The Dallas Stars hope to continue feasting at home when they face the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Despite enduring plenty of road struggles, the Stars have the league’s best home winning percentage at 10-2-0. On the road, Dallas has a paltry 6-8-0 mark, making for a different confidence level.
“A timely save, a timely goal. That’s what it comes down to,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “If you’re going to be a good road team, you’ve got to get timely goals at the right time, and you’ve got to get timely saves, and we don’t seem to be getting either of those on the road right now.”
The Stars are back in Dallas after losing two consecutive road games, the latest a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. Penalties were the biggest issue for the Stars, who were short-handed a season-high six times and allowed two Vegas power-play goals.
“We can’t be doing that,” said captain Jamie Benn, who was handed a double-minor for high sticking when his team was already on a power play. “I definitely could have prevented my penalty. I can only speak for myself, but it was a dumb penalty, and they found a way to get one in the net.”
The Stars remain one of the league’s best defensive squads, but they have been struggling to light the lamp of late. The poster boy for those difficulties is Jason Robertson, a two-time 40 goal scorer who has managed only five this season. Robertson even had a goal in Vegas rescinded after review.
“It might be frustrating, but get out there and find another way to score,” DeBoer said. “That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
The Flames have their own road woes to overcome as they begin a two-game trip.
The Flames, who coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, have a 3-6-4 road record, with one victory in their last 11 clashes away from Calgary.
Calgary is also on a 1-3-2 skid overall, although the club managed one win and the extra-time defeat in a brief two-game spell at home.
“We got three out of four (points) during our little homestand,” defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “Our big focus is getting on the road here, and getting some wins on the road.”
The Flames certainly are an interesting study for a team that is somehow sitting in a playoff spot. On the positive, they have scored a power-play goal in eight of their last nine games, notching 10 man-advantage markers in that stretch.
However, they have surrendered 10 opposition power-play goals in their last seven games and gone 24 consecutive games without scoring more than three goals. Not a single player is on pace to even hit the 50-point mark.
“If you score three goals a night, you should win a game,” coach Ryan Huska said “And I do feel like over time, when we play the right way and play our game, we’re going to score more than three goals.”
Added forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who is tied for the team lead with 16 points: “We’re a hard team to play against because of that, because we play more defensively. And obviously as an offensive guy, you have to buy into that. If you do that, I feel like you’re going to get rewarded at some point.”
–Field Level Media