The Dallas Stars will look to snap a season-high-tying four-game losing streak when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
The Stars are 0-2-2 in their past four outings, most recently falling 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. They trailed 4-1 early in the third period before scoring a pair of goals late in the frame.
“We’re certainly in a little bit of a funk,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said.
The skid comes after a stretch in which the Stars won 12 of 15 games (12-2-1). The team believed the NHL’s holiday break would re-invigorate them and help elevate their game. Instead, they’ve struggled and their performance on the ice hasn’t shown signs of improvement over the past four games.
One of the stingiest teams in the league, Dallas has allowed four goals in all four of their losses during their slide. Prior to the current stretch, it had given up at least four goals in a game only six times in 37 games.
“There are no easy shifts in this league, no easy games,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “You have to come prepared to play every night or you’ll get humbled pretty quick.”
Dallas is hoping a stretch of 14 games over the next 28 days will help it get back to the form that propelled the team to second in the NHL’s overall standings. Those struggles allowed the Wild to catch up, and Minnesota took over second place Saturday with a standings point in their shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
“Our team did really good with rhythm and playing every second night, and all of the sudden a break hits and we haven’t got back on the horse yet,” Gulutzan said. “It’s not tired; we’re rested. It’s down a degree and losing that edge. The league is humbling; it can turn very quickly. So you’ve got to get your edge back and get back in a rhythm of playing every second night and playing good hockey.”
Montreal heads into the contest looking to bounce back after getting shut out 2-0 against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. The Canadiens had won five of their previous seven games and had points in each of those contests (5-0-2) before the setback.
“I thought just execution was poor to start the game,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. “I thought we just weren’t able to capitalize on our offensive chances and that’s a big reason why we lost.”
The Canadiens’ power play has been a key part of their success this season, ranking in the top 10 entering Sunday’s game. That area has been a struggle over the past two and a half weeks, however. Montreal is 4-for-22 since Dec. 16, an 18.2% success rate that ranks 22nd in the NHL in that stretch.
Against the Blues, they went 0-for-4 with just six shots on the man advantage, including a 5-on-3 for over a minute and a half in the second period.
“I thought we had some pretty good looks, just didn’t score,” Suzuki said. “Yeah, a little bit frustrating, but there was a lot of time left in the game for us to come back.”
–Field Level Media
