PREVIEW: STARS AT AVALANCHE
Looking to turn around what has thus far been a disappointing season, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (9-10-6) are in Denver on Saturday night to take on Jared Bedar's Colorado Avalanche (9-12-1) on Saturday night. Game time at the Pepsi Center is 8 p.m CT.
Wins on the road have been hard to come by for Dallas of late (and the Pepsi Center has been inhospitable to the Stars for awhile), but the team played better overall than the score suggested in Thursday's 6-2 loss in Pittsburgh. The game went from tight to a blowout in the waning minutes of the third period.
Nevertheless, the bottom line is this: The Stars are winless in their last five road games. The team is dead last in goals against average in the NHL, with an ongoing revolving door on the lower half of the blueline, spotty team defense and inconsistent goaltending. That is not entirely unexpected, but the team improved defensively to some degree last season. What is surprising and disappointing, even with the team having been riddled with injuries so far this season. is that the Stars high-powered offense of recent seasons has been very sporadic so far in the 2016-17 season. It goes without saying that it has made it tough to putting together significant winning streaks.
The Avs had been been playing somewhat better hockey of late after a rough start but bring a two-game losing streak into this tilt. Colorado enters this game coming off a 3-2 loss to one of the Eastern Conference's more pleasant surprises in the first half to date; the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Avs were tied 2-2 in the third period after second period tallies by Blake Comeau and Samuel Henley but a mid-third period tally by Boone Jenner lifted Columbus to a regulation win.