The Dallas Stars visit Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers Tonight (January 7th) at 6 pm CST. The Stars are coming into the game red hot, with a record of 5-0-1 in their last 6 while New York has been 2-5 in their last 7 games since their win in Dallas on December 20th.
3 things I’ll be watching for:
Goalie Play
In the previous meeting of these two teams, the Stars were effectively goalie-d by Igor Shesterkin. The two charts below give a small glimpse into the way that output did not equal to chance creation in that game. Deserve to Win O’Meter doesn’t always tell the full story, but it does aggregate how chance creation could play out in a different game where an opposing Tendy is not effectively standing on his head. Jake played slightly better than expectation in that game, but Igor was in another planet. (Charts provided by MoneyPuck)
The good thing, at least for Dallas, is that they won’t be facing Shesterkin in this bout. They will be facing Jonathan Quick, as Igor has found himself on IR. In Quick’s 14 games played this year he has posted approximately ~.01 Goals saved below expected – so, if the Dallas can replicate their chance creation from their previous meeting, they should see some better results (knock on wood)
Trade Candidates
It’s no secret that the Rangers are looking to be sellers at the deadline. Enter Jim Nill, a well respected GM with a reputation of specifically waiting until the deadline to do most of his trade business. Dadonov, Domi, Tanev, etc. – you get the point. I’ll be watching the Rangers to see if there are any players that Jim could be enticed to take a swing on, especially with Mika Zibanejad being thrown around in trade talks (probably too expensive). All this to say, I’ll be keeping my eye on players donning the Blueshirts and thinking through if any would make sense near the deadline. Some of these names include Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Chris Kreider (although he was just placed on IR).
Start(ing) your Engines
This is Dallas’ first leg of a 5 game road trip. In the middle of a nation wide ice-storm. Woof. This game will some key points as Dallas looks to get out of the Wild Card spot permanently (Still have games in hand, but looking at the standings and seeing top 3 would be neat) ahead of a road trip that could have some various travel delays and could throw a few players out of their rhythm. Looking forward to the next time that Logan Stankoven can stuff his name into the stat sheet, and hoping that he can break his scoreless streak tonight or this weekend. I expect a lot of TOI from Roope Hintz and for him to continue asserting himself offensively.
Bonus:
Matt Rempe eating nachos – He was recalled from the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, but will still serve another game of suspension for his vicious hit on Miro Heiskanen in the Stars’ last meeting. There’s becoming less and less room in the game for “hits” like that, and that’s a very good thing.
Dallas Lines:
Robertson – Hintz – Dadonov
Benn – Duchene – Johnston
Steel – Bourque – Stankoven
Back – Hyry – Blackwell
Heiskanen – Lybushkin
Lindell – Lundkvist
Harley – Smith
Oettinger
DeSmith
NYR Lines:
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Brodzinski – Zibanejad – Smith
Cuylle – Chytil – Berard
Edstrom – Carrick – Vesey
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Borgen
Vaakanianen – Schneider
Quick
Domingue
Where to watch: Victory+. The Ticket. 6pm CST.
If you made it this far, feel free to follow me on X (formerly twitter), as I recently re-joined the platform | @schmitzm54. Hoping to be live tweeting whenever I’m at games going forward!