PREVIEW: STARS VS. BLACKHAWKS
In the first game of a crucial five-game homestand, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (40-20-8) play host to Joel Quenneville's defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks (41-21-6) in a battle for first place in the NHL Central Division and Western Conference. Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the fourth of five meetings between the teams this season, and the third and final one in Dallas. Thus far, the Stars are 2-1-0 in the three games. On Dec. 22, the host Stars earned a 4-0 shutout victory. On Feb. 6, the visiting Blackhawks skated to a 5-1 blowout win. Five nights later in Chicago, the Stars avenged the previous game with a 4-2 win.
The two teams enter this game in an 88-point tie with 68 games played apiece. However, the Blackhawks hold a 40-38 regulation/overtime win (ROW) tiebreaker advantage. The St. Louis Blues are in third place in the Central Division race with 87 points in 68 games. Dallas holds a 38-34 ROW tiebreaker edge on the Blues.
The Stars last played on Monday, settling for one point in a 4-3 road overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Blackhawks gained one point on Wednesday in a 3-2 road shootout loss in St. Louis on Wednesday. After this game, the Stars are right back in action on Saturday night, hosting the Blues (who have a home game on Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks). The Blackhawks host the LA Kings on Monday.
Stars outlook
The Stars played at an elite level up to New Years and had a hot streak immediately after the All-Star break. However, the team has looked flawed overall -- much like the one-dimensional squad that could not score its way into the playoffs last season -- since the calendar flipped to 2016. In that span, the Stars are 12-11-5 (3-6-2 in January, 7-5-2 in February, 2-1-1 to date in March).
Dallas has collected points in three straight games (2-0-1). However, the team has lost eight of its past 11 games (3-5-3). Going back to the start of January, the Stars have yield four or more non-shootout goals in 10 of 28 games. They've given up three or more goals 20 times, five or more goals seven times, six goals twice and seven goals once. Most recently, the Stars have allowed five or more goals four times in the last 11 games. They've yielded at least three goals in eight of the last 10 games.
On Monday in Montreal, the Stars and Canadiens seesawed on the scoreboard. Dallas finished on the downside.
Cody Eakin (12th goal of the season) put Dallas ahead 1-0 just 2:58 into the game. Montreal scored in the latter stages of the period to send the game to intermission knotted at 1-1 despite a 16-9 shot advantage for Ruff's team.
The Stars opened the second period on a power play, and it took just 17 seconds for Jason Spezza (25th goal) to restore the lead. The Canadiens struck back less than minute later on the first of Alex Galchenyuk's two goals in the game, and then forged ahead at the 3:37 mark. The score remained 3-2 Montreal until Ales Hemsky re-tied the game with one minute left in the second period.
After a scoreless third period, Galchenyuk won the game for Montreal in the three-on-three overtime on a one-timer from the right circle with Dallas defender Kris Russell playing without a stick. The Habs outshot the Stars by a 12-8 margin over the final 21:59 of the game.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 24 of 28 Montreal shots in a losing cause. The third and fourth Montreal goals, while far from routine saves, were also not unstoppable.
The first Montreal tally was a deflection goal off Max Pacioretty's skate from an initial point shot by Andrei Markov. The second was scored point blank by Galchenyuk off a Sven Andrighetto passout after Dallas defensemen Jason Demers was ridden off the puck behind the net and the Stars ended up with both of their defensemen behind the net and Cody Eakin unable to get his stick on the centering feed. The third goal started with a lost faceoff and a missed point shot that caromed off the end boards directly out to Phillip Danault on the same side. The Galchenyuk game-winner was a short-side scorcher.
Lehtonen, who has started three straight games for the Stars, has appeared in 34 games this season (30 starts). He has posted an 18-8-2 record, 2.86 goals against average, .906 save percentage and one shutout. Antti Niemi, who won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2009-10, has made 42 appearances (38 starts), posting a 22-12-6 record, 2.72 GAA, .903 SV%, and three shutouts.
Niemi had a 20-save shutout of the Blackhawks back on Dec. 22. He started the Feb. 6 game in Dallas but was removed after the first period (eight saves on 11 shots) with the Stars trailing 3-1 and Chicago scoring power play (Brent Seabrook) and shorthanded (Marian Hossa) goals in the first and final minutes of the period sandwiched around an even strength rebound goal (Trevor van Riemsdyk) off a point shot. On Feb. 11, Lehtonen stopped 44 of 46 shots and the Stars returned the favor from the previous game, chasing Corey Crawford after the first period in a four-goal, 18 shot barrage in the opening stanza.
Spezza brings a four-game goal-scoring streak into Friday night's game. The forward, who spent most of his career playing in the Eastern Conference, has usually had offensive success against the Blackhawks in his career. Spezza has posted at least one point (two goals, eight assists overall) in nine consecutive games against Chicago and has 13 points in 13 career games against the Hawks.
On the injury front, the Stars are a banged-up team right now, especially on the blueline. Already without number one defenseman John Klingberg (lower body) and third pairing defenseman Jordie Benn (lower body), the Stars lost Demers for an estimated six weeks after he sustained a shoulder injury that forced him to leave Monday's game. The club is also without longtime Chicago standout forward Patrick Sharp (lower-body injury). None of the players will be available for Friday's game.
