Six out of a possible eight points is exactly what the Dallas Stars needed this week. Playing four straight games against the Detroit Red Wings meant Dallas had a chance to inch closer to the Nashville Predators and they did just that.
Now, though, the schedule gets a lot tougher for Dallas. Starting tonight Dallas will play the next seven games against teams that are in front of them in the standings. That starts with the division leading Carolina Hurricanes at the American Airlines Center.
Thanks to their current streak, Dallas does come into this series with a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games. They’ve averaged 3.4 goals per game during that stretch while only giving up two goals per game. Perhaps the more impressive stat during that stretch is that Dallas is only averaging 2.4 penalties a game.
Potential Lines for Dallas
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Jamie Benn (14) – Jason Dickinson (18) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Andrew Cogliano (11) – Radek Faksa (12) – Blake Comeau (15)
Tanner Kero (64) – Justin Dowling (37) – Mark Pysyk (13)
Esa Lindell (23) – Sami Vatanen (45)
Jamie Oleksiak (2) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Joel Hanley (44) – Andrej Sekera (5)
Anton Khudobin (35)
Jake Oettinger (29)
The Carolina Hurricanes
As impressive as the Stars havre been over the past 10 games, the Hurricanes have been equally impressive. Except they’ve been doing it all season. Boasting a 31-10-6 record, its easy to see why Carolina is in first place.
They average 3.17 goals per game while only allowing 2.38 for the season. Their power play is the best in the league at 27.3%. Defensively, they’re ranked third on the penalty kill at 84.5%. They are second in the NHL in faceoffs.
Led by Sebastian Aho’s 20 goals and 25 assists, the Hurricanes offense is lethal and can score almost at will. Carolina has seven players with at least 30 points on the season and six players with double digit goals. If Dallas is going to win this series, they’re going to need their defense to step up and be the best unit on the ice for 60 minutes.
Possible Carolina Line Combinations
Andrei Svechnikov (37) – Sebastian Aho (20) – Steven Lorentz (78)
Nino Neiderreiter (21) – Vincent Trocheck (16) – Martin Necas (88)
Cedric Paquette (18) – Jordan Staal (11) – Warren Foegele (13)
Max McCormick (28) – Drew Shore (29) – Morgan Geekie (67)
Jacob Slavin (74) – Dougie Hamilton (19)
Jake Gardiner (51) – Brett Pesce (22)
Joakim Ryan (33) – Jain Hakanpaa (58)
Alex Nedeljkovic (39)
James Reimer (47)