Eight games into the season and the Dallas Stars offense has been pretty much non-existent. After a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators Friday night, the Stars are averaging a measly 1.89 goals per game – in all situations, which is even bleaker.
Dallas still only has three wins on the season and all three of them have come in overtime. Their last win was a week and a half ago when they beat the LA Kings 3-2 in overtime on October 22nd. Since that game, Dallas has lost three in a row including a heartbreaker last Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Talking about the poor start to the offense, the Stars aren’t getting any offensive production from the guys you’d expect it to come from, either. Jamie Benn has no goals and two assists. Roope Hintz doesn’t have a goal and only has one assist. Alexander Radulov only has one goal.
Perhaps the more disturbing number is the fact there are only two players who have a favorable +/-. That would be Denis Gurianov and Joe Pavelski. Both of them are at a +1. Seven players are even and there are 14 players with a negative number. The worst being Tyler Seguin, who is at -5 on the season.
Perhaps a road trip can get the band clicking together. Three games north of the border could be what the doctor ordered for this offense.
Dallas Potential Lineup
Jamie Benn (14) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Alexander Radulov (47)
Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Michael Raffl (18) – Radek Faksa (12) – Luke Glendening (11)
Joel Kiviranta (25) – Tanner Kero (64) – Blake Comeau (15)
Esa Lindell (23) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Ryan Suter (20) – John Klingberg (3)
Joel Hanley (44) – Andrej Sekera (5)
Braden Holtby (70)
Anton Khudobin (35)
Dallas has recalled Thomas Harley. Jani Hakanpaa entered COVID protocol last week but was cleared to travel with the team.
The Winnipeg Jets
The first leg of the road trip has the Stars in Winnipeg. Where the Stars are struggling with goal scoring, the Jets are not: Winnipeg is averaging 3.5 goals per game.
And where Dallas is struggling to get goal production from anyone, the Jets are getting goal production in bunches from several people. In eight games, Kyle Connor already has seven goals to go with seven assists. Pierre-Luc Dubois has six goals and Andrew Copp has five. It’s pretty obvious who the Stars need to try and shut down during the game.
Projected Lines for the Jets
Paul Stastny (25) – Andrew Copp (9) – Nikolaj Ehlers (27)
Kyle Connor (81) – Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) – Evgeny Svechnikov (71)
Adam Lowry (17) – Mark Scheifele (55) – Blake Wheeler (26)
Jansen Harkins (12) – Dominic Toninato (21) – Kristian Vesalainen (93)
Joshua Morrissey (44) – Nate Schmidt (88)
Brenden Dillon (5) – Neal Pionk (4)
Logan Stanley (64) – Dylan DeMelo (2)
Connor Hellebuyck (37)
Eric Comrie (1)