There’s no place like home and the Dallas Stars are hoping the American Airlines Center is the remedy they need. After going 4-0 at home to start the season, Dallas returns from a road trip in which they went 1-2-1.
The Stars will play their next eight games at home and it all starts today against the Chicago Blackhawks. Obviously this isn’t a new opponent for Dallas. Unlike most of the new division Dallas and Chicago have been together for a while.
Goaltending
The key to this series may come down to the play in the net for Dallas. As we learned on Saturday afternoons, Anton Khudobin will not be at Sunday’s game due to disciplinary reasons. At this time we are not sure what all that entails and how long Khudobin will be out of the lineup.
All we know for sure is that Sunday belongs to Jake Oettinger and Landon Bow will serve as his backup. Good thing is Oettinger has been in net already this season.
This will be the third start for the goalie. He is currently 2-0 with a save percentage of .898 and is allowing 2.42 goals against. This will be the first game for Bow as a member of the active roster. The first eight games of the season have been spent on the taxi squad.
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Dallas Line Combintations
Jamie Benn (14) – Joe Pavelski (16) – Ty Dellandrea (10)
Jason Dickinson (18) – Roope Hintz (24) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Andrew Cogliano (11) – Radek Faksa (12) – Blake Comeau (15)
Tanner Kero (64) – Justin Dowling (37) – Jason Robertson (21)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Jamie Oleksiak (2) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Joel Hanley (44) – Mark Pysyk (13)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Landon Bow (41)
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Analyzing the Enemy
The Chicago Blackhawks. Just the name brings up all kinds of emotions. Around the NHL, people think about championships because of their recent history. In Dallas, though, you have a lot of hatred.
Dallas and Chicago have the privilege of playing each other each and every year in the division. Names like Patrick Kane, Carl Soderberg, Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews have wrecked havoc throughout the years.
Although those players aren’t as young as they used to be, they’re still just as lethal. Kane has 15 points in their 12 games including six goals. In his second season playing with Chicago, 25 year old Dominik Kubalik is off to a fast start as well, racking up 11 points on eight assists and three goals.
Chicago added former Star Matias Janmark during the offseason as well. Janmark’s best statistical season with Dallas came in the 2017-2018 season where he racked up 34 points. In twelve games this year, he already has 8 points. At this pace, he would finish with 37 points this season in only 56 games.
Having moved on from Corey Crawford in net, Chicago now looks to rookie Kevin Lankinen. The 25 year old Finish goalie has played in eight games for the Hawks. He is allowing 2.32 goals against and his save percentage is .928.
Chicago Line Combinations
Mattias Janmark (13) – Philipp Kurashev (23) – Patrick Kane (88)
Alex DeBrincat (12) – Dylan Strome (17) – Dominik Kubalik (8)
Brandon Hagel (38) – Carl Soderberg (34) – Andrew Shaw (65)
Matthew Highmore (36) – David Kampf (64) – Pius Suter (24)
Calvin De Haan (44) – Connor Murphy (5)
Duncan Keith (2) – Ian Mitchell (51)
Nikita Zadorov (16) – Nicolas Beaudin (74)
Kevin Lankinen (32)
Malcom Subban (30)