First Shift 🏒
The Stars are sort of on an episode of Survivor this week, but the irony is they aren’t the ones trying to survive.
Dallas has already clinched a playoff spot in the West with a 44-18-11 record for 99 points.
But in the topsy-turvy East, where playoff spots still are up for grabs, hungry teams are trying to take points away from the Lads in Victory Green. The New York Islanders did that Thursday to move to 42-27-5 (89 points). The Pittsburgh Penguin did not Saturday, falling to 36-21-16 (88 points). Now, the Philadelphia Flyers (36-24-12, 84 points) take their shot on Sunday followed by the Boston Bruins (41-24-8, 90 points) on Tuesday, as the Stars seek to raise their level of competition in hopes of preparing themselves for the playoffs.
“I think it’s really good to play important games at the end of the year,” said defenseman Lian Bichsel after a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh Saturday. “All of the teams on the road trip are fighting for points, so it’s really hard to play against. They’re fighting for their lives, they want to make the playoffs, so we have to fight back. It’s good preparation for the playoffs.”
Dallas now has to play a Flyers team that is 7-1-1 in its past nine games and is coming off a 5-3 win at Detroit on Saturday. Both teams have to play the second night of a back-to-back and both teams have travel – although the Stars actually got in ahead of the Flyers.
“It will be nice to get in at a good time,” said forward Robertson after an afternoon game in Pittsburgh. “It will be another pesky team that’s fighting for it, so it should be exciting.”
The Stars are hoping to be climbing out of an 0-3-1 slump with Saturday’s win, and also are excited by the return of Rantanen, who was injured playing for Finland in the Olympics. His first game back from a five-week absence was Saturday and he had a goal and an assist.
“It’s a lot different from practice,” Rantanen said. “Games are different from practice. Sometimes, you think it’s faster than it really is and you’re forcing plays a little bit. Overall, the body felt good.”
The Stars as a team also felt good. They held the Penguins to 12 shots on goal and had 26 themselves. They had a ton of quality scoring chances and they cashed in with a 2-for-5 night on the power play.
Robertson scored his 40th goal of the season, joining teammate Wyatt Johnston to become the first duo to hit 40 goals each since the team moved from Minnesota in 1993. Dallas also won the battle of faceoffs and blocked shots and looked like a team coming out of a slump.
“I thought we did a better job of dictating pace of play in the second and then it went from there,” said coach Glen Gulutzan. “We got our feet moving, and when you’re moving and not reacting, you actually get to make plays.”
The Stars are hoping to continue that in this mini-match of survivor.
“This is great for us,” Gulutzan said. “Their desperation is real, so you have to raise your game up. I like the challenge, we need to be better and that’s good for us.”
