Stars face formidable Hurricanes' home dominance. Can Dallas' road prowess conquer Carolina's elite fortress and break their recent head-to-head losing streak?
The Dallas Stars return to the ice Tuesday night, heading east for a marquee matchup against one of the Eastern Conference’s elite teams, the Carolina Hurricanes. While Carolina has hit a rough patch lately, dropping six of its last ten games, the Hurricanes remain one of the NHL’s toughest teams to beat at home.
Since the start of the 2022–23 season, Carolina owns the league’s best home record at 99-37-9, powered by a top-five home offense averaging 3.48 goals per game and a top-four home defense allowing just 2.57 goals per contest.
That sets the stage for an elite showdown, especially with Dallas bringing its own road dominance. Over that same span, the Stars are the NHL’s best road team at 86-40-18, boasting the league’s top road offense at 3.45 goals per game and the best road defense at 2.69 goals against per game.
Despite the clash of two powerhouses, this shapes up as a tougher test for Dallas, which has lost four of its last seven meetings with Carolina. All signs point to a high-profile matchup, with Jake Oettinger expected to start for the Stars and breakout goaltender Brandon Bussi projected to get the nod for the Hurricanes.
Dallas Stars’ Expected Line Combinations vs. Carolina (Tuesday):
Duchene - Johnston - Rantanen
Robertson - Hintz - Bourque
Hryckowian - Steel - Erne
Back - Faksa - Blackwell
Lindell - Heiskanen
Harley - Petrovic
Lyubushkin - Lundkvist
Oettinger
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