Stars impressive in second game of back-to-back series

When the Dallas Stars stepped on the ice at the Verizon Center against the Washington Capitals, it was the 10th set of back-to-back games this season. The Stars walked away with an impressive 4-2 win against a team that is currently in a playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

"I thought tonight, even in a back-to-back, we came out real well," Stars head coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think we set the tone in the first six or seven minutes and, you know, we took the crowd out of the building."

An important quick start is critical during any game for the Stars, especially during your second game in as many days. Dallas is 28-11-1 when it scores the game's first goal, and just 12-20-7 when it surrenders it.

The game as a whole was refreshing for the team. Dallas had not been doing so well on the second half of the back-to-back series game over the course of the season. Prior to the game in Washington, Dallas had gone 2-6-1, collecting just seven of a possible 20 points.

Teams obviously struggle with fatigue when they play two games in as many days, but in addition, the Stars have to deal with a lot of travel. In fact, according to Hockey Gear HQ, the Stars have to travel 48,217 miles throughout the course of the entire season, which is the second most in the NHL. That's even 1,556 miles more than last season. 

Every back-to-back set of games the Stars have played this season has come when they are on the road. It would be wise to predict that they were doing all right in the second game of a back-to-back series, as the Stars have actually had more wins on the road (19) than they have at home (13). But the six losses in the second game of a back-to-back stretch is the most in all of the Central Division.

Most of the time, the back-to-back games are relatively close in distance. One of the Stars wins in this situation came when they beat the New York Rangers after traveling from Buffalo the previous night. Their other win, however, came when they traveled from Washington in January to Chicago, where they beat the Blackhawks 6-3.

There is no clear correlation between distance traveled between back-to-back games and whether or not Dallas wins. That leads us to one last option: Maybe the Stars just get fatigued when they have to play two in a row. Tyler Seguin wouldn't agree after scoring what would be the game-winning goal on the power play.

"I don't know if it mattered who we played tonight, I just think it's a good feeling in this locker room on how we played tonight, especially on a back-to-back," Seguin said. "Before the third (period), we said we wanted to play a boring, simple game and I thought we did even better than that besides the one goal there … that was a big two points for us."

Getting two points out of this game helps the Stars immensely. They now sit just five spots out of the final Wild Card spot, something that seemed impossible just a couple of weeks ago. But the overall record on the second game of a back-to-back series has hurt the Stars this season.

Records of teams within the Central Division in the second game of back-to-back series

To get an idea on how the Stars perform during the second game of a back-to-back set, it is important to see how Dallas stacks up against other teams. Here are the records of teams within the Central Division when they play in the second game of a back-to-back series. For further context, the point percentage is provided for both back-to-back games and for the course of the entire season.

Every team within the division, except for the Jets, performs worse when in the tail end of a back-to-back game than they do in any other game. That is to be expected. But what is concerning for the Stars is the fact that they are only getting 35 percent of the total points available when they play in the second game of a back-to-back series, second lowest in the Central Division. And the differential between their point percentage in back-to-back games compared to the point percentage over the course of their entire season is the third highest in the division.

What is even more disturbing is that five of those six losses have come against Central Division opponents. That's a potential 10-point swing on the standings. In fact, two of those losses came to the Minnesota Wild. If the Stars could have gotten even three of the four points, the Stars would have 77 points, and the Wild would have 78.

At this point in the season, the Stars are within sniffing distance of a Wild Card spot. They have two sets of back-to-back games remaining, and they need to squeeze as many points out of those games as they possibly can. And with four wins in their last four games, the Stars may be finding their game at the right time. Every point from here on out can mean the difference from playing in late April to crossing your fingers for the draft lottery pick.

"I think every game is pretty much a must win from here on out for us," Stars forward Jamie Benn said. "I think we're just playing a good team game."

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