The Stars recalled defenseman Stephen Johns on Thursday. Acquired from the Blackhawks along with Sharp in the deal that sent Trevor Daley (now with the Pittsburgh Penguins) and Ryan Garbutt (now with Anaheim), the righthanded-shooting Johns will make his NHL debut on Friday evening. In 55 games in the American Hockey League this season, the 23-year-old Notre Dame alum has posted 24 points (four goals, 20 assists) and a plus-seven rating.
Defending Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Benn will probably cede that trophy to Chicago superstar Patrick Kane this season. Nevertheless, Benn ranks second in scoring in the NHL, with 73 points (32 goals, 41 assists) in 68 games. Benn has recently been skating on a different line than regular linemate Tyler Seguin. However, Ruff serially changes line combinations both within games and on practice days between games.
Seguin, who enters this game in a five-game point drought, has 32 goals, 36 assists and 68 points on the season. Injured defenseman Klingberg (10 goals, 43 assists, 53 points) will miss his third straight game. Spezza (25 goals, 24 assists, 49 points in 62 games) has bypassed the currently injured Sharp (17 goals, 30 assists, 47 points in 65 games) on the Dallas scoring leader board. The top five scorers are followed by defenseman Alex Goligoski (four goals, 26 assists, 30 points), who has quietly put together a strong season overall.
The high-scoring Stars boast 10 different players who have reached double-digit goals this season and could easily have a dozen before the start of the playoffs. Eakin (12 goals, 16 assists, 28 points), Hemsky (10 goals, 17 assists, 27 points in 61 games), two-way standout Mattias Janmark (13 goals, 14 assists, 27 points) and streaky young Valeri Nichushkin (nine goals, 17 assists, 26 points in 65 games provide depth to support the big guns. Dallas has also gotten 11 goals out of third-line agitator Antoine Roussel and 10 from veteran checking center Vernon Fiddler. Colton Sceviour (nine goals, 18 points in 60 games) is on the brink of his first NHL double-digit goal season after potting nine in 71 games last year.
Blackhawks outlook
The Blackhawks caught fire after the Christmas break and were the hottest team in the NHL for the next month. After a rough patch of three regulation losses in four games leading up to the All-Star break -- the Hawks temporarily short-circuited, especially offensively, in that span -- Chicago came back and rattled off three straight wins to start the month of February. That included thumping the Stars at the AAC on Feb. 6.
Since that time, the Hawks been inconsistent, going 5-5-2 over the last 12 games. There have been rousing wins but also a few rather ugly losses in that span. As a result, Chicago has been unable to pull away from the Stars and has seen St. Louis get hot (11-4-1 since the All-Star break) to rapidly make up ground in the standings and close within a single point.
On Tuesday, St. Louis nearly pulled out a regulation win against the Blackhawks but the defending champions rallied for a late goal by Calder Trophy candidate Artemi Panarin before the Blues won via shootout. Recently reacquired forward Andrew Ladd (power play) also scored for Chicago. Kane was held off the scoresheet. Crawford stopped 28 of 30 shots in regulation and overtime, and three of six in the shootout. The Hawks solved Jake Allen twice on 35 shots during the hockey game and two of six times in the skills competition. Final shooter Teuvo Terà¤và¤inen hit the post on the last attempt to prolong the shootout after Kevin Shattenkirk converted his attempt for St. Louis.
One big reason for the Blackhawks' inconsistency of late: the penalty kill has been having major trouble. Over the last 12 games, the club has given up 14 opposition power play goals including two against the Blues on Tuesday. Chicago has plummeted to 24th in the NHL on the penalty kill, dropping to 78.6 percent success rate for the season.
On the flip side, there is nothing wrong with the Chicago power play. The Blackhawks lead the NHL with a 24.1 percent efficiency rating for the season -- high enough to push the team's special teams number to 102.7 despite the problems on the PK. Overall, the Stars are tied with the Washington Capitals as the NHL's highest-scoring team (an average 3.18 goals scored per game) while the Hawks (2.82) are sixth.
Chicago's injury list is not nearly as extensive as Dallas' at present. Hossa (leg) has missed nine games with a leg injury and is now day-to-day; he is questionable for Friday's game. Marcus Kruger (wrist injury) is out.
Kane leads the NHL with 89 points (38 goals, 51 assists) in 68 games and, barring injury, could be the only NHL player in the league's most recent two seasons to hit the 100-point milestone. The 24-year-old Panarin has made his case for the Calder Trophy with a 25-goal, 62-point season. Team captain Jonathan Toews has 24 goals, 24 assists and 48 points, while perennial Norris Trophy candidate Duncan Keith has 42 points (nine goals, 33 assists) in 58 games and fellow defenseman Brent Seabrook has added 13 goals, 29 assists and 42 points.
The supporting cast includes Artem Anisimov (19 goals, 17 assists, 36 points), Andrew Shaw (11 goals, 20 assists, 31 points) and Terà¤và¤inen (10 goals, 19 assists, 29 points). Ladd has four points (two goals, two assists) in five games since coming over from Winnipeg. Hossa chipped in 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 54 games before the leg injury.
Workhorse starting goalie Crawford has appeared in 55 games this season, posting a 35-16-4 record, 2.22 goals against average, .929 save percentage and seven shutouts. Backup netminder Scott Darling has gotten into 17 games (13 starts), with a 6-5-2 record, 2.58 GAA and .913 save percentage.