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Pregame Notes (41): Stars Take on Surging Habs

taylor newby
·3 min read

A Saturday night showdown in Montreal between the Stars and Canadiens features two teams that have been collecting plenty of points in recent weeks.

The Dallas Stars will officially hit the half-way mark of the season in tonight's game against the Habs and are also looking to extend their eight-game point streak. Dallas has a six game win streak that extends back into 2024.

The Stars are coming off a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in a beatdown on Thursday night. The lead was 3-0 before the Flyers broke backup goaltender Casey DeSmith's shutout in the third period.

In a flurry of games against the Eastern Conference, Dallas has taken down Buffalo, Ottawa, New York (Rangers) and Philadelphia. The team faces a back-to-back with a 4 p.m. CST puck drop Sunday in Ottawa to finish out that season series.

Montreal brings a win streak of their own into Saturday night, having won three in a row. All three victories have come in extra time, with a shootout win over Colorado and two overtime wins over Vancouver and Washington.

The Habs now sit two games over .500, which is a major improvement for a team that spent the first two months closer to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings than to a wild card position. Now, Montreal is only one point behind the equally as surprising Columbus Blue Jackets for the final playoff spot in the East.

The Canadiens beat the Capitals 3-2 Friday night and are now on the second half of their back-to-back. Nick Suzuki scored just over a minute into overtime, and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson collected his 28th assist of his breakout season. Hutson is averaging near 23 minutes of ice time per game and the points have now started flowing steadily for the youngster.

Ahead of Saturday's morning skate for Dallas, the Stars announced that Matej Blumel was recalled from the Texas Stars. Blumel has one NHL appearance this season back in October against the team that drafted him - the Edmonton Oilers. Blumel is the leading goal scorer for the Texas Stars with 18 goals and 32 points on the season.

What to watch for:

  • The Stars are first in the league on the penalty kill at 85 percent. The penalty kill has been one of the pillars of the Stars game for several seasons now, but this season it has been spectacular. In the month of January, the Stars have killed eight of the nine penalties. Coincidentally, Dallas is not taking very many penalties, averaging just barely over two per game.

  • Matt Duchene has tallied five points in his last five games, including a four-game point streak, and leads the team in points with 38. He also has 22 points in 25 career games against Montreal.

  • Jake Oettinger is on a four-game winning streak, looking to stretch it to five. Outside of the game against the New York Rangers in which the Stars won 5-4 in overtime, Oettinger has allowed two goals or less in that stretch with a goals against average of 2.25.

Projected Lineup:

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

Heiskanen-Lyubushkin
Lindell-Lundkvist
Harley-Dumba

Oettinger
DeSmith

Puck drop is at 6 p.m. CDT and can be seen on Victory+ and ESPN+

Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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