Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Game 16 of 82: Can The Rangers Stars Shine Bright in Dallas?
The last time the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars met was on January 12th in what turned out to be the most exciting win of the entire season.
The Rangers have had a ton of luck in Dallas over the recent years. Dating back to March of 2020, they have won their last three games at the American Airlines Center and are hoping to continue that trend tonight.
That said, this won't be an easy matchup for New York. The Stars are coming off of a rough 6-3 loss at home agains the Colorado Avalanche and are looking to have a strong bounce back effort. Dallas has been relatively well rested, just like the Rangers, who have only played one game in the last week. The Stars have also played just one game in the last six days.
Production Throughout the Lineup:
The Dallas Stars have one of the deeper teams in the entire National Hockey League. They currently have eight players that have a minimum of 10 points and they have three very strong lines of forwards. They're currently led by Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson, who each have 15 points in 16 games, but the Stars have a ton of dangerous scorers like Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Miro Heiskanen.
Their offseason acquisition, Matt Duchene, has been one of the hottest players in the league as of late. Duchene has four goals and five assists in the teams last five games, but another player that the Rangers need to keep their eyes on is Wyatt Johnston.
Johnston is their third line center who is in his second NHL season and he's already put up seven goals and six assists in 16 games.
Panarin & Co Continue To Stay Hot:
Artemi Panarin's season opening point streak extend to 15 games, which is now a franchise record as he passed the legendary Rod Gilbert with his two goals on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils. Panarin has 26 points in 15 games this season and shows absolutely zero signs of slowing down.
Since joining Panarin's line with Alexis Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck's game has gone to a whole new level as his production has really picked up over the last five games.
I mentioned that the Dallas Stars have eight players with 10 points, well the Rangers aren't far behind considering that they have seven players that fit this category.
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Panarin, Trocheck and Erik Gustafsson are all on lengthy point streaks. I referred to Panarin's 15 game streak already, but Trocheck and Gustafsson each have their own five-game point streaks going. Trocheck has three goals and seven assists in that span, while Gustafsson has tallied one goal with six helpers of his own.
No Fox & Chytil, No Problem:
It was very encouraging to see Adam Fox return to practicing yesterday, but there is still no time table on when he will be returning, as Peter Laviolette told the media yesterday. Filip Chytil's availability is still unknown.
As much as the team would like these two back in the lineup, they haven't missed a beat without them. The Rangers 4-0-1 without Fox and Chytil, who have been absent since November 3rd. In that span, the team is scoring the third-most goals per game (4.20), and allowing the ninth-fewest goals against per game (2.80).
As far as special teams go, they've been skating to the second-best power play percentage (36.4%) and the fourth-best penalty kill (92.3%).
Dallas Stars since November 3rd:
In the time span that Fox and Chytil have been out, the Dallas Stars have gone 4-3-0, scoring 25 total goals and allowing 21 goals against. The Stars are scoring 3.57 goals per game (11th) and giving up 3.00 goals against (14th).
Their power play sits at 9th, converting at a 28.6% rate while their penalty kill is 11th at 83.3%.
Final Thoughts:
The Rangers are 7-1-1 on the road this season while the Stars are 4-3-0 at home.
I will have more about the expected lineups and expected goaltending matchup after the teams morning skate has concluded.
