The Dallas Stars were a preseason favorite and they’re proving those prognostications were true.
Having won four of their past five games and running neck-and-neck with the Colorado Avalanche for top spot in the Central Division, the Stars take their show on the road to begin a three-game Western Canada trip with Wednesday’s clash against the struggling Calgary Flames.
Dallas is coming off an impressive 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, a game the Stars broke open with a three-goal third period.
“It’s a good feeling,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We talked about building our game and adding some layers to it and I thought (Monday) was the best it has looked. So hopefully that’s a good sign going forward here.”
The Stars are built with impressive forward depth, and showed it against the Blue Jackets. Third-line center Matt Duchene — who signed as a free agent with the club in the summer — notched his first goal of the season.
Although lighting the lamp is a relief, Duchene is now in his 15th NHL season and nearing his 1,000th game, so he looks at the season with a big-picture view.
“In this league you can get caught up in production and wins and losses, but the process is the most important thing,” Duchene told the team’s website. “You can win games and your process is no good and you can lose games when your process is good, but eventually it rights itself.
“I think this team is so mature in the way it carries itself. I’ve been really impressed being a part of it and watching it. There’s never any panic, it’s just even-keeled.”
Meanwhile, the Flames are at the other end of the spectrum, having lost five straight games — the latest a 5-2 defeat against the Edmonton Oilers in Sunday’s Heritage Classic outdoor game.
Calgary had high hopes of a rebound after a disappointing 2022-23 season in which the club missed the playoffs by two points. Instead, the Flames have just one win in their past eight games and sit ahead of only the San Jose Sharks in the league standings.
“We’ve got to keep believing … I know we have a really good group,” captain Mikael Backlund said. “We have to just push a little harder here until we get that win and things fall into place and we’ll feel a lot better.”
The Flames have struggled at both ends of the rink. They have scored only six goals in their five-game slump and are 28th in goals against.
“If you can’t fight adversity then you’re doing the wrong thing,” said forward Nazem Kadri, who scored his first goal of the season against Edmonton. “For us, it’s about trying to rally together and finding a way out. We’re putting in work; this is not a work-ethic thing. It’s more so just a bounce here or there and the game would change.”
The Flames will receive a boost with top-pair defenseman Rasmus Andersson slated to return after serving his four-game suspension.
Calgary also summoned 2020 first-round draft pick Connor Zary from the AHL. Zary, a center and left wing in his third pro season, leads the Calgary Wranglers with 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in six games.
–Field Level Media
