The Dallas Stars are in St. Paul, Minnesota tonight for a Central division showdown. And though they are in dire need of a win right now, they will have to do it in an arena that has become very unfriendly to them in the recent past.
If there’s one thing the Dallas Stars have going right for them this season, it’s their play on home ice.
Regardless of their standing in the playoff race or the tough stretch they are currently wading through, the Stars can always seem to count on the American Airlines Center to provide a breath of fresh air and promise.
Even though they dropped their most recent home contest to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Stars still sit a dominant 11-4-1 when playing in Dallas. That’s one of the best home records in the NHL.
And so far in the 2018-19 season, home ice has served as the Stars’ primary life support. Without their positive record at the AAC, Dallas very well might already be preparing for next year. That largely has to do with where the other half of their games are being played.
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As it has been in the recent past, the road is proving to be a difficult problem for the Dallas Stars this year. The Stars currently hold a mark of 6-11-2 when playing away from home. That’s proven to be one of the worst away records in the NHL and is a main reason as to why the Stars currently sit outside of the playoff picture. There’s a reason all but one of the current playoff teams own a road record above the .500 mark. It’s a critical part of any team’s playoff argument.
Although Dallas sits 17-15-3 with 37 points on the season, they are two points out of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. The primary reason for their falling out happened last week when the Stars dropped four straight road contests on the west coast, leaving eight possible points unclaimed.
They returned home and defeated a red-hot Calgary Flames team on Tuesday night to get back in the win column, but negated it with a deflating loss to the Hawks.
With that defeat, the Dallas Stars are back on the road for a Saturday night showdown against the Minnesota Wild. It’s the first game of a back-to-back for the Stars, with the second coming on Sunday night in Dallas against the New York Islanders.
Before they return to the comfortable confines of home ice, though, they have to try and gut out a crucial win against a divisional opponent. But this contest against the Wild could prove to be a difficult challenge for the Stars for a few different reasons.
Eyes On Isles
Obviously, it’s a road game. That might end up being a baffling enough task for Dallas. On top of that, it’s against a Central division team, where the Stars hold a 1-4-1 record so far this year. Let’s also not forget that Dallas is 1-5-0 in their last six games.
But, perhaps the most daunting piece of this matchup is the Stars’ recent record at the Xcel Energy Center.
Over the past two seasons, the Dallas Stars own a record of 0-4-0 when visiting the Wild. They have been outscored 16-5 in those four contests and have yet to lose a game by less than two goals.
Now, this is somewhat of a small sampling size. Four games isn’t an extensive amount and the fact that the Stars are 3-2-1 against the Wild on home ice over the past two years is encouraging. But when you realize that Dallas has not won a game in St. Paul since Alex Goligoski scored the game-winning goal in game six of round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs back on April 24, 2016, there is a certain sense of urgency that emerges.
When ranking their all-time records against all 30 NHL franchises, the Stars’ seventh-best mark is actually against Minnesota (40-25-1-5). When visiting the Xcel Energy Center, they are 14-18-2.
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With that being said, tonight’s contest seems to pose plenty of pitfalls for the Dallas Stars. They are riding a dangerous losing skid near the midway point of the season, are up against a Central division opponent just as desperate for points as they are (Minnesota sits one point behind Dallas in the standings), and will visit an arena that they haven’t pulled a point out of since they owned the best record in the Western Conference.
The Wild have already beaten the Stars once this season with a 3-1 victory at the AAC back on Oct. 19. It’s a battle between two teams who need the points to keep themselves in the hunt and finish their pre-holiday break on a strong note.
“There’s no excuse,” said head coach Jim Montgomery following the loss to Chicago on Thursday. “It’s a tough league. We got to go to Minnesota and we got to be a lot better than we were tonight.”
0-4-0 skid at the Xcel Energy Center. 0-4-1 skid against the Central division. A four-game losing skid on the road. That’s a lot of skids for the Dallas Stars. Fortunately, they can all be broken by doing one thing: winning.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from the Xcel Energy Center. Is tonight the night the Stars break a handful of skids and vault themselves back into the playoff picture?