The Dallas Stars face off against the top team in the Eastern Conference with the Washington Capitals on Monday
The Dallas Stars will face a tougher than usual opponent on Monday when they square off against the Washington Capitals at American Airlines Center. It'll be a much needed home game as the Caps are first place in the Eastern Conference with a 21-6-2 record to start the season.
The Stars are coming off a narrow 2-1 overtime victory on Saturday over the St. Louis Blues and prior to that put together a lackluster performance in a 4-1 defeat to the Nashville Predators last Thursday. Dallas has a 5-5-0 record over their last ten games with bad losses to the Blackhawks and Ducks.
The Capitals on the other hand are winning games decisively as they ride a four-game winning streak and have a 20-9 record against the spread this season. Despite the different directions of both teams entering Monday, Dallas is still garnering most of the attention as 66 per cent of the public's bets.
It should be an exciting matchup with the Stars having the historical advantage as they've won five of their last six matchups against the Caps. These two clubs are elite on all ends of the ice with both offences ranking inside the top nine in the NHL while the defences rank inside the top seven.
The Capitals second-best offence, averaging 3.97 goals per game, will clash against the Stars fourth-best defence, allowing just 2.55 goals against on average. Both teams are also elite in this setting as the Caps have a 12-2-0 record on the road this season while the Stars are 12-3-0 at American Airlines Center.
Washington's Dylan Strome should certainly be the main focus of the Stars defence as the Mississauga native has experienced a breakout season no one had expected. The 27-year-old has ten goals and 27 assists for 37 points through 29 games and is well on his way to smashing career best numbers.
He outranks the likes of Brayden Point, Artemi Panarin, David Pastrnak and William Nylander in terms of points this season. Strome has been a very impressive player to start the season and Dallas will need to shut him down if they want to snap the Caps winning streak.
The Stars may finally be seeing production out of Jason Robertson, who has a pair of goals and four assists for six points in their last eight games. He is normally at or above a point per game average but has just 19 points in 29 games this season. If he can reach that other level and become the 109-point producer he once was, the Stars should be able to get hot and shake their recent rough skid.
It'll be a great matchup and if you want to check out the game at 7:00 CT on ESPN+ or Victory+ and you can also listen along on Sportsradio 96.7 and 1310 The Ticket. If you are interested in attending, tickets are extremely affordable for Stars versus Flames with the lowest pair being sold for roughly $16USD.