Game Preview: Stars Look To Rebound Quickly As They Face Tampa Bay in Second Night Of Back-To-Back

The Stars will look to channel their inner goldfish, as they quickly get back on the ice against another hot team on Saturday night.

Following a 7-1 beating at the hands of the Florida Panthers on Friday, Dallas has no time to dwell. Just as Florida presented a huge challenge with their elite record, incredible goal-scoring, and solid overall team play, Tampa Bay presents almost an identical obstacle.

The Lightning have won four of their last five games and are currently tied with Florida for first in the NHL (Florida can thank the Stars for that.). They possess a 13-4-3 record on home ice and are receiving excellent play from their Vezina-winning goaltender, Andrei Vasilevsky (21-6-3, 2.18 GAA, .924 sv%). In recent head-to-head matchups, the stats only look worse for the Stars.

Last season, the Stars posted a 2-5-1 record against the Lightning and were 1-3-0 at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Vasilevksy has also owned Dallas, posting an 11-1-3 record, 1.91 GAA, and .932 sv% in his last 15 games against them. For a team that is 4-11-1 on the road this season, is struggling to score goals, and just got stomped by the other Florida team last night, this could spell trouble.

“We’ve got some guys who are very comfortable playing at home and very uncomfortable playing on the road,” Rick Bownes said. “It’s very obvious.”

It is unknown who will start in the net for Dallas, as Jake Oettinger was pulled midway through last night’s game and Anton Khudobin has not started a game in two months. However, the rest of the lineup is no secret, as the Stars have a limited number of players that are available due to the growing number on the NHL’s COVID protocol list.

In order for the Stars to have success and eventually make the playoffs, they desperately need to improve their game on the road. They will play at Tampa Bay on Friday, return home for one game, and then embark on a four-game road trip through the east coast.

Not only do they have a poor record, but they struggle to score goals and some of their best players have been a mess away from home.

John Klingberg has only five points and holds a minus-18 rating, Tyler Seguin is minus-14, Ryan Suter is minus-12, and the Stars dynamic top line has been near silent away from American Airlines Center. In fact, that line, which racked up 10 points in Wednesday’s home win against the Seattle Kraken, was split up on Friday night after going minus-2 in the first period.

This all sounds very negative, I know. But the facts are what they are.

The Stars need to find a way to win tonight’s game. It is going to be tough, it will take a few supreme performances, and it will likely take some depth scoring, something that has been completely missing for much of the season. However, if they fail to win tonight, they will be in an even tougher position, with low confidence and a lower record, when they head out on their four-game swing next week.

“Yep…”, Stars captain Jamie Benn said when asked if the team learned anything on Friday that they could use Saturday against Tampa. “We need to be a lot better.”

Although it is only January, time seems to be running out on finding an answer to their road woes. If they can find a way to even a .500 record on the road, they are likely a playoff team due to their remarkable 14-3-1 record on home ice.