The Dallas Stars are hoping to keep their strong home performance going when they face the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Even though the Stars have struggled on the road, they have the best home record in the league at 10-2-0. On the road, Dallas has only a 6-8-0 record, which affects their confidence.
“A timely save, a timely goal. That’s what it comes down to,” said coach Peter DeBoer. “If you’re going to be a good road team, you’ve got to get timely goals at the right time, and you’ve got to get timely saves, and we don’t seem to be getting either of those on the road right now.”
The Stars are returning to Dallas after losing two straight road games, including a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. Penalties were a major issue, as the Stars were shorthanded a season-high six times and allowed two power-play goals.
“We can’t be doing that,” said captain Jamie Benn, who took a double-minor for high-sticking while his team was already on a power play. “I definitely could have prevented my penalty. I can only speak for myself, but it was a dumb penalty, and they found a way to get one in the net.”
Although the Stars are still one of the best defensive teams in the league, they have had trouble scoring lately. Jason Robertson, a two-time 40-goal scorer, has only managed five goals this season. Robertson even had a goal in Vegas taken away after review.
“It might be frustrating, but get out there and find another way to score,” said DeBoer. “That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
The Flames are also struggling on the road as they start a two-game trip.
After a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, the Flames have a 3-6-4 road record, winning just one of their last 11 away games.
Calgary is also on a 1-3-2 skid, although they managed one win and an overtime loss during a brief two-game homestand.
“We got three out of four (points) during our little homestand,” said defenseman MacKenzie Weegar. “Our big focus is getting on the road here, and getting some wins on the road.”
Despite their struggles, the Flames are in a playoff spot. They have scored a power-play goal in eight of their last nine games, recording 10 power-play goals during that stretch.
However, they have allowed 10 power-play goals in their last seven games and have gone 24 games without scoring more than three goals in a game. No player is on pace to reach 50 points.
“If you score three goals a night, you should win a game,” said coach Ryan Huska. “And I do feel like over time, when we play the right way and play our game, we’re going to score more than three goals.”
Forward Jonathan Huberdeau, tied for the team lead with 16 points, added, “We’re a hard team to play against because of that, because we play more defensively. And obviously as an offensive guy, you have to buy into that. If you do that, I feel like you’re going to get rewarded at some point.”
