It wasn't supposed to go like this.

The Dallas Stars dropped another game Thursday night, falling 3-1 to the Minnesota Wild and further cementing their surprising status as one of the NHL's worst teams.

They've been the league's second-most futile club since the final day of 2016.

#Stars downed by #Wild for 6th loss in their last 7 games. They're 6-13-3 in the last 22 games. Since Dec 31, only COL's been worse (3-16-1) — StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 17, 2017

The Stars are now 5-14-3 in that time, and at 22-27-10 all season, they remain third-last in the Western Conference ahead of only the Colorado Avalanche and the Arizona Coyotes, the two worst teams in the NHL.

They're in the middle of the pack in terms of scoring, ranking 15th with 2.73 goals per game, but their problem is they allow far too many. The Stars have the second-worst goals allowed rate in the NHL (3.2 per game), and again, only the Avalanche have been worse in that regard.

Dallas has five days off after Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the team could clearly use the break, regardless of whether or not it fixes the Stars' issues.