Round Robin Preview: Vegas vs. Dallas

The Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars are set to go head-to-head during the Round Robin portion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the NHL returns to play. Though neither team can be eliminated during the initial stage, seeding is on the line and these two teams will have a lot to play for when the puck is dropped.

WHEN WE PRESSED PAUSE…
The six-game stretch leading up to the pause was unkind to the Stars as the team posted an 0-4-2 record before the season was halted. Dallas suffered consecutive shutout defeats at the hands of the Nashville Predators on March 5 and March 7. The pause has afforded Alexander Radulov an opportunity to get healthy for the postseason. The forward was listed as day-to-day when the season stopped on March 12.

HEAD TO HEAD WITH VEGAS
The Golden Knights and Stars completed two-thirds of their regular season series before the pause went into effect. Their final head-to-head contest was set for March 17 at T-Mobile Arena, but it wound up being one of Vegas' 11 games that will not be played. The two clubs split the pair of games played at American Airlines Center during the first half of the regular season. Dallas skated to a 4-2 win on Nov. 25 on the back of strong performances from Radulov (2G, 1A) and John Klingberg (3A). In their final matchup on Dec. 13, Max Pacioretty potted the overtime winner in a 3-2 win for the Golden Knights.

Vegas was outscored by the Stars, 6-5, in the two meetings during the regular season. Pacioretty (1G, 2A), Mark Stone (3A) and Shea Theodore (1G, 2A) led the scoring for Vegas with three points each, while Radulov led Dallas with four points (2 G, 2 A) in the two regular season matchups. The Stars notched the only two power play goals of the season series during the first matchup on Nov. 25 when Dallas won, 4-2.

STATS ON STATS ON STATS
Tyler Seguin was the Stars' leading scorer with 50 points (17 G, 33 A), while rookie Denis Gurianov led the Stars in goals with 20. Captain Jamie Benn put up 39 points (19G, 20A) while Miro Heiskanen paced all Dallas defensemen with 35 points (8G, 27A).

Dallas finished third in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference with 82 points and an overall record of 37-24-8. The Stars finished the shortened season with the second fewest goals allowed (174), and 10th in both points and wins.

BETWEEN THE PIPES BY MIKE MCKENNA
With Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin, the Dallas Stars have one of the most formidable goaltending tandems in the NHL. In 44 games played during the 2019-20 regular season, Bishop posted a .920 Save Percentage, ranked fifth in Goals Saved Above Average (13.69), and turned in a Quality Start 62.8% of the time. Khudobin, while appearing in fewer games (30) than Bishop, had even better numbers: .930 SV%, 17.75 GSAA (3rd league-wide), and a 73.1% Quality Start ratio. Bishop - the Stars starter - has extensive playoff experience with 49 games played and a .929 SV%, second best among active NHL goaltenders. He started both games against the Vegas Golden Knights this season, going 1-0-1 with a .917 SV%. However, his career totals against the VGK are eye-catching with a 2.09 GAA and .938 SV% in seven games played.

For the Golden Knights, only Robin Lehner has played against the Dallas Stars in 2019-20; a shootout loss where he stopped 40 of 41 shots while tending net for the Chicago Blackhawks. During his career, Lehner has faced the Stars 10 times, winning twice and posting a 3.43 GAA to go with a .899 SV%. Marc-Andre Fleury has had better luck, with 11 wins and five losses all-time against Dallas. There are few teams Fleury is better against: a career 2.12 GAA versus the Stars is sixth best on his personal leaderboard, and a .926 SV% is tied for fourth.

COACHING CHANGE
When Dallas replaced Jim Montgomery with Rick Bowness behind the bench on Dec. 10, the Stars found consistency under their new leadership with a 20-13-5 record. Dallas won six games in a row from Dec. 28 to Jan. 9, but saw that positive trend nearly erased as the team went without a win in their final six games before the pause.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
A bitter taste remains in the mouths of the Stars after falling to the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of their second round series in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Blues went on to win the Stanley Cup while Dallas was sent home knowing it was a goal away from its first Western Conference Final since 2008. The Stars have advanced beyond the second round four times since moving to Dallas in 1993 including their only Stanley Cup championship in 1999.

The cast that will take the stage in the 2020 postseason has largely the same build as last year's team with the additions of veteran forwards Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry. Pavelski, who faced the Golden Knights in the playoffs the last two seasons as a member of the San Jose Sharks, is the leading playoff scorer among round robin teams with 100 points (48G, 52) in 134 games. Perry ranks second in that category with 89 points (36G, 53A) in 118 postseason games with the Anaheim Ducks.