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Pregame Notes (38): Stars Welcome Utah to Dallas for First Time

taylor newby
·2 min read

The Dallas Stars aim to push their win streak to four games tonight against the Utah Hockey Club, who are visiting the American Airlines Center for the first time since moving from Arizona.

This is the third of four meetings between the two teams, with Dallas walking away with two wins in Salt Lake City. In each of the two December games, the Stars have carried a two goal lead into the third period, but Utah made a late push both times and the Stars hung on to a one goal lead to win 2-1 and 3-2.

Utah is coming off a win over Calgary that snapped a five-game losing skid that started before Christmas. The Hockey Club currently sits outside of a playoff position, but all season they have shown that they have young talent and skill and are much improved over the past few seasons in Arizona where they were near the bottom of the Central Division.

The Stars are looking to keep building momentum after a gutsy 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. The Stars were able to strike first in the first five minutes of the game, but it wasn't long before the Senators scored back-to-back goals in 24 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. In the second period, the Stars took the lead back with two goals in just over a minute and then Matt Duchene followed that up with a big insurance goal in the third period.

Watch to watch for:

  • Jamie Benn has scored goals in both games against Utah this season. Benn also has six points in his last five games, including three goals. Oddly enough, the only game out of the last five where he did not record a point was against Buffalo where he had seven shots on goal.

  • Roope Hintz is on fire offensively with five goals in his last six games, including two last game against Ottawa. Hintz and Jason Robertson have seemed to find their groove together and they have been finding the score sheet after a slow start to the season. Hintz is also leading the team in goals with 18.

  • Jake Oettinger will face Utah for the first time in his career. Although Utah is a new team, Oettinger has stellar numbers against the franchise dating back to their time in Arizona. He is 6-1-0 in his career against the Coyotes with a 1.86 goals-against average and a .926% save percentage.

Projected Lineup:

Robertson-Hintz-Dadonov
Benn-Duchene-Johnston
Steel-Bourque-Stankoven
Back-Hyry-Blackwell

Heiskanen-Lyubushkin
Lindell-Lundkvist
Harley-Dumba

Oettinger
DeSmith

Puck drop is at 7 p.m. CDT and can be seen on Victory+ and ESPN+

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