After dispatching the Buffalo Sabres twice last week the Dallas Stars must now face much stiffer competition in the form of the Ottawa Senators, earners of points in eight of their last nine games.
They’re on a five-game point streak, a two game win-streak, and their power play has produced eight goals in their last seven outings to the tune of 36.4%. Impressive, and a note to the home team to stay out of the box.
To be fair, the Senators have been out-shot 328-238 over those nine games – ten(!) shots per game fewer than the opposition on average. Yet they’ve held their opponent to two or fewer goals in six of the nine, and come in to this one riding a two-game shutout streak.
Craig Anderson is the name you’re searching for in the Ottawa net sparking this bit of magic, and was complimentary of his teammates after shutting out the hapless Flyers three nights ago.
“We had 25 blocks tonight and we have a lot of guys paying the price and when they don’t allow pucks to get to the net that helps me out a lot.”
It was actually 29 blocks – and he still had to make 32 saves. Further investigation shows the Flyers out-attempted the Senators 81-52 on the night, and that’s in the Sens’ home barn. Digging deeper than that reveals that they possess the league’s third-worst Corsi% at even-strength at just 46%.
They are a very successful group that is finding ways to win games (sounds familiar), but the evidence suggests they don’t have the puck much and that their goaltending has been phenomenal.
The Stars have been making their own luck this season, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they were in for a bit of bad against what all signs point to being a very lucky team of late in these Sens.
They’ll try to continue their sustained dominance over the Eastern Conference and continue to ride their wave of good fortune tonight at 7:30pm CST on Fox Sports Southwest PLUS.
In Frisco the Stars got back to work after a well-earned day off but were without Jason Demers, though the internet got his full attention as he hosted a particularly entertaining chat with fans via the Stars official Twitter account.
Mike Heika had lines as such at practice Monday morning:
Benn-Seguin-Sharp
Janmark-Spezza-Eaves
Roussel-Eakin-Nichushkin
Sceviour/Moen-Fiddler-Hemsky
Goligoski-Klingberg
Oduya-Benn
Jokipakka-Oleksiak
And so the Stars face the possibility of skating both Kevin Jokipakka and Jamie Oleksiak on the same pair if Demers cannot go.
The good news is that Lindy Ruff was optimistic about Demers in comparison to Saturday night, saying that there was even a possibility that he could return tonight and not even miss a game – a far cry from the outlook over the weekend. That being said Demers did not skate Monday and seems doubtful for this evening’s affair.
Dallas did defeat the Sens twice last season in an otherwise forgettable January by tallies of 6-3 and 5-4 thanks to game winning goals by both John Klingberg and also John Klingberg.
Craig Anderson is confirmed in net tonight for the Sens, while the merry-go-round in the Dallas net continues against the two Finns fueling the Stars’ rampage – and Ruff seems pretty pleased with either guy as they continue to juggle succesful time.
Check back right here after morning skate just before lunch for more details as always.
From Stars PR:
A PLACE TO STAND, A PLACE TO GROW
The Dallas Stars play the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night in the first of two meetings during the 2015-16 season. Dallas won both games last season against Ottawa (2-0-0) and has won seven-straight games against them (7-0-0). The Stars have won four-straight at American Airlines Center (4-0-0) during that span, with the most recent win at home on Jan. 13, 2015. Dallas defeated Ottawa, 5-4, rallying from an early two-goal deficit and used four goals in the second period to secure the win. The game featured defenseman John Klingberg netting a career-best two goals (2-0=2) and multi-point outings from defensemen Alex Goligoski (0-2=2) and forward Ales Hemsky (1-1=2).THE GHOST OF GOTHENBURG
Stars defenseman John Klingberg tallied an assist (0-1=1) on Saturday night against Buffalo and now has points in two-straight contests (0-3=3) and points in four of his last five games (2-6=8). The native of Gothenburg, Sweden shares first in the NHL in assists (19) and is tied for fifth in points (4-19=23), while he leads all NHL defensemen in those categories. He has recorded a +14 plus/minus rating this season, which shares the top spot in the NHL with New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh. The blueliner has seven multi-point games this season, the most by any NHL defenseman and tied for the fifth-most among all players. Klingberg has skated in two career games against the Senators, notching multi-point games in each outing and registering four points (3-1=4).