Are the Dallas Stars starting to turn their season around?
The Dallas Stars blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0 last Saturday and then 24 hours later looked dead through the first two periods. The third period was something different, though, as the team scored three goals to send the game to overtime and earn a point. They followed that up with a resounding win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday to open this crucial two-game set.
It was also the first time since the opening four games of the season that the Stars managed to string together a point streak of three or more straight games.
Currently, the Blackhawks have six games in hand over Dallas and sit 10 points ahead of the Stars in the standings. If the playoffs started today, Chicago would be the final team in the division to make the playoffs while the Stars would be on the outside looking in. Dallas made some headway in digging out of the deficit they’ve found themselves in for the playoff race. Beating the Blackhawks again would continue to make up that ground — but they’ll have a desperate team in front of them to take care of first.
Potential Dallas Lines
Jamie Benn (14) – Joe Pavelski (16) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joel Kiviranta (25)
Nicholas Caamano (17) – Radek Faksa (12) – Ty Dellandrea (10)
Andrew Cogliano (11) – Jason Dickinson (18) – Blake Comeau (15)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Jamie Oleksiak (2) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Joel Hanley (44) – Andrej Sekera (5)
Anton Khudobin (35)
Jake Oettinger (29)
The Enemy
It’s no secret that these two teams don’t like each other. The Blackhawks, like the Nashville Predators, are a team that Dallas faces often because they’re in the same division every year.
They still have the same weapons like Patrick Kane, Carl Soderberg, and Duncan Keith. Despite being 32 years old, Kane already has 38 points on the season to lead the team. Alex DeBrincat has benefited from being on the same line as Kane. DeBrincat leads the team with 14 goals.
Projected Lines for Chicago
Alex DeBrincat (12) – Pius Suter (24) – Patrick Kane (88)
Mattias Janmark (13) – Carl Soderberg (34) – Philipp Kusashev (23)
Dominik Kubalik (8) – David Kampf (64) – Brandon Hagel (38)
Matthew Highmore (36) – Ryan Carpenter (22) – Reese Johnson (52)
Duncan Keith (2) – Ian Mitchell (51)
Nikita Zadorov (16) – Connor Murphy (5)
Lucas Carlsson (46) – Adam Boqvist (27)
Kevin Lankinen (32)
Malcolm Subban (30)