The Dallas Stars wrapped up a four-game road trip and finally head home to take on the New York Islanders.
After three losses in a row, the Stars ended an east coast road trip with a grinding 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes and now come back to Dallas for a rare February home game against the New York Islanders.
The stay in Dallas will be a short one, though, as the Stars head to Colorado Tuesday for the second of the back-to-back games, and the third in four days. Games are coming thick and fast for the Stars, who have kept injuries at bay enough to stay on top of a tight Central Division race.
With division rivals Colorado and Winnipeg up next for Dallas, getting a win against the Islanders takes on even more importance. The Stars lead Winnipeg by a point and Colorado by three points, and banking two points going into those two games will give the Stars a little leeway despite how important those divisional games are.
The Islanders have continued to struggle under new coach Patrick Roy, who won his first game behind the bench against the Stars in January. Since then, New York has gone 3-4-3 and sits nine points out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. They have lost their last two games and are coming off a 4-2 home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
On the Stars road trip, it was a tale of two halves offensively. After putting over 40 shots on net against the Bruins and Rangers, the Stars majorly struggled to generate offense in the final two games. In the brutal 4-1 loss to Ottawa, Dallas only put 15 shots on goal, and in Carolina they were able to make two goals on 16 shots hold up for the win.
Jake Oettinger started three of the four, with his only break coming Tuesday against the Rangers. Scott Wedgewood gets the first game of the back-to-back, giving Oettinger an extra day of rest before facing the Avalanche Tuesday.
Projected line up:
Robertson-Pavelski-Hintz
Marchment-Duchene-Dellandrea
Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
Steel-Faksa-Smith
Harley-Heiskanen
Suter-Hanley
Lindell-Pouliot
Wedgewood
Oettinger
Some good and bad news came out on the injury front for Dallas Monday. Jani Hakanpaa and Nils Lundkvist were full participants in the morning skate, signifying that one or both could be very near a return to the lineup. Tyler Seguin, meanwhile, is now week-to-week according to head coach Pete DeBoer after dealing with a nagging injury that finally needed attention.
After more than half a season of injury-free hockey, Dallas has hit a rough patch as the season reaches the last two months before playoff time. With the Seguin injury comes a silver lining, though, as Logan Stankoven was called up Monday to fill the void left by the second line winger.
Stankoven had a positive debut in Raleigh, getting several good chances offensively and debuting on the third line next to Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston. With Seguin out now for a longer stretch, Stankoven could move up to the second line with Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment depending on how the second and third line do moving forward. Either way, it is the chance that Stars fans have been waiting for to see what Stankoven can do at the NHL level after leading the AHL in points all season.
When Seguin and Evgenii Dadonov return from injury as the playoffs near, the Stars could have a good problem to have when deciding who comes out of the lineup once everyone is healthy. Thomas Harley made his debut late in the season after playing in the AHL all last year and never came out of the lineup in the playoffs, and it could very well be the same for Stankoven.
Puck drop for the Islanders game is at 7 p.m. and can be seen on Bally Sports Southwest locally and NHL Network in all out-of-market areas.
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