Dallas Stars Have Chance To Strike Ahead This Week Against Coyotes

The Dallas Stars will host the first half of a home-and-home versus the Arizona Coyotes tonight at the American Airlines Center. It will be a great opportunity for them to earn some much-needed points.

The Dallas Stars have a chance to earn four huge points this week against a conference rival in the Arizona Coyotes. If they find themselves victorious in both match-ups, they’ll have doubled their points total on the year to date.

That alone will certainly boost team morale. However, it’s a lot easier said than done.

Step 1: Win at home

Luckily for the Stars, the first match-up is on home ice. They’ve earned both of their wins this season in Dallas, and it is a great sign that they’ll have a chance to build on that momentum against the Coyotes.

More from Analysis

• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Taking a look at the teams the Dallas Stars will be playing in the preseason
• Should the Dallas Stars revisit signing Patrick Kane this season?
• Realistic regular season stats for Dallas Stars Roope Hintz
• Realistic regular season stats for Dallas Stars Joe Pavelski

Dallas will be depending on their depth players to perform just as well as they have lately, contributing offensively and helping out to keep the puck in the offensive zone. The tactic of trying to keep the puck as far away from Ben Bishop has seemed to work well for the Stars. Again, easier said than done.

While there likely won’t be another Tyler Seguin fight tonight, the Stars will look for similar energy from the players and crowd alike. Not that there’s really an issue on either side considering the high expectations this team has.

Step 2: Win on the road

If the Stars can accomplish the victory at home, the next step in earning the full points available would be a road win. They are in search of their first “W” on the road in the 2017-18 season and seem eager to get it under their belt.

The key to actually executing a successful road game is to ensure that everyone buys in. Arizona doesn’t tend to be a terribly loud arena, but home ice is still an advantage for the Coyotes.

Dallas will simply not be able to win in the event that they don’t execute on all cylinders. That means moving both personnel and the puck on the power play, intelligently covering the defensive zone during penalty kills and five-on-five and being strong with the puck.

Next: Stars Used Grit to Overcome Avalanche

The Stars need to take advantage of their size and the physical component of their game, but doing so without sacrificing defensive responsibility has been an issue. If they’re able to solve that, they can certainly walk away with four points in the bank.