Perhaps tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens is coming at the perfect time for the Dallas Stars. Or perhaps it’s not.
Dallas is in the midst of a three-game losing streak. And, besides the first loss against the Nashville Predators, the other losses haven’t been close. A 7-4 loss at home to the New York Rangers and a 4-0 shutout against the Toronto Maple Leafs have put Dallas in a rough spot.
Of course its hard to think there’s a separation between the losses and Miro Heiskanen being sick. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have lost the games, but it’s easy to forget how good of a defender he is night in and night out. Jake Oettinger gave up some easy goals in both games, no doubt, but let’s not pretend that the defense in front of him played great. They did not.
So now the Stars are up against the worst team in the Eastern Conference. That should be a sigh of relief. But, we have seen this team lose to teams recently that they shouldn’t, such as the Arizona Cardinals. As stated before, this could be just what the doctor ordered for a team on a losing streak. But a loss tonight could possibly prove disastrous.
Potential Lineup
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Marian Studenic (43) – Jamie Benn (14) – Denis Guiranov (34)
Joel Kiviranta (25) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Luke Glendening (11)
Michael Raffl (18) – Radek Faksa (12) – Alexander Radulov (47)
Thomas Harley (55) – John Klingberg (3)
Ryan Suter (20) – Andrej Sekera (5)
Joel Hanley (44) – Jani Hakanpaa (2)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Adam Scheel (31)
The Montreal Canadiens
It’s hard to believe the Canadiens were playing for the Stanley Cup last season. Through 60 games this year, they have the least amount of points in the entire league. With only 16 wins this season, things aren’t going very well.
Of course, one of their 16 wins this season came at the American Airlines Center. In mid-January they beat the Stars 5-3 despite being outshot 51-22 in the game. Goalie Sam Montembeault was incredible in that game. It may be Jake Allen that gets the start tonight, though — Allen has a slightly better save percentage and his goals against average is a little better as well.
Potential Lineup
Mike Hoffman (68) – Nick Suzuki (14) – Brendan Gallagher (11)
Cole Caufield (22) – Christian Dvorak (28) – Artturi Lehkonen (62)
Paul Byron (41) – Jake Evans (71) – Joel Armia (40)
Michael Pezetta (55) – Rem Pitlick (32) – Mathieu Perreault (85)
Joel Edmundson (44) – Jeff Petry (26)
Alexander Romanov (27) – Brett Kulak (77)
Corey Schueneman (64) – Chris Wideman (20)
Jake Allen (34)
Samuel Montembeault (35)