It will be a big test in "Big D" as the Ottawa Senators take on one of the most explosive offenses in the first quarter of the season in Dallas. The Stars boast a wealth of scoring potential led by two of the league's top 3 scorers - last year's Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. It isn't just a one-line team, as secondary scoring in the form of a couple of former Senators Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky.
The big difference between the Stars of last season and this year is the addition of a pair of Stanley Cup Champions, adding Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya in the summer to bring some experience and leadership.
Only Montreal has set a higher offensive pace than the Star's 3.52 goals per game, and it is just by a slight margin (Montreal - 3.55). That being said, it hasn't just been run and gun for the Stars, who also have the 7th fewest goals against per game in the league on the shoulders of their Finnish connection in net of Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen who have split the duties pretty evenly with very similar stats.
Dallas has lost just 4 games this season, with two of them coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the other two coming to Colorado and Florida, so they can be tripped up at any time by any team. They are riding a 5 game winning streak.
It will also be a matchup of two of the three defensemen that NHL.com listed as the first-quarter favorites for the Norris Trophy. Erik Karlsson and John Klingberg come in 1-2 in defensemen scoring, with Klingberg holding a 1 point edge on the defending Norris winner.
Ottawa has made a couple of roster moves since their last game on Saturday night, sending Matt Puempel to Binghamton on Sunday and then recalling Colin Greening and Chris Driedger up yesterday and sending Matt O'Connor down.
Whether it is to give Greening another shot, to show try and show other teams he can fill some kind of role, or to bring him to Denver and leave him there when the Senators pick up Matt Duchene (I kid, I kid), he is running out of NHL lives (as if most didn't think he already had).
Ottawa will definitely be the underdog, but we have seen that they have the ability to play up to (or down to) the level of their competition. It would be nice to see them be proactive and set the pace rather than responding all the time.
It will be a big test for the whole defense corps to see how they can handle a pure offensive team on visiting ice where Dave Cameron won't be able to always get the matchup he wants. Especially against the Benn-Seguin combination, a duo that can make you pay in an instant, getting the right guys out there is of paramount importance, as is avoiding icing calls which is the most likely time for a mismatch.
Ottawa also has to avoid taking penalties, because as lethal as their power play has been of late, the Stars have had that level of success all season. They are clicking at almost 28% on the year, even though they have just one in their past 3 games (8 chances).
The key for the Senators will be Craig Anderson, who is riding a hot hand with 2 straight shutouts but is just 2 starts removed from getting lit up by the Predators whose offense will never be confused with what the Stars are doing. He has been in "beast mode", seeing the puck extremely well and that has to continue if the Senators are going to pull this one out.