The Stars look to end their losing streak in TD Garden. They may need to shake up the power play to do it.
The Dallas Stars’ drought in Boston has dragged on so long that Paul Revere himself might have galloped past TD Garden shouting, “Still no win for Dallas!” Well, maybe not that long.
Dallas will look to change its fortunes tonight against the Bruins in Beantown, where the Stars have not won since 2018. In fact, the Stars have lost 12 of their last 15 meetings overall against the Bruins.
It’s a new season, however, and the Bruins seem vulnerable – having lost 3 of their last 4 games, including a 4-0 loss to then-winless Nashville on Tuesday. Overall, the Bruins have underachieved, posting a 3-4 record out of the gate this season.
Meanwhile, the Stars are off to a decent start with a 5-2 record, highlighted by a 4-1 win on Saturday over nemesis Edmonton, who knocked Dallas out of the playoffs last season in the Western Conference Finals.
The Stars did drop the opening game of this road trip to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night, 4-2, snapping a six-game point streak against the Sabres. The Stars allowed a pair of goals in a span of 83 seconds during the second period and couldn’t overcome the deficit despite a late-game charge. Thomas Harley notched his first goal of the season, and Tyler Seguin added another goal in the final minutes to get the Stars within one. But the Sabres closed it out late with an empty netter.
Dallas will likely need to get its power play rolling against Boston. The Stars have struggled on the man advantage this season, going just 2-for-21 on the year, including 0-for-3 against Buffalo on Tuesday.
“It’s frustrating,” Jamie Benn said about the team’s struggling power play after Tuesday’s loss in Buffalo. “It seems like we haven’t really found it yet this year.”
Winning Since Y2K
No other NHL team has won more games this century than the Boston Bruins or Dallas Stars. While regular season success has not merited many Stanly Cups (Bruins won in 2010-11), the clubs have piled up the most regular-season wins since the year 2000, with the Bruins (1,023 wins) leading the way followed by the Stars (1,001).
Dallas Stars Lineup
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Logan Stankoven (11)
Mason Marchment (27) – Matt Duchene (95) – Tyler Seguin (91)
Jamie Benn (14) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Evgenii Dadonov (63)
Mavrik Bourque (22) – Sam Steel (18) – Colin Blackwell (15)
Miro Heiskanen (4) – Matt Dumba (3)
Thomas Harley (55) – Ilya Lyubushkin (46)
Esa Lindell (23) – Nils Lundqvist (5)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Casey DeSmith (1)
Boston Bruins Lineup
Brad Marchand (63) – Elias Lindholm (28) – David Pastrnak (88)
Max Jones (49) – Charlie Coyle (13) ) – Trent Frederic (11)
Pavel Zacha (18) – Matthew Poitras (51) – Morgan Geekie (39)
John Beecher (19) – Mark Kastelic (47) – Cole Koepke (45)
Hampus Lindholm (27) – Charlie McAvoy (73)
Nikita Zadorov (91) – Brandon Carlo (25)
Andrew Peeke (52) – Mason Lohrei (6)
Jeremy Swayman (1)
Joonas Korpisalo (70)
Things to watch
Dallas Stars power play unit
Perhaps a lineup change is needed to spark the Stars’ power play, which has operated at 9.5% this season so far. Head coach Pete DeBoer could decide to shake things up on the top unit by adding Matt Duchene or Mason Marchment, the Stars’ two lone goal scorers on the man advantage this season.
Jason Robertson
Despite Dallas’ struggles against Boston, the Stars winger does have 5 points in 5 career games against the Bruins. Robertson is tied for the Stars’ leading scorer this season with 3 goals along with a pair of assists in 6 games.
Jim Montgomery
Former Stars and current Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery is taking some heat for the team’s poor start to this season. A tense exchange between Montgomery and captain Brad Marchand during their 2-1 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday has drawn widespread attention.