Friday morning playoff update
Thursday night was not a good one for the Stars. Both Calgary and Detroit won, moving them seven and six points ahead of the Stars, respectively. Nashville lost (8-5 in a wild game against San Jose), so they are seven points ahead of the Stars as well.
St. Louis won too, which moved them one point ahead of the Stars and into 10th place in the West.
The Stars need to win Friday just to keep pace and then hope they can make up ground as their six-game homestand moves along. Their margin for error is starting to get pretty slim. Very slim. Making up points isn't easy, especially when you have to eclipse a couple of teams to get in the way the Stars do. They'd have to knock off two of Nashville, Calgary and Detroit to make it to the top eight, and then there's St. Louis to worry about as well. That's why getting on a roll on this homestand is so crucial.
Here's a look at the current picture.
| Rk | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Thursday/Friday |
| 7 | Nashville | 67 | 36 | 26 | 5 | 77 | L 8-5 at San Jose/at Anaheim |
| 8 | Calgary | 67 | 34 | 24 | 9 | 77 | W 2-0 vs. Ottawa/idle |
| 9 | Detroit | 67 | 32 | 23 | 12 | 76 | W 5-1 vs. Minnesota/idle |
| 10 | St. Louis | 66 | 31 | 26 | 9 | 71 | W 2-1 (SO) at NY Islanders/idle |
| 11 | Dallas | 66 | 29 | 25 | 12 | 70 | idle/vs. Los Angeles |
| 12 | Minnesota | 66 | 31 | 29 | 6 | 68 | L 5-1 at Detroit/at Buffalo |
| 13 | Anaheim | 66 | 30 | 28 | 8 | 68 | idle/vs. Nashville |
It’s especially tough when the teams they are chasing keep winning.

Ya gotta figure that this club must go at least 12-4 and maybe 13-3 to have a sniff at the last playoff spot. That is going to be really difficult. If they’re going to get there, one has to believe the Stars need to get 10 points from this homestand. With the strength of the clubs coming into town, that will be a tall task indeed!