Talk about a roller coaster season. The Dallas Stars can’t find a regulation win to start the season. Then they can’t lose. Now, they can’t win. All of that changes tonight on home ice, right? This season has slanted that way for sure. That doesn’t mean they will definitely win tonight, but the confines of home have been arguably better than the road so far for Dallas.
Of course, that does bring up the question: why are the Stars struggling so much on the road? They should have beaten the Vegas Golden Knights last Wednesday. They had a lead in the third period but gave up three unanswered goals.
It makes you wonder if the last change makes that much of a difference. It could be a scheming philosophy as well. Sometimes coaches will try to simplify things when playing on the road. I’ll be honest, I’ve never understood this. If something is working at home, why not keep it going when you’re on the road?
I do know part of their success during the winning streak was their ability to get off to a fast start. Dallas had the four game stretch in which they scored a goal within the first 75 seconds in all of them.
Whatever the reason, Dallas needs to figure this out and tonight is a good time to start. Tonight’s game starts 10 straight games against Central Division opponents. It also features two different sets of home-and-home series. Dallas will play the St. Louis Blues tonight and Friday. Then, in a couple of weeks they will play a home-and-home with the Colorado Avalanche.
Dallas Potential Lines:
Jason Robertson (21) – Jamie Benn (14) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Tanner Kero (64) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Michael Raffl (18) – Radek Faksa (12) – Luke Glendening (11)
Joel Hanley (44) – Jacob Peterson (40)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Ryan Suter (20) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Andrej Sekera (5) – Jani Hakanpaa (2)
Braden Holtby (70)
Jake Oettinger (29)
The St. Louis Blues
The Blues find themselves in third place in the Central Division (the Stars are in sixth). The Blues have seven more points than Dallas does but they also have played three more games. St. Louis is averaging over three goals per game (3.36).
More amazingly, however, is how they’ve been able to keep performing at such a high level through the injuries and COVID-19 outbreaks that have decimated their lineup.
Of course, it’s hard not to see this team and think about the seven game playoff series from several years ago. Jordan Binnington won the series in net for the Blues but Ben Bishop stole the show in game seven. Of course St. Louis win the series and went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.
Potential St. Louis Blues Lines
Brandon Saad (20) – Ryan O’Reilly (90) – Logan Brown (22)
Pavel Buchnevich (89) – Ivan Barbashev (49) – Vladimir Tarasenko (91)
Nathan Walker (26) – Tyler Bozak (21) – Oskar Sundqvist (70)
Dakota Joshua (54) – Matthew Peca (53) – Alexei Toropchenko (65)
Nikki Mikkola (77) – Colton Parayko (55)
Marco Scandella (6) – Torey Krug (47)
Scott Perunovich (48) – Justin Faulk (72)
Jon Gillies (32)
Charlie Lindgren (39)