It’s do-or-die time for the Dallas Stars. After losing in an ugly fashion on Monday afternoon to the Buffalo Sabres, they will be right back in action tonight against a powerful New York Rangers team.
The Dallas Stars have not been ready for their games of late. They are hoping to find a way to come out on top of their game tonight on the second end of a back-to-back as they face the New York Rangers. Puck drop is set for 6PM CT.
Records and Scores
Dallas (18-19-8) fell to the Buffalo Sabres yesterday afternoon in a 4-1 loss. They surrendered the first goal against on the first shot of the game less than 15 seconds into the game. From there it was an uphill battle and Dallas never really got back in it, despite solid play from Kari Lehtonen. The Stars will be expecting a better effort from the start tonight as they look to best the Rangers.
New York (28-15-1) fell to the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-4 loss on Saturday night. The Rangers will return home to host the Stars tonight in hopes of a better outcome.
Storylines
Readiness for Puck Drop
It is not so much that the Stars are behind at puck drop, it is that they are completely disheveled from the moment the game starts. Lately they have been unable to find their game, or energy, until the game is already out of reach.
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After surrendering the first goal of the game yesterday, the Stars were climbing to get back in it. For the remaining 59 plus minutes Dallas was making riskier plays than they would like and it cost them big time.
Not to mention that their first period play of late has featured numerous turnovers. Dallas’ inability to get out of their zone cleanly has certainly been a downfall of this team lately. That is not a trend they want to continue moving forward, especially since they seem to have dug themselves a pretty big hole to begin with.
Special Teams Plague
Since injuries have subsided for the most part the Stars’ biggest downfall has been their special team’s performance. They seem to give up multiple goals against while shorthanded and they have been unable to score with any consistency on the man advantage in recent match-ups.
That is a hurdle the Stars are creating for themselves. Yesterday’s game, as well as a number of recent Stars match-ups, could have gone completely differently had Dallas’ penalty kill been more successful. Killing only one out of every three penalties is a sure fire way to give momentum to the opposition, while simultaneously hurting your own shot at victory.
Points are becoming more and more difficult to come by and considering the Stars’ rather slow start to the season, it is vital that they find a way to leave New York with points in hand.
Injuries
Dallas will be without Mattias Janmark (knee) and Ales Hemsky (hip) for the bulk of the regular season. Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak (hand) is expected to miss 3-6 weeks.
New York will not have Marc Staal (back), Matt Puempel (concussion) or Antti Raanta (lower-body) in the line-up.
Line Predictions
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Jason Spezza
Lauri Korpikoski – Radek Faksa – Patrick Sharp
Jiri Hudler – Devin Shore – Brett Ritchie
New York Rangers
Chris Kreider – Derek Stepan – Mats Zuccarello
Rick Nash – Mika Zibanejad – Pavel Buchnevich
Michael Grabner – Kevin Hayes – J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey – Brandon Pirri – Jesper Fast
Next: Stars' Disappointment Need to Lead to Resiliency
Prediction
Dallas will find a way to earn a point, but ultimately fall to the Rangers 3-2.