Stars seek to advance with more home success in Game 6

WINNIPEG -- Tyler Seguin wants to be part of the scoring as much as anyone, the Dallas Stars forward usually a strong contributor during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"Yeah, I mean, you want to produce," said Seguin, who has four points (two goals, two assists) in 12 postseason games, but none against the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Second Round. "Having some chances and sometimes they don't go in, sometimes they go in. Looking for that first one (in this series)."

He's not the only one, but the Stars have definitely found more scoring at home than on the road. They'll look to tap that home-ice production in their second chance to eliminate the Jets in Game 6 at American Airlines Center on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

The Stars lead the best-of-7 series 3-2.

Dallas has 23 goals in six home games, compared to nine in six road games. They are 5-1 at home and 2-4 on the road, and have been shut out 4-0 in each of the past two games at Canada Life Center, including Game 5 on Thursday.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer talked prior to Game 5 on how it was only a matter of time before they started getting depth scoring which they had in Games 3 and 4 at home (5-2 and 3-1 wins, respectively). But he also said teams "have to be comfortable not scoring" in the playoffs.

"Everyone makes a big deal about scoring," DeBoer said. "Vegas gets eliminated (Wednesday) by Edmonton in a 0-0 game, you know? It's 1-0 in overtime and you've got two of the greatest offensive players in the world on the ice (Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl). If you throw (Golden Knights forward) Jack Eichel in, maybe three of the top five or six. So, you have to be comfortable and it's OK that you're not scoring, that you're still finding ways to win."

Stars forward Matt Duchene has not scored a goal in the playoffs but has five asissts in 12 games.

"Obviously, you want to help your team win," he said. "I'm doing a lot of good things out there. You make five or six plays for Grade-As and it doesn't go, what can you do? Just keep going. It'll go at some point."

Duchene's work paid off at a critical time last season. He scored the series-winning goal against his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, in Game 6 of the second round.

"I've had a million hot streaks and a million slumps in my career. I've played a long time," he said. "It's all about putting your best game out on the ice and I thought our line had a lot of good looks tonight and easily could have been the difference. It'll go here one of these days. Hopefully the dam breaks and away we go."

One of the Stars' many strengths during the regular season was their offensive production. They scored 275 goals, an average of 3.35 goals per game, third in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (3.56) and Washington Capitals (3.49).

They got that offense from a lot of different players: 10 Stars had 40 or more points this season. Sure, two of those were NHL Trade Deadline acquisitions, who did a bulk of their scoring elsewhere: Mikko Rantanen, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7, had 88 points (32 goals, 56 assists), including 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 20 games with the Stars; and center Mikael Granlund, acquired from the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 1, had 66 points (22 goals, 44 assists), including 21 (seven goals, 14 assists) in 31 games with the Stars.

Rantanen leads the playoffs with 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists). Granlund had a hat trick in Game 4 and has seven points (four goals, three assists) in 12 games, including five points (three goals, two assists) against the Jets.

Captain Jamie Benn has three points (one goal, two assists) in the playoffs, including one assist in five games against the Jets. Mason Marchment, who was on the second line in the first round, finished Game 5 on the fourth line. He has three points (one goal, two assists) in 12 games, none in this round.

Jason Robertson has one assist in five games after missing the entire first round with a lower-body injury sustained in the Stars' final regular-season game. It seems just a matter of time for Robertson, who was one of their top scorers their past two playoff runs (16 points last season; 18 points in 2022-23).

The Stars are confident they can advance to the Western Conference Final for the third consecutive season, especially based on what they've done at home.

"We're trying," Duchene said. "We're getting chances it's just not going in. We'll just keep working."