Perhaps staying in the same location will benefit the Dallas Stars. Even if it is not in Dallas. The Stars have had a crazy schedule the past couple of weeks and, as head coach Rick Bowness pointed out, they haven’t had any time to practice. It seems weird to think about when they’re playing games every other night.
But, when else do they have to correct mistakes or work on things they are doing wrong? They don’t. There isn’t any practice time. So, perhaps a couple of days in southern California will allow them to do just that.
Of course this is thanks in part to that crazy schedule. The Stars are starting a four-game road trip tonight against the Ducks. A road trip that has them playing two games, tonight and Thursday, in Anaheim against the Ducks before traveling to San Jose and Seattle.
The Stars are coming off that embarrassing loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night and they are currently outside the playoffs looking in. Good thing is they are only one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights for that last playoff spot and the Stars have four games in hand.
Tonight’s a good time to start another winning streak. All four games on this road trip are against teams that are in the bottom third of the conference. Eight points is very doable on this trip but at the very least, Dallas should come away with six, right?
Possible Lines
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Vladislav Namestnikov (92) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Jacob Peterson (40) – Jamie Benn (14) – Alexander Radulov (47)
Michael Raffl (18) – Radek Faksa (12) – Luke Glendening (11)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Ryan Suter (20) – Jani Hakanpaa (2)
Thomas Hurley (55) – Joel Hanley (44)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
The Anaheim Ducks
As mentioned before the Ducks find themselves near the bottom of the Western Conference with 65 points. One of the biggest reasons for that is their goal differential. The Ducks have given up 29 more goals than they’ve scored this season.
Another crazy stat for the Ducks is the fact that they have been in nine shootouts (4-5). That’s tied with the Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins for the most in the league.
Possible Lines
Dominik Simon (51) – Ryan Getlaf (15) – Gerald Mayhew (26)
Derek Grant (38) – Trevor Zegras (46) – Troy Terry (19)
Zach Aston-Reese (16) – Isac Lundestrom (21) – Sam Carrick (39)
Maxime Comtois (44) – Sam Steel (23) – Vinni Lettieri (28)
Cam Fowler (4) – Jamie Drysdale (34)
Simon Benoit (86) – Andrej Sustr (92)
Josh Mahura (76) – Kevin Shattenkirk (22)
John Gibson (36)
Anthony Stolarz (41)