Dallas Stars Finish Up Back-To-Back Against Anaheim

With the three-game road trip finishing up in Anaheim tonight, the Dallas Stars will be looking to close it out on a positive note before heading back home.

The Dallas Stars are back in action tonight after a very short break. They take on the Anaheim Ducks as they search for their third win streak of the season and to close out the road trip with a win.

The game will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Southwest (FSSW), and you can also hear it on 1310AM/96.7FM The Ticket. Puck drop is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. CT from the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.

Records and Scores

The Dallas Stars come into tonight’s game with a record of 17-16-8 with 42 points. They sit eleventh in the Western Conference, but a win tonight could push them into the final wild card spot. The Stars most recent game came just last night as they knocked off the Los Angeles Kings 6-4. They are 2-2-1 in their last five games.

The Anaheim Ducks, on the other hand, continue to reign supreme in the Pacific Division. Their record of 21-13-8 with 50 points has them tied for first in their division. Their most recent game came as a 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. They are 3-1-1 in their last five contests.

Storylines

Time to go with Niemi

With as much pain as the new year brought for the Dallas Stars as they went winless over the first week, the dip in goaltending didn’t help in any way. So far, the Stars have given up 12 goals in three games this season. And for the most part, it’s been on the watch of Kari Lehtonen.

Lehtonen has started all three games of the 2017 and has been pulled in the two most recent games in favor of Antti Niemi. Lethonen has sacrificed 11 goals in 133:28 of playing time, which translates to just a little over two full games. He’s made 57 saves on 68 shots, which translates to a .838 save percentage.

Niemi has been called upon in each of the past two games to play clean-up duty, and he’s done a pretty decent job. He went 7-8 in St. Louis and 1-1 against the Kings last night. It’s probably a good time for the Stars to give Niemi the starts and give Lehtonen a chance to recuperate and refocus.

It’s called consistency

The Stars have been an inconsistent mess for the majority of the season. If they win a game, they almost always follow it up with a loss. When they defy all the odds and pick up a three game win streak, they follow it up with three consecutive losses.

It’s becoming a serious problem and is starting to hurt the Stars, especially in the standings. Not to mention that even their in-game play is inconsistent. Some nights the Stars will score 4+ goals and other nights they will struggle to put up one. Same goes with their defense that gave away an average of 2.29 goals in the month of December and has started 2017 with a GAA of 4.00.

If the Stars are going to keep this stretch rolling, they will have to find that consistent niche and harness it.

More from Analysis

End the road trip on a high note

After playing seven of their final eight games of December at home, the Dallas Stars hit the road after one final game at home on January 4th. Their road trip did not start out on the best note with a loss in the final two minutes to the St. Louis Blues after a hard fought game.

But they scrapped up their integrity and picked themselves up in time for their game on Monday night and fended off the Los Angeles Kings 6-4.

They finish this three-game road journey tonight in Anaheim, and a win could push Dallas into the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Stars’ penalty killing woes continue

The Dallas Stars penalty kill has been egregious to say the least here in the early goings of 2017. In their first three games of the new year, Dallas posted a 3-9 kill rate. No, that’s not to say that the opposition scored three times on nine attempts. The Stars have given up six power play goals in three games. That’s a 33 percent success rate.

To put things into perspective, the typical penalty kill rating is usually somewhere around the 80-82 percent mark.

If the Stars are truly aiming to find consistency, it’s going to start with killing off the unnecessary penalties and keeping the other teams off the stat sheet in terms of special teams. And it all starts tonight against the Ducks, who have the sixth best power play in the league right now.

Season sweep?

The Dallas Stars are 8-2-2 against the Pacific Division this season, and two of those eight wins have come against the Ducks.

This will be the final time that the Stars and Ducks meet up in the regular season with the Stars looking for the three-game sweep. Dallas defeated Anaheim on opening night by a score of 4-2 and most recently in mid-December with a 6-2 victory to kick off the homestand.

This is however the Stars first time visiting the Ducks. It will be an interesting final tilt between the two clubs.

Injury report

The Dallas Stars will be without C Mattias Janmark (knee) and RW Ales Hemsky (hip) who are both on IR for a long term. LW Jamie Benn (foot) skated this morning but is not ready to play just yet, according to head coach Lindy Ruff. This will be Benn’s fourth straight missed game with the injury.

The Anaheim Ducks will be minus the services of LW Nic Kerdiles (concussion), D Simon Despres (head), D Clayton Stoner (abdomen), and C Nate Thompson (achilles). C Ryan Getzlaf is a game time decision.

Projected lines

Dallas Stars

Jiri Hudler – Tyler Seguin – Jason Spezza

Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Patrick Eaves

Devin Shore – Radek Faksa – Patrick Sharp

Lauri Korpikoski – Adam Cracknell – Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg

Dan Hamhuis – Jamie Oleksiak

Johnny Oduya – Jordie Benn

Antti Niemi

Kari Lehtonen

Anaheim Ducks

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Joseph Cramarossa – Rickard Rakell – Corey Perry

Nick Ritchie – Antoine Vermette – Ondrej Kase

Logan Shaw – Chris Wagner – Jared Boll

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Kevin Bieksa – Brandon Montour

John Gibson

Jonathan Bernier

Next: Stars Close Out First Half Of Season With Hope

Prediction

As much as I hate doing these in fear that I’m going to jinx something (as I typically seem to do), give me Dallas doing the seemingly impossible and securing another win streak with a 4-3 win over the Ducks.

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