Dallas Stars Look for Victory in Ottawa After Frustrating Losses

The Dallas Stars are on the brink of extinction and need a win as they attempt to salvage their season. They will give it yet another whirl tonight in Ottawa.

The Dallas Stars’ struggles have continued into the month of February despite their best wishes. Tonight they will visit the Ottawa Senators in hopes of earning their first win of the month. Puck drop is set for 6:30PM CT.

Records and Scores

Dallas (21-23-10) is currently sporting a three-game losing streak. They most recently fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night in a 3-1 game. The Stars are hoping to do nearly anything that will get them back into the playoff picture and it starts tonight.

Ottawa (27-18-6) has lost their last two games, being shutout in both. The Senators surrendered six goals against in their most recent loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday night and are hoping to right the ship as they host Dallas tonight.

Storylines

Saying the Right Things

The Dallas Stars are a broken record with the perfect canned response to every question they are asked. They know exactly what to say and have mentioned that they “believe in the team” and have to “simplify” far too much this year.

It is at the point in the year where words mean next to nothing. There is a big difference between saying that you will change and actually seeing differences in action later on.

Offensive Production

How an offense changes as much as the Stars’ did in the last year is nearly unbelievable. It is due, possibly, to the change in personnel.

Dallas’ defensive core was uprooted last summer as Jason Demers, Alex Goligoski and Kris Russell departed to pursue new endeavors. That left the Stars with a boat load of prospects filling in at the NHL level for the first time.

To blame everything on the defense is unfair, but the drastic changes they have endured since last season seem to be the perfect reasoning for why the Stars are a different team.

Still, however, the Stars have the personnel they have. That is not going to change between right now and the start of tonight’s match-up. It is simply something they have to overcome and support as best they can. Until Dallas can find some inkling of consistency in their own zone, they will continue to be out of the playoff picture.

Injuries

Dallas will be without Johnny Oduya (lower-body), Jason Spezza (upper-body), Ales Hemsky (hip) and Mattias Janmark (knee) in tonight’s game. Jamie Oleksiak (upper-body) is traveling with the team and could make an appearance.

Ottawa will play without Clarke MacArthur (concussion) in the line-up.