State of the Team:
It has been 43 days since I have upload a post to this blog. In that time the Dallas Stars have won 15 games and lost 6 games. A true fan would ask “We’re doing amazing why are you starting again?” and to that I say that even my return cannot stop the roll that Dallas has been on. The Dallas Stars are straight up dominant, and there are stats to prove it. Dallas scores 3.5 goals a game – good for 2nd in the NHL. Dallas only allows 2.6 goals against per game – good for 4th in the NHL. Dallas score on 31.6% of its powerplays – good for 2nd in the NHL. Glen Gulutzan has kept Dallas atop the NHL despite a large amount of injuries.
Despite these eye-popping statistics y’all are not here to talk about Dallas’ previous games. It’s time to look ahead to the Blackhawks, when Dallas faces Chicago in the Windy City. Let’s take a look at the major storylines heading into todays game.
Major Injuries:
Unlike earlier in the season Dallas doesn’t have many injuries going into todays game. Players like Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Adam Erne, and Thomas Harley have all recovered from their injuries. That doesn’t mean that Dallas has escaped the injury bug quite yet:
Tyler Seguin (ACL): During my month long hiatus I received plenty of bad news- mostly due to finals season coming and going. However, the worst piece of news I got was Tyler Seguin tearing his ACL. Seguin will be out for the remainder of the season. Obviously this is a huge loss for Dallas, but it will be interesting to see if Jim Nill can work with the 10-million dollars of cap space that this injury clears up for Dallas.
Lian Bichsel (Left leg): Bischsel’s promising rookie season has been cut short due to a significant lower-leg injury. Bischel will be out for 3-5 weeks, and has already undergone surgery. He will be back before the playoffs.
Ilya Lyubushkin (Sickness): Unfortunately there is an unknown sickness going through the team. Lyubushkin is the most heavily affected, and will be replaced with Capobianco.
Healthy Scratches – Nathan Bastian, Adam Erne, and Colin Blackwell.
The Opponent:
The Chicago Blackhawks are the worst team in the NHL, and injuries are only making them worse. Entering tonight’s game Chicago has struggled to build momentum, and are currently on a 6 game losing streak. The Blackhawks have the least amount of points in the league (32) and are clearly in a rebuilding state. Their experienced offense have been decimated with injuries while their lackluster defense has remained inconsistent.
Franchise star Connor Bedard will miss tonight’s game with a upper-body injury that won’t require surgery. Bedard leads the Blackhawks in points(44), assists(25), goals(19), and plus/minus(+8). A crushing blow to a already deflated Chicago team.
Frank Nazar will also miss tonight’s game. Nazar is 2nd on the team in assists(15), 5th on the team in goals (6), and 4th in points (21).
Chicago will have to rely on Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky to generate some semblance of an offense against Dallas’ stacked defensive front.
Keys to the Game:
1 – Dominate on special teams: The Chicago penalty kill, which is rated 4th in the league, will matchup against Dallas’ 2nd placed power-play. If Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, and Mikko Rantanen dominate Chicago’s penalty kill it’ll be hard for Chicago to respond.
2 – Stay Disciplined: Chicago is currently lacking offensive firepower with Nazar and Bedard injured. They’re not elite offensively because of these injuries, but giving them power-play chances keeps them alive. Dallas needs to avoid lazy penalties, and play structured 5-on-5 hockey. If the Stars play structured then their talent will overcome Chicago’s in 60 minutes of hockey.
Prediction:
I do not think that Dallas will have much trouble dispatching Chicago in the Windy City. The Stars are more talented, better coached, better on the power-play, and facing a battered Blackhawks team. All of these factors lead me to believe in an easy Stars victory to start our road slate.
Prediction: Stars 4, Blackhawks 1
Leave a Reply