In 180 short minutes of playing time, the Dallas Stars will officially close the book on the 2016-17 season. You might consider it a great relief or even a great accomplishment that they actually made it this far. But remember that after April 8, there will be no Stars hockey for about six months.
That’s an awfully long time, but it’s not like they haven’t been in this position before. Before they qualified for the postseason in two of the past three years, they endured a five-year playoff drought where nothing seemed to go right.
If the recent past has taught us anything, it’s that the Dallas Stars are more accustomed to only playing a regular season and then enduring the long offseason.