Ok! I give up trying to predict anything with this team. Two days after laying an egg against the Washington Capitals, the Dallas Stars destroyed the Boston Bruins. Let’s face it, nobody saw a 6-1 win less than 48 hours after being embarrassed by the Capitals 5-0.
Something that came from Sunday’s game, though, was a comment that Daryl Reaugh said on the broadcast. He talked about how the Stars are waiting for either Braden Holtby or Jake Oettinger to take the reigns as the number one goalie.
Out of all the goal scoring that happened, this is what stood out to me. Why? Because it’s the truth. Both goalies have the ability, but neither has done it. Will be interesting to see if either of them start asserting themselves in the next month of the season.
Dallas currently sits nine points behind the St. Louis Blues for fourth spot in the division. Dallas is currently tied with the Calgary Flames for the second wild card spot. I know the goal here is to get into the playoffs, but I would also say the goal is to avoid playing the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs. That’s who the Stars would play at this moment if they indeed get in as the second wild card team.
Coincidentally, the Stars opponent tonight is the team they are tied with: the Calgary Flames. Obviously a win tonight doesn’t put Dallas in the playoffs but it would help with tie-breakers. Dallas has already beat Calgary once this year and have only one more meeting after tonight.
Potential Dallas Lines
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Jamie Benn (14) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Jacob Peterson (40) – Radek Faksa (12) – Alexander Radulov (47)
Tanner Kero (64) – Riley Damiani (13) – Luke Glendening (11)
Ryan Suter (20) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Joel Hanley (44) – Jani Hakanpaa (2)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Anton Khudobin (35)
The Calgary Flames
As mentioned earlier the Flames and Stars are tied for the final wild card spot at this moment in the season. There is a lot of hockey to be played, though. Dallas just past the halfway mark of the season and the Flames will be there after tonight’s game.
The Flames do have an offense you have to be careful with. They can score and they can score fast. Calgary is averaging over three goals per game at 3.15, which is 12th best in the NHL. The Stars in comparison are just under three at 2.95 (17th best).
Matthew Tkachuk leads the team with 20 goals while Johnny Gaudreau has 35 assists. Gaudreau also has 17 goals.
Where they really shine, though, is on the defensive side of the ice. The Flames are the second best team in the league when it comes to giving up goals. Calgary is only allowing 2.3 goals against. Dallas is 19th at 2.81.
Potential Calgary Lines
Johnny Gaudreau (13) – Elias Lindholm (28) – Matthew Tkachuk (19)
Andrew Mangiapane (88) – Mikael Backlund (11) – Blake Coleman (20)
Milan Lucic (17) – Sean Monahan (23) – Dillon Dube (29)
Trevor Lewis (22) – Adam Ruzicka (63) – Brett Ritchie (24)
Noah Hanifin (55) – Rasmus Andersson (4)
Oliver Kylington (58) – Christopher Tanev (8)
Nikita Zadorov (16) – Erik Gudbranson (44)
Jacob Markstrom (25)
Daniel Vladar (80)