division rival Colorado, which finished its regular season days earlier. The Stars say the regular-season slide must end now if they want another deep run.
Players insist the slump will not define them. “No concern,” Marchment said. “We’re not going to worry about the regular season. It’s behind us now. … We’re going to turn the page and ramp it up here.”
Coach Pete DeBoer stressed that the team must raise its level quickly. “We’ve got to figure it out. I mean, you know, Saturday’s the first time in probably three weeks where we’re playing basically with our season back on the line again,” DeBoer said. “So our desperation level has to be there, our execution has to be there. … We’ve got to make sure we’re ready for that.”
Dallas locked its playoff spot on March 29. The matchup with Colorado was set early and carries extra weight; the teams met in last year’s second round, a series the Stars won in six games. Colorado will enter the series with fresher legs after finishing its regular season last Sunday.
The slump has been stark. Since reaching 50 wins on April 3, the Stars are 0-5-2. They were outscored 34-18 and were outshot by about 10 shots per game in that span, which ended with a 5-1 loss at Nashville on Wednesday. “It doesn’t really matter. You’d like to be going into the playoffs in a different way. We went in the playoffs last year like 10-2 and lost the first two games,” Tyler Seguin said. “This year we’re going in oh-and-whatever. All that matters is the puck drop on Saturday, so we’ll move on pretty quickly.”
Injuries have complicated the finish. Seguin returned for the regular-season finale after missing 58 games following hip surgery. He picked up the secondary assist on Mason Marchment’s goal 16 seconds into the loss at Nashville and has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 20 games this season. Top goal scorer Jason Robertson left that same game after six minutes with a lower-body injury and his status for the opener is uncertain. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen has missed 32 games since injuring his left knee on Jan. 28, later having surgery and not yet returning to practice.
Historically, few teams reach the playoffs on such a long streak without a win. Dallas is only the ninth team in NHL history to enter the postseason winless in at least seven straight. The record is eight, shared by the 1987-88 Chicago Blackhawks and the 1991-92 Montreal Canadiens. The 2019-20 New York Islanders finished 0-3-4 before the pandemic pause and still reached the Eastern Conference Final in the adjusted playoff format. Only the 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup after entering the playoffs with a comparable skid.
The Stars’ regular season is over, but their year will be judged by what comes next. Saturday’s puck drop starts a series that could decide whether Dallas extends its recent playoff success or ends the season early.
