First Shift: Stars look to right ship on home ice in showdown with Kings

Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but the Stars’ numbers at home this season are certainly saying something.

While Dallas is slightly better in road record this season (.671 points percentage vs. .636 at home), the real noticeable statistic is in goals against.

Dallas owns the fourth best GAA on the road at 2.71. They rank fifth in save percentage at .911. At home, the Stars are 28th in GAA (3.39) and 31st in save percentage (.879). That’s a pretty shocking difference.

The subject becomes a discussion point as the team is in the middle of a five-game homestand that could help determine its seeding in the playoffs. Dallas blew a three-goal lead on Tuesday, losing a 4-3 game to Florida and then was then blown out by New Jersey on Thursday, 6-2, at American Airlines Center.

In games on the road, the combined goal total between both teams in Stars games is 6.06. In games at home, it is 7.24. Last season, road games averaged 5.93 and home games were at 6.17, so all scoring has gone up for the Stars. That’s to be expected when the team looked to add scoring depth in the offseason and seems to be playing a faster, more aggressive style. But that still doesn’t explain the stark difference between home and road this year.

“We don’t try to,” Stars forward Matt Duchene said when asked if the home games are more revved up.

The Stars’ power play is better on the road – 25.0 percent for seventh place vs. 21.7 percent for 13th. Their penalty kill is also better away from home – 82.9 percent for fifth place vs. 77.9 percent for 22nd. So there are again signs that the team plays different at home than it does on the road.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer said the team isn’t trying to do anything different at AAC, and that it doesn’t want to be getting into high-scoring games.

“We don’t want to be in a 6-5 shootout every night, absolutely not,” DeBoer said. “So I think the short answer is we’d like to be tighter at home defensively.”

The Stars added veteran defenseman Chris Tanev before the trade deadline and shuffled their D pairings as a result. That could cause some growing pains in the immediate future, but goalie Jake Oettinger has seen his numbers drop this season, and that’s also an area of concern.

Oettinger last season was better on the road than at home, but he also was just better overall. He posted a 2.53 GAA and .912 save percentage at home, and had a 2.16 and .929 on the road. This season, he has a 3.26 GAA and .883 at home and a 2.84 and .907 on the road.

So are the Stars just a more open team at home? Is there a “road game” that is naturally more conservative?

“The structure is the same no matter where we are,” said goalie Scott Wedgewood. “There’s games where it’s just bounces. For whatever reason, it feels a little worse on home ice. We just have to battle through it.”

That makes sense, but the general feeling is the Stars need significant improvement on home ice going into the playoffs.

“I like the fact that we have enough offense, we have that ability and I like that part of it,” DeBoer said of the overall goals per game increase from 3.43 (seventh) to 3.59 (second) from last season. “But we can’t expect our group to score five a night to win.”

And with eight of the last 14 games this season in Dallas, it seems like AAC is a good place to start addressing those issues.

Key Numbers

11-3-0
The Stars are 11-3-0 in their past 14 games against the Kings, including 2-0-0 this season.

11
Stars forward Jason Robertson has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) in a six-game point streak against the Kings.

6.52
Dallas has the lowest average for penalty minutes per game at 6.52. A big reason is the Stars have the second fewest major penalties at seven.

He Said It

“I think they all complement each other. I think Duchene got a lot of credit for that, and rightfully so – he played great. But all three of those guys played at a high level and had some chemistry. And I think when you take one of the pieces out – and I think it would have been the same if you would have taken [Mason\] Marchment out - you probably would have seen the same thing. I think there’s an adjustment period to try to find chemistry with someone new. I think it’s getting better. They’re getting more looks and they’re starting to get some of that mojo back.”

- Stars coach Pete DeBoer on the struggles of the Duchene line since Tyler Seguin has been out with an injury.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.