Game Preview: Stars Look For Familiar Success At Home Versus Struggling Canadiens

Good news for the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. They are playing at home. After two more losses on the road last weekend, Dallas returns home to face off against the struggling Montreal Canadiens at American Airlines Center.

“Well, we have lost two in a row and we are going on the road for four games tomorrow,” Rick Bowness said. “We stressed the importance of this game yesterday to them, and we talked about it again this morning. It’s not so much who we are playing, it is about the Dallas Stars going out and playing our style of hockey, the same way we have been playing at home all year, regardless of who comes in.”

Essentially, the Stars are facing an opposite challenge of the one they faced last weekend in Florida. While essentially every stat was against Dallas heading into their matchups with the league-leading Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, they have a lot behind them heading into this one.

Montreal is 7-25-5 on the season, currently sitting dead last in the league, and have lost six straight after a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. They have also only won two road games all season.

“I think we have to focus on our game and be our absolute best,” Michael Raffl said. “We have to put some wins together now. These games coming up mean a lot to us, it’s a critical stretch coming and we have to prepare ourselves for a very hard battle. They have some bodies coming back and they have a good team so we gotta be ready and focusing on our game.”

For Dallas, they will look to continue their run of success at home. They have won five straight and hold one of the best home records in the NHL at 14-3-1. With a four-game road trip staring them in the face, they hope to re-find some familiar swagger tonight against Montreal.

More good news for Dallas includes the return of Braden Holtby and Denis Gurianov from the NHL’s COVID protocol. Gurianov will play tonight, although he is not yet at 100%.

“Denis will play tonight,” Rick Bowness said. He is not 100%, so I am not sure how much he will play. If I see he is having a tough time breathing, I will put Kiviranta up there.”

Holtby will backup Jake Oettinger, who gets his third straight start at home where he is 9-1-0 on the season with a sparkling .919 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average.

Jason Robertson remains out tonight rehabbing a lower-body injury. He did skate this morning and will travel with the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. Jacob Peterson will jump into his spot on the top line along with Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz as Gurianov returns to his familiar role alongside Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn.