Shooting Stars: Weekly Preview (11/6/16-11/12/16)

The Dallas Stars will have a chance to be road warriors this week. They have four games and they are all on the road.

Chicago Blackhawks

The Stars will face the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, then travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Tuesday, facing off against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night and finally they will end the week on Friday night in Edmonton taking on the Oilers.

On Sunday night they will finish up a home-and-home series with the Blackhawks. Dallas will need to find a way to get its power play going since the Hawks have one of the worst penalty killing units in the League. The Stars will also need to stay out of the penalty box because the Chicago power play can be dangerous with the likes of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin to name a few players. Dallas needs to get the first goal of the game to take the Chicago crowd out of the game and they do have a good record when scoring first. The Stars will also need to make the bottom six forwards of the Blackhawks beat them since Chicago is a two line team.

The Blackhawks need to convert on some of its power play chances since the Stars haven’t been at its best while killing penalties. If the Hawks manage to get down in the game then they need to keep battling because the Stars goalies will allow some goals. The point producers for Dallas are the duo of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn so the Hawks need to find a way to keep them off the board. If Chicago can manage to get in behind the Dallas defense and force them to turnover pucks in its own zone then they’ll have a good chance at winning the game.

Winnipeg Jets

On Tuesday night, the Stars visit the Jets. Dallas will need to get the first goal of the game to take the crowd out of the game. The Stars also need to take advantage of a lineup that is missing some key players due to injury. They will need to take care of the puck while on the man advantage since Winnipeg does have a couple of shorthanded goals. If the Stars can manage to get the lead then they’ll need to make sure that they don’t sit back because the Jets have some come-from-behind wins this year. The last key for the Stars to get the win is to keep these four guys in-check since they are the Jets’ top scorers: Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine.

The Jets need to have a decent game at even strength and make the Stars beat them while on the power play, since they are struggling in that department right now. Winnipeg needs to get pucks to the net and put pressure on the defense to force those turnovers especially in its own zone. The team will need to get off to a better start and play a full 60-minute game if they want to beat the Stars.

Calgary Flames

The Stars visit the Flames on Thursday night. Dallas needs to take advantage while on the power play since the Flames special teams aren’t very good, even though the Flames do have some shorthanded goals. They’ll need to get pucks towards the net since Calgary is giving up too many goals against this season. The defensemen need to be aware because the Flames do have a physical edge to their  game, and the Stars will also need to move the puck quickly since Calgary isn’t afraid to block some shots.

The Flames need to stay out of the penalty box since they don’t have a great penalty kill. The goalies need to stay on top of their game and not allow too many goals, especially soft goals. The Flames will need to use its speed to beat the Stars to loose pucks. Calgary also should use its speed to cancel icings, get behind the Dallas defense and in transition to force some odd man rushes.

Edmonton Oilers

On Friday night, the Stars take on the Oilers and Connor McDavid. Dallas will need to keep McDavid off the board and have someone shadow him so he doesn’t have time or space to create. They’ll need to get traffic in front of the Edmonton net for deflections and screens. They need to be aggressive on the penalty kill since the Oilers have allowed a few shorthanded goals against. They will also need to figure out a way to play a solid road game since the Oilers have a balanced lineup that can produce.

The Oilers have the special teams advantage and need to be good to beat the Stars. Edmonton needs to get the puck on net since the Dallas goalies tend to give up some goals. If they bring their physical game then the Oilers can force turnovers on the Dallas defense and that could lead to some scoring chances in the offensive zone for the Oilers. The Oilers need to watch out for the Dallas defense since they can put up some numbers in the offensive zone.