Happy discount chocolate day! The Preds are hoping for a sweet treat in tonight’s matchup against the Central-Division-leading Dallas Stars.
After a swingy January marked by big wins and the occasional big loss, the Stars have evened out and played closer games recently. Matt Duchene is second on the team in goals (19), assists (31), and points (50), trailing Jason Robertson in assists and points (36 and 54, respectively) and Roope Hintz in goals (23).
The Stars are having a great season, with a powerhouse offense and great 5v5 defense that’s suffered from some bad goaltending. Hintz is an exceptional play-driver even on a strong team, while players like Robertson and Radek Faksa are absolutely shutdown defensively, and defender Miro Heiskanen is just all-around amazing.
Dallas’s great defense has been in service of some struggles their goalies have had at even strength. Starter Jake Oettinger has a .906 sv% on the season, but he’s had an easy workload; backup Scott Wedgewood has struggled more, with a .896. The team effort has been great, and Oettinger returning to form would make the Stars lethal in their own zone as well as the offensive zone.
Special teams are another strength of the Stars’, with an impressive power play and the goaltending they’re missing at 5v5 showing up to bail out a weaker penalty kill. They play a much lower penalty game than Nashville, taking some fewer and drawing a lot fewer; it’d probably be for the best if that’s the style we see tonight.
The game airs at 7PM Central on ESPN+ and Hulu, or on 102.5 The Game if you don’t subscribe to either of those services.