After getting thoroughly out-chanced by the Red Wings on Tuesday in their 4-1 loss, the Blackhawks head down to Dallas to take on the Stars on Thursday night as the second game of a back-to-back.
The Blackhawks are catching the Stars at a rather strange (opportune?) moment in their schedule, seeing as Dallas has only played twice since Oct. 26 (when they beat the Blackhawks 4-2). The Stars were recently over in Tampere, Finland as a part of the NHL’s Global Series, where they lost both games against the Florida Panthers.
Seeing as Dallas has only played two games in the last 12 days (sandwiched in-between 13-hour flights), we could be in for some interesting hockey to start, with Stars Coach Pete DeBoer basically expecting it:
Not all that much has changed for Dallas since the last time these two teams saw each other, save for an abundance of airline miles. The Stars are third in the Central right now with a 7-4 record, and that’s thanks primarily to a hot start from Minnesota and Winnipeg’s truly insane current 156-point pace. Matt Duchene is on his own early-season heater and leads Dallas in scoring with 15 points (7G, 8A) in 11 games, which screams small sample size as I don’t believe his 35 percent shooting percentage will be sustainable. Ditto for the 45 percent for Tyler Seguin, who is second on the team to Duchene in goals with five.
The Stars are still waiting for Jason Robertson — their most talented offensive player — to find his stride, as he’s sitting on a modest 7 points (4G, 3A), but they have enviable depth to fall back on with Logan Stankoven (10 points), Roope Hintz (8 points), Mason Marchment (8 points), and Wyatt Johnston (6 points) all off to solid starts.
Marchment is currently day-to-day after getting into a fight during the second game in Finland, so he’ll be sitting out tonight, but Dallas might not even need him.
Where the Stars are really shining (get it!) early is on the defensive side, as they’re currently tied for third league-wide by allowing a paltry 2.45 goals per game, while goaltenders Casey DeSmith and Jake Oettinger are both in the top 15 for goals saved above expected (shoutout to our boy Arvid Soderblom, who currently sits 13th with 3.1 goals saved above expected in only three starts and more on him in a minute). Good thing the Blackhawks aren’t having major scoring issues or anything, huh?
Here were Dallas’ lines from their practice Wednesday:
As for the Blackhawks, Nick Foligno talked about it last night but, for whatever reason, they’ve been a much better team away from the United Center:
While simplifying their game may be a great place to start, they also need to figure out a way to penetrate the Stars defense and generate better scoring chances through the middle of the ice. Detroit was able to keep the majority of the Hawks’ shots to the perimeter last night, and Dallas is much more formidable defensively.
There won’t be a morning skate because of the back-to-back, so no updates to share from that. That means the group tasked with finding offense tonight should look pretty similar to the lineup they ran out last night against the Red Wings (though Luke did get line-blendy in the third):
One major change could be Soderblom in net, and we’ll update the post with that info if/when we get it.
Hanging with Dallas is going to be a tall order for this Hawks team this season, but they’ve certainly surprised so far with road victories against good teams like Colorado and Los Angeles, so here’s to hoping that trend continues.
Let’s go Hawks
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Stars
43.71% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 53.15% (5th)
42.37% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 55.16% (3rd)
2.17 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.59 (3rd)
3.52 (29th) — Goals against per game — 2.83 (9th)
46.3% (29th) — Faceoffs — 54.0% (2nd)
16.60% (28th) — Power play — 24.2% (6th)
75.76% (27th) — Penalty kill — 82.0% (8th)
(All stats from last season)
How to Watch
When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
TV: CHSN (How to Watch)
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720