Game Preview: Stars Desperate For Bounce Back In Second Half Of Home-And-Home vs Colorado

Sunday’s game against the Avalanche was not a good one for the Stars. They lost 4-0 at home and did not put forth a very good performance overall. Now, they have a chance for immediate payback as they travel to Colorado for the rematch.

"You've got to think you're going to be seeing this team at some point if you're going to go on a run," Pavelski said. "It's a good team, and we've had success against them at times. If we have to see them in the playoffs, we'll have to do the job."

The Stars are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, an impressive stretch surrounding the All-Star break. However, they still remain out of a playoff spot and know that every game going forward is vital to their chances. Tonight will mark the start of a three-game road trip that will see them travel to Colorado, Chicago, and Arizona before returning home.

Jake Oettinger will get the nod in net after Holtby allowed three goals on 29 Avalanche shots on Sunday. Oettinger has been up and down lately but is coming off a solid 4-3 overtime victory over the Winnipeg Jets last week.

"We're not trying to protect him anymore," Bowness said. "We protected him for a while there and picked our spots where we'd play him, and that's gone by the wayside now. We need to keep letting him play these important games."

Colorado remains atop the NHL standings and has gone 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. They have the highest goal differential at +59 and have scored the second-most goals with 190 in 46 games.

Even more daunting, the Avs have gone 20-0-2 in their last 22 games at Ball Arena, the longest home winning streak in franchise history and longest in the NHL since 2014. They have points in every game dating back to Halloween 2021.

Cale Makar led the Avs with two points on Sunday, both coming directly off Stars turnover in their own zone. If Dallas wants to contend in this matchup, they will need to display better puck possession and eliminate the costly mistakes.

Another key for Dallas is to not respect the Avs too much. They appeared timid on Sunday, allowing Colorado to dictate as if they were intimidated or holding onto a big lead and playing prevent defense.

"We gave that team way too much respect early and we didn't take it to them," Bowness said. "When we're an aggressive team, we're a very good hockey club. When we're tip-toeing around and watching them play, we're not."

Lineup Updates

• John Klingberg is IN after missing Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury, Joel Hanley will come out of the lineup--Thomas Harley will stay in

• Radek Faksa is OUT still nursing a lower-body injury

• Andrej Sekera is OUT with a lower-body injury

He Said It

“He’s like Roope his first year and a few years for Denis up and down, up and down,” Bowness said about Harley’s development. “There comes a point where he’s gotta stay in the lineup. He has improved in the areas that we needed him to improve in, he’s got a tremendous amount of confidence in his puck skills, which we love. There comes a point, instead of coming up and down, he’s gotta stay here. But that’s up to him, he’s gotta play that way.”

Projected Lines

Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski

Benn-Seguin-Gurianov

Kero- Peterson-Radulov

Raffl-Glendening-Kiviranta

Lindell — Klingberg

Suter — Heiskanen

Harley — Hakanpaa

Oettinger

Holtby