After two idle nights on the schedule, the Dallas Stars host the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night at the American Airlines Center. All of the on-paper factors are stacked in the Stars' favor for this game but it is a dangerous match for Dallas.
Yes, the Stars have been home all week and have had two nights off since their last game while Flyers have had a brutal schedule. Philly is in the third game of a three-in-four across three different cities and the second half of a road back-to-back. Theoretically at least, the Stars should have much fresher legs as the game moves along into the third period.
Yes, this game pits the Stars' number-one ranked offense against a Philly team that ranks 29th offensively with both teams more or less in the middle-of-the-pack in goals against average for the season.
Nevertheless, there are dangers lurking for Dallas if they are not careful.
First of all, the Flyers have been playing good hockey in their own right since the latter part of November -- minus a clunker of a peformance last Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Going back to midseason last year, the Flyers have actually tended to fare much better in games against upper tier NHL teams than they have against teams below them in the standings. It has been games of the latter type that are the reason why Philly is once again climbing uphill in the playoff race. They regularly lose to teams like Buffalo, Columbus, Edmonton, etc. and have also had to settle for one point several times in games where they've been the better team during regulation.
Secondly, this is a potential trap game for the Stars in terms of the danger of looking past this one in anticipation of Saturday's road game in St. Louis. It's an all-too-common scenario, despite constant reminders from coaches and team leaders, for a top-ranked team to mail it in -- and pay the price -- when there's a game against a non-playoff team (especially one from the other conference) on either side of a clash with a top rival. This is an area where the Stars' noticeably greater maturity of a team and the expansion of the team's leadership group has been a big boost this season. Even so, no team can afford to let down its guard.
Lastly, there have been a few games lately -- including as recently as Tuesday's game against Carolina -- where the Stars have failed to put in a 60-minute effort on the defensive side of the puck. The team has spent the last few days stressing the need to get back to playing a consistent 200-foot game and not just a sporadic one. As last season showed to the Stars, the latter approach is not a sustainable one. Not even the top offensive team in the NHL can rely on winning 6-5 or 5-4 games too often.
Mentally, the Stars are aware of all these factors. But when a team has racked up points in nine of 10 games (7-1-2), there still can be a tendency to go into "cruise control" mode -- regardless of crisp, up-tempo practices and the right things being said -- until there's a renewed sense of urgency. The Stars hope that the scare on Tuesday night was just such a wakeup call. A win against Philadelphia would be a good springboard for playing a Blues team that is due for a much better game than many of their own recent efforts.
For a full gameday preview of Friday's match, click here.