{"id":446970,"date":"2026-02-05T12:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/446970\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T12:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:51:12","slug":"dallas-stars-enter-olympic-break-on-a-tear-but-a-daunting-tireless-journey-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/446970\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Stars enter Olympic break on a tear, but a daunting, tireless journey awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stars<\/a> couldn\u2019t have asked for much more heading into the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

After losing 10 of 13 following their last break for the holidays, the Stars won their final six before entering the season\u2019s longest break, where most of the Stars won\u2019t play in another hockey game until Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

As some head for vacation and others head for the opening ceremonies in Milan<\/a>, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan can take some comfort knowing his team has resolved many of its long-lingering problems from December and January. It\u2019s exactly what a coach wants heading into a long period away.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also exactly when you don\u2019t want a break to arrive.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s nice because it buys you some peace on the break,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got two weeks of peace, and that\u2019s not very often in the league. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do know that with these streaks, that much of a break, you\u2019ve got to try to start them back up again. It\u2019s almost like they end because it\u2019s all new when you come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 offensive struggles that dragged on for a month have subsided, with the Stars scoring three or more goals in their last six games. Many of their players who couldn\u2019t find a rhythm for extended stretches like Matt Duchene, Jamie Benn and Thomas Harley have hit their stride. <\/p>\n

Harley scored the overtime game-winner against Winnipeg earlier this week<\/a>. Duchene and Benn are on six- and four-game point streaks, respectively. Benn scored twice in Wednesday\u2019s 5-4 win over the Blues<\/a>, including the game-winner with 22 seconds remaining. Duchene added a point and an assist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of hate the timing of this, to be honest,\u201d Duchene said. \u201cI\u2019m feeling good as an individual, and then, as a team, we\u2019re rolling. But I think that hunger will continue to fester in the break.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stars will earn some well-deserved time off, but the most important stretch of their season begins as soon as they return. It\u2019ll be 25 games over two tireless months as the Stars fight for seeding in what should be their fifth consecutive postseason appearance.<\/p>\n

The Stars simply cannot afford to lose any momentum like they did during their last break.<\/p>\n

The holiday break lasted just three days. The Stars had won eight of 10 shortly before the break began. But one loss just before Christmas<\/a> grew to six straight. The Stars didn\u2019t win another game until Jan. 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And even when they did \u2014 scoring issues, penalties and overtime woes persisted. It took the Stars a full month to recover.<\/p>\n

In an 82-game season, every team goes through stretches of that kind. Even the high-flying Colorado Avalanche, who were once poised to threaten the NHL record for points in a season, have stumbled into the break, going 4-5-1 in their last 10.<\/p>\n

Gulutzan is just hopeful that his team can learn from its past mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adversity has really made us take a look at ourselves and see what makes us successful and what makes us a better team,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cI think from the coaching staff to the players sitting on the bench watching the ice, that extra one degree we\u2019ve been talking about basically since I got here is in play and it makes us better as a team. The adversity has forced us in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll also need to clean up one glaring issue that lingers into the break. While the Stars managed to close out six straight wins, it wasn\u2019t without allowing opponents to climb back into games late. The Stars sacrificed third-period leads to Vegas<\/a>, Winnipeg and St. Louis twice. All four games were decided in overtime, a shootout or the final minute of regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always something to work on as a group,\u201d Benn said. \u201cWe\u2019re not perfect, by any means. But I like the way we find ways to win. We\u2019ll get some rest and come back and work at our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe the motivation coming back this time will be better. Someone in the locker room is likely to be an Olympic gold medalist. Others who missed out on their respective nation\u2019s rosters<\/a> will be well-rested ahead of a meaningful playoff push where the Stars seek to position themselves for another deep run \u2014 one that they hope can extend beyond the Western Conference finals, where they\u2019ve fallen the last three years.<\/p>\n

As long as the Olympians can emerge from their tournament healthy, Dallas will be as close to full strength as it\u2019s been with defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin returning to the lineup Wednesday night after missing four games and Lian Bichsel set to return on Feb. 25<\/a> after missing two months to surgery.<\/p>\n

Plus, the Stars still have everything left to play for. They\u2019re just six points behind Colorado, who has two games in hand, and one point behind Minnesota with a game in hand. Dallas has five head-to-head contests remaining against the only two teams ahead of it in the division, conference and league standings (though, Carolina and Tampa Bay could pass Dallas with wins Thursday night).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be where you\u2019re at in the season, but at the same time, we\u2019re preparing each game for the playoffs,\u201d Duchene said. \u201cWe know we\u2019re going to have Minnesota in the first round. If we win that, we\u2019ve got Colorado. To do that, we need our game to be at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stars better enjoy their rest while they have it. March, April and beyond will certainly keep them busy.<\/p>\n

Jamie Benn\u2019s heroics lift Stars over Blues as Dallas heads into Olympic break on high note<\/a>Watch: Dallas Stars give Olympics-bound players send-off ceremony before game vs. Blues<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Stars couldn\u2019t have asked for much more heading into the Olympic break. After losing 10 of 13…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[196,147,5278,3490,5,3733,2876,4,2602,43,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-446970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-dallasstars","11":"tag-glen-gulutzan","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-jamie-benn","14":"tag-matt-duchene","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-olympics","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116018117733228517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}