Dallas Stars Face Arizona Coyotes In Battle For Playoff Positioning
By Josh Clark
It’s game day for the Dallas Stars. Tonight, they will welcome the Arizona Coyotes to the American Airlines Center in their final home game before embarking on a five-game trip. But, this isn’t a typical Arizona Coyotes team that they are going up against.
The Dallas Stars are back home on Monday night in hopes of building a season-high win streak.
After escaping out of Nashville with a 3-1 win against the Predators on Saturday, the Stars upped their win streak to four games. The streak includes three wins against Central division opponents and sweeping a back-to-back with travel involved.
That’s no easy feat to accomplish. And yet, the Stars have found a way to do it. A few weeks ago, they were stuck in a four-game skid, had no scoring to speak of, and were dropping valuable points to struggling opponents.
It seems as though those struggles occurred a lifetime ago. Now, the Stars are rolling with a new style and finding a way to outlast and outdo opponents regardless of the situation.
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Monday night presents another opportunity to continue their hot streak as Dallas will welcome the Arizona Coyotes to the American Airlines Center. This is another sizable chance for the Stars to take a next step.
For one, it’s their final home game for two weeks. Following the matchup with Arizona, the Stars will dive into a five-game road trip that takes them to Nashville, Arizona, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Carolina over a span of ten days. Dallas has been good at the American Airlines Center this year, posting a record of 17-8-2 and winning their last three games on home ice.
In addition, it’s a chance to push their win streak to five games for the first time in the 2018-19 season. This is a critical time in the regular season to build momentum, and carrying a five-game surge into a long road trip can provide some serious momentum.
It’s also an opportunity to get off on the right foot against the Coyotes. This is the first of two matchups between the Stars and Coyotes over the next six days. Monday night will give the two teams a chance to size each other up and try to start the mini-series on a high note.
But, there’s an underlying factor in this game. While the Dallas Stars are looking to continue gaining ground in the Central division race, the Arizona Coyotes are trying to gain ground in the Western Conference playoff hunt.
This isn’t your typical Arizona Coyotes team. In recent years, the Coyotes have usually removed themselves from a contested Western Conference postseason race with a slow start to the year. Coming into the 2018-19 season, the Coyotes were a combined 118-172-38 since the start of the 2014-15 season. This is a team that has become used to finishing in the bottom half of the Pacific division.
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This year, however, the Coyotes are holding their own. Thanks to a 6-2-2 run over their past ten games, Arizona is 23-23-5 on the season with 51 points. They sit just three points out of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference with a game in hand. The Coyotes know what is at stake and know that it’s crunch time in their regular season campaign. As a result, they likely won’t be folding easily at the Stars’ attack.
This is a Coyotes team that is built primarily around strong defense and goaltending. While their offense is just one spot ahead of the Stars in terms of goals per game (2.59) in the NHL standings, their defense is eighth-best in the league with a goals against average of 2.83. That is due in large part to noteworthy player acquisitions over the past few seasons, including former Stars defenders Alex Goligoski and Jason Demers. In addition, the Coyotes own the best penalty kill in the league at 87.1 percent.
In the absence of starting goaltender Antti Raanta, the Coyotes have turned to Darcy Kuemper. In his past nine starts, Kuemper is 6-0-3 with a .924 save percentage. He has given up 18 goals over the span and has assisted in keeping Arizona in the game. Kuemper is expected to get the start in Dallas tonight.
The Dallas Stars enter this matchup having won their last eight contests against the Coyotes. That includes a 3-0 victory on opening night that granted Stars coach Jim Montgomery his first NHL win. But, this Coyotes team is still hanging around in the West after four months apart. The Coyotes have put together a strong surge over the past month, but they, like the Stars, know that there is a lot of hockey left to be played. Every game is critical and presents an opportunity to get ahead or fall behind.
Dallas will be receiving reinforcements as Jason Dickinson is set to return to the lineup after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury. He will center a line with Andrew Cogliano and Jason Spezza, successfully shifting the Dallas lineup back to where it had been before his injury.
Here is how Dallas is expected to roll out against Arizona tonight:
Jamie Benn – Radek Faksa – Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano – Jason Dickinson – Jason Spezza
Denis Gurianov – Roope Hintz – Brett Ritchie
This is the lineup that has helped the Dallas Stars to four wins in a row, giving Montgomery a chance to spread the wealth around and attack with a variety of combinations.
Tonight is another chance to do just that. But, a win likely won’t come as easy as it has in years past. This Coyotes team is still very much alive in the race.
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As a result, it promises to be an interesting test. Can the Dallas Stars keep their momentum rolling? Or will they have it stamped out by a team hungry for its first playoff berth in seven years?
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.