What to watch for as Stars take on Wild in key game
Dallas enters tonight's tilt five points out of the West's final playoff spot with five games remaining
© Nick Wass
Knocking down the dominos
The Stars ended a franchise-worst eight-game winless streak with an overtime win over Philadelphia at home on Tuesday night. With five games remaining, including a home-and-home with the Wild that concludes with a Minnesota visit to Dallas on Saturday night, the Stars pretty much need to win out to stay in the hunt.
That's the big picture.
The small picture -- and the only one the Stars are looking at, having knocked down the Philadelphia domino -- is tonight's game. To look big picture, oh, we have to win five straight, is to become overwhelmed.
In short, keep it simple -- and simple means one single-elimination game tonight.
"I think if you have the right mindset, it shouldn't' be too difficult," Dallas forward Devin Shore said Thursday morning. "Yes, there's a lot of stuff going on with us and around the league, and we're playing the same team twice in a row, but if you don't get the result you want on one night, then that throws everything off.
"So, all you really can focus on is what's in your control, and that's tonight."
Certainly, Minnesota head coach Bruce Boudreau is expecting a focused, determined Dallas team to hit the ice.
"I believe they will play their best game ever," Boudreau said.
"I mean, because we have so few games left, I think you have no choice but to just look at that one game that is coming up, and in our case, here in Minnesota," added veteran Stars defenseman Marc Methot. "I think you look at their lineup, they've got a ton of depth. We're going to have to be very disciplined."
And having put the winless streak in the rear-view mirror is a key factor moving forward.
"I think we're feeling pretty good about ourselves in terms of the way last game went," Methot said. "It was a little weird. I think, at times, maybe kind of looked like pond hockey. But again, a win is a win and there are so few games that you'll take anything that you can get at this time of season.
"In this situation, we know there's a back-to-back against this group. It'll be tough, but it's a good challenge -- and at least we're playing for something this time of year and giving ourselves a chance to get our foot in the door."
Did we mention level of difficulty?
This game might very well be the most difficult of the five remaining games on the Stars' schedule.
The Wild are one of the top teams in the NHL at home with just six regulation losses at home -- fewest in the NHL -- for an overall 25-6-8 record.
They are second in the NHL in home points and have been led by Eric Staal, 33, who is enjoying another renaissance season in Minnesota with 40 goals. By hitting the 40-goal mark for the third time in his career (and first since 2008-09), Staal became the only player other than Gordie Howe to post 40-goal seasons at least nine seasons apart without scoring 40 at any point in between.
"It goes to his dedication," Boudreau said.
Jason Zucker is a 30-goal man for the first time in his career, and Zach Parise, who missed the first 39 games of the season with a back injury, has 12 points in his last 16 games.
The Wild have collected points in six straight games (3-0-3) as they have settled into third place in the Central Division with a three-point lead on St. Louis heading into action tonight.
And it's not just the forwards, either. Minnesota's blue line ranks third in point production in the NHL.
In short, there are a lot of ways the Wild can get you. Throw in the fact that the Stars have struggled on the road, going 1-7-2 in their last 10 games away from American Airlines Center, and this stands as a tall order for a team that has no room for error.
"I would say it's a year-long thing," Hitchcock said of the team's 17-18-2 road mark. "Look, bottom line is if you don't win on the road on a consistent basis, if you can't be .500 or better on the road, you put tremendous pressure on your home record. That is dangerous. I think both these franchises here would both like to have better road records. I think from our standpoint, it has put a lot pressure on our games at home.
"There's no room for error."
How to get through the gauntlet
Let's be frank: the Stars' win over Philadelphia wasn't a stylistic masterpiece. Instead, it was more a gritty, gutsy effort that was determined in large part by the stellar play of netminder Kari Lehtonen (see below).
Hitchcock used Thursday's morning skate to do a few drills after the team had an optional skate before flying to Minnesota Wednesday afternoon.
We go back to a comment by Tyler Seguin, who hit the 500-point plateau with two assists, including setting up Alexander Radulov for the overtime winner, who said he didn't think the big boys were all that good against Philadelphia.
Fair comment.
In spite of the points, the trio of Jamie Benn, Radulov and Seguin had quality looks early, but it was less impactful as the game wore on.
That will have to change tonight if the Stars are going to have success.
"There hasn't been very often that you can fault the effort of this group. It's a tremendous, working group. They play hard, they practice hard," Hitchcock said. "But I thought the last game, we got puck-focused so much. We just got drawn into the pile way too many times to give up odd-man rushes, and I think for the first time, we were so fixated on trying to help somebody to score, trying to keep a puck in, we started to get caught on foot races and we weren't in a good spot because of it. And so, we just went over it yesterday, had a little drill today that involved it, and hopefully, we can just get back calmed down in our checking mannerisms and I think it'll be in good shape."
Kari Lehtonen -- 'nuff said
The Stars have not won back-to-back games since Feb. 8 and 9. That's a long time ago. A lifetime in terms of the playoff race. But if it's going to happen, it will have to be because Lehtonen gets them there.
As noted, he was superb against Philadelphia, stopping 31 of 33 shots, and was especially good in the second and third periods when the Flyers threatened to take over the game.
Lehtonen, who is "the man" with Ben Bishop still rehabbing a recurring left knee injury, has not won back-to-back games since early February.
Guess he's due.
Energy at Xcel Energy Center
Hitchcock, looking for some energy to be injected into his lineup, will insert Gemel Smith in place of Jason Dickinson and has Smith playing the right side with Antoine Roussel and Jason Spezza at center.
The team will also go back to a standard 12-forward, six-defensemen setup as opposed to the 11 and seven that Hitchcock employed against Philadelphia.
"It's a four-line team we're playing. They get a lot of mileage out of their bottom two lines, and so, we're going to have to get a lot of mileage out of four lines," Hitchcock said. "This gives us the best opportunity right now, I think, for our team to see what we can do. I think when they play their fourth line in significant minutes and their third line a lot, so there's good balance there.
"We're going to have to provide good balance throughout the lineup here."
Balance and energy without stupidity would be a good thing, too, as just twice in the last 11 games have the Stars allowed two or fewer power-play opportunities.
Given how mighty the struggle has been to score goals for Dallas, giving opposing teams -- especially teams with as much firepower as Minnesota -- multiple chances on the power play is a recipe for disaster.
On the other side of the coin, bringing more energy, in theory, means quicker to pucks, which, again, in theory, means the potential to draw more penalties. And the Stars' power play, which has scored eight times in the last 10 games, will need to be productive once more if they are to upset the Wild at home.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Scott Burnside is a senior digital correspondent for DallasStars.com. You can follow him on Twitter @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his podcast.
