During a NHL regular season, teams are going to have stretches where they play well and get chances and receive bad luck in return: a hot opposing goaltender, a dip in shooting percentage, a run of tough penalty kill luck. But the underlying play is good, so the belief is that results will come if the team just sticks to it.
In a pandemic-shortened season playing only divisional games, the time for that kind of moral victory thinking has come and gone. A run of not getting results means chasing for a playoff spot, which is where the Dallas Stars find themselves.