Big points tonight
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
I'm not going to say tonight's game is the biggest of the year because who knows what's ahead, but it's big. The Stars have slipped in the standings due to their 0-3-0 slide out of the break and are starting to put themselves in a tough spot in the playoff race. Both Detroit and Calgary won yesterday, leaving the Stars six points behind the Red Wings and five points behind Calgary. Nashville's another team to keep an eye on, and the Stars are seven points behind the Predators.
The Stars have a game in hand on all those teams and that game is tonight. They need the points, especially because of what happens on Tuesday. Calgary is at Detroit on that night and that means one of those two teams is guaranteed to move even farther ahead of the Stars and leave them in even a bigger hole as far as the eighth spot.
It won't be an easy task tonight. Washington has the best record in the league, is dominant at home and is the the highest scoring team in the league (3.89 goals per game). The Stars, on the other hand, are a team that looks in disarray right now, giving up 17 goals in the last three games. The issues are well documented. Can they turn it around? Sure. Will they? Time will tell and tonight will, well, be telling.
The Stars are the only team in the race around that final spot playing tonight.
| Rk | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Sunday/Monday |
| 7 | Nashville | 65 | 35 | 25 | 5 | 75 | L 4-2 vs. Vancouver/idle |
| 8 | Detroit | 65 | 31 | 22 | 12 | 74 | W 5-4 at Chicago/idle |
| 9 | Calgary | 65 | 32 | 24 | 9 | 73 | W 5-2 at Minnesota/idle |
| 10 | St. Louis | 65 | 30 | 26 | 9 | 69 | idle/idle |
| 11 | Dallas | 64 | 28 | 24 | 12 | 68 | idle/at Washington |
| 12 | Anaheim | 65 | 30 | 27 | 8 | 68 | L 4-3 vs. Montreal (SO)/idle |
| 13 | Minnesota | 64 | 31 | 28 | 5 | 67 | L 5-2 vs. Calgary/idle |
This team isn’t going to the postseason with Crawford as the coach. He has already lost this team! Even at their worst last year, the Stars didn’t look this bad.
It doesn’t matter what type of “system” you’re utilizing or how well they are executing...When your team LOSES ITS WILL TO COMPETE, there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for that as a coach. Crawford can’t get the job done, even at the most basic level.