Photo Credit : Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News Staff
It’s another faceoff of division leaders tonight as the Dallas Stars take on the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights at American Airlines Center. It’ll be the second meeting for these teams this season: the first time, the Stars fell to the Knights 3-2 in a shootout.
The Stars have made a lot of improvements in their overall game since that meeting, the second game of the season. First among them would be Dallas’ inability to start a game strong. Dallas didn’t get on the board first against the Rangers on Monday, but it didn’t matter in the end. In contrast, the Stars did score the first goal of the game against the Avalanche on Saturday and that outcome was immensely disappointing.
Dallas spent way too much time in the penalty box in that first meeting, 18 minutes total, and while they were able to hold off the Knights on the power play and are currently the third-best penalty killing team in the league, spending the equivalent of nearly an entire period of hockey in the penalty box isn’t ideal. In Dallas’ last three games, the Stars have been in the box fewer than 10 minutes each time.
Tyler Seguin is on a four-game point streak, has scored at least one goal in the last three games, and his line with Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment is positively buzzing with chemistry. Duchene is on a six-game point streak, and both he and Seguin hold the top spots for the team’s plus/minus with a +8 for Seguin and a +7 for Duchene. The three have combined for 12 of the team’s 29 goals since November 9 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
On the other end of the ice, Dallas will have to figure out the prowess of Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who, for all intents and purposes, was the reason the Stars didn’t advance to the Stanley Cup Final last season. And this season has proven to be no different. Hill currently holds a 2.07 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. And even if the Stars don’t face Hill in the net and face backup goaltender Logan Thompson instead, Dallas is still looking at a goalie with a 2.48 goals against average and a .920 save percentage.
The Stars defense will have to show up in force to hold off the offensive strengths of Knights William Karlsson, Jake Eichel, Matt Stone and Shea Theodore tonight. Karlsson leads the Knights in goals scored and points with 9 and 20, but Eichel is right behind him with 7 and 19. Stone and Theodore lead the Knights in assists with 13 and 14 and are tied in total points at 18.
The special teams battle should be an interesting one tonight, with the Knights and Stars sitting fairly close to each other in power play and penalty kill percentages. The Knights are tied for sixth in the league for power play goals with 15, while the Stars are tied for ninth with 12, but the power play percentages are a bit tighter at 23.1 for Vegas to 21.4 for Dallas, or ninth and thirteenth, respectively. And while the Stars are third in league’s penalty kill with a 88.1 kill percentage, the Knights aren’t far behind in tenth at 84.7.
The game will be broadcast on TNT and MAX tonight at 8:30 p.m.
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