After losses in Boston and New York, the Dallas Stars will try to turn things around against the Senators.
Following a season-high nine goals against the Nashville Predators February 15, the Dallas Stars have gone winless in their last three games (0-1-2). They hope their luck will change in Ottawa Thursday on the third leg of a four-game road trip.
In their last game on Tuesday, the Stars fell 3-1 to the New York Rangers on the second night of a back-to-back, despite outshooting New York 42-26. Igor Shesterkin robbed Dallas on numerous chances with some spectacular play in net.
Dallas can take some solace from accumulating two points during their three-game winless streak, including an overtime loss at home to Edmonton and a nine-round shootout defeat at the hands of Boston.
The Sens are coming off a road trip where they lost in Chicago, beat Tampa Bay, then lost in overtime to a hot Florida Panthers club.
Ottawa coach Jacques Martin readjusted his line following the loss to the Blackhawks. The Sens' new top line features Mathieu Joseph-Tim Stützle-Claude Giroux, with positive results.
Joseph scored a pair of goals including the game-winner against the Lightning, while Stützle has goals in his last three games.
The Sens are 5-3-2 over their last 10 games but sit in eighth place in the Atlantic Division with a 23-27-3 record and 49 points. Brady Tkachuk leads the team in goals (25), while Stützle leads in assists (38) and points (55).
The two teams last met back on December 15 in a memorable matchup in Dallas. The Sens took a 2-0 lead early in the second period and led 4-3 to start the third. But Dallas rallied to score two goals to snatch a 5-4 victory, going 1-for-3 on the power play and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty-kill unit.
Five different Stars skaters had goals including three defensemen: Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell. Matt Duchene led the team with a goal and an assist (1-1-2). Duchene spent parts of two seasons with the Sens (2017-19(, scoring 50 goals and 57 assists (50-57-107) in 118 regular-season games.
Things to Watch for:
- Dallas has a decisive advantage over the Sens on the power play (23.0%-15.9%) and on killing penalties (82.4%-74.7%).
- Matt Duchene needs just one point to reach the 800 mark in points for his career over 1,031 games. He has 15 points (7-8-15) in 20 career games against his former team.
- The Stars are 18-6-8 in one-goal games this season, while Ottawa is 6-6-3.
- Since January 20, the Sens have earned points in five come-from-behind efforts.
Projected Lines:
Robertson -- Hintz -- Johnston
Marchment -- Duchene -- Seguin
Benn -- Steel -- Pavelski
Dellandrea -- Faksa -- Smith
Suter -- Heiskanen
Harley -- Hanley
Lindell -- Pouliot
Oettinger
Wedgewood
Fans can gather for a Stars watch party during the game at The Brass Tap, 5321 The Sta Blvd. in Sachse. Puck drop is at 6 Pm and the game will be televised on Bally Sports Southwest.
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