DALLAS --The Stars are in the middle of a race for a playoff spot, and the middle of a tough stretch of scheduling.
Dallas plays just one home game in a span of eight, and that's Saturday against the New York Rangers.
"We're in the hunt and there are 10 or 11 teams fighting for two spots right now," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "Until you get in that top six, the three in the division on each side, it's iffy if you're going to get in. There are a lot of good teams, there's going to be two or three teams that have really good years and miss, and we aren't planning on that happening to us."
Dallas won four straight before a 2-1 loss at Nashville on Tuesday, so it's getting its game in order. In fact, the Stars are one of the hotter teams in the NHL since mid-January, going 14-5-1 in that span. A big part of the success has been goalie Jake Oettinger, who will start for the 10th time in 11 games. The 23-year-old is 19-7-1 with a 2.30 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.
He'll get a good challenge from the Rangers, who are 39-17-5.
"We're playing a team that's lost a couple but we're playing a very good hockey club," Bowness said. "We're going on a four-game road trip coming up and we only have three more home games this month, so it's very important we take care of home ice. I keep telling our players our best hockey is coming."
Dallas beat the Rangers, 3-2, in overtime in the season opener, and while they don't see the Eastern Conference teams as much, they definitely are aware of the talent on this roster.
"When you play out West here, you don't see a ton of the East," forward Tyler Seguin said. "So, there's guys that you have to talk about more. You've got to talk about Panarin and how gifted he is, a guy like Kreider and how fast he is and how talented he is around the net. You've got to talk about these players more because they're so gifted and because we might not be used to them out here."
