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Streaking Stars move into eighth place in West

nystromgetty

If the 2013 playoffs began on Saturday night, the Dallas Stars would be the West’s eighth seed.

They beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 to extend their surprising streak to five straight wins. To many, the most amazing part is that a team that already traded away Jaromir Jagr, Derek Roy and Brenden Morrow is on fire with Kari Lehtonen on the injured list.

Richard Bachman is known almost as much for the inevitable Stephen King jokes his name demands as he is for his goaltending, but this streak could change that. He has three of the Stars’ last four wins, allowing three goals on 82 shots during that span.

Again, this win places the Stars at the eighth spot in the West with 45 points in 41 games. The slumping Red Wings hold the same point total in the same amount of games played, but while the Stars are 21-17-3, Detroit are on the short end of the tiebreaker because of fewer wins (19-15-7).

All of a sudden, the Stars’ season-closing game against the Red Wings might just have some serious stakes.

Beating the odds

Sports Club Stats still puts the odds on Detroit by a small amount; the Red Wings are given 52.2 percent odds to make the playoffs while the Stars weigh in at 42.8 percent (they saw their chances skyrocket by 10.4 percent with today’s win).

Still, the improbable is becoming increasingly probable; closing out the season with a mere 4-3-0 mark in their last seven games would give them a 68.4 percent chance to make it.
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Ultimately, there’s still a long way to go, but who would have expected the Stars to get this close once that trade deadline purge began?