The Dallas Stars will look to remain unbeaten at home on Saturday night when they face the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks have only one win on the road this season. Chicago will aim to change that narrative on Saturday when it opens a five-game trek in Dallas.
For the second time in three seasons, the Stars have started 4-0-0 at home. They’ve outscored their opponents 12-3 there this season and have killed all 10 opponents’ power-play chances.
Dallas won its first four games overall this season before splitting its next four. The Stars will return home following a 5-2 victory at Boston on Thursday. Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin each had a goal with two assists, and Jason Robertson scored a goal for the third time in four contests.
“I think we felt it was not a ‘must win,’ but a ‘must show up’ type of game,” said Duchene, who has six of his nine points in the last three games.
“I don’t think our (previous) three (games) have been that good. We wanted to get back to Dallas Stars hockey, and every single guy was going.”
Seguin, meanwhile, has four goals and three assists in the five games he’s played this season.
“We just wanted to bring the compete back,” Seguin said.
Teammate Mason Marchment added two assists Thursday. He recorded three goals with an assist in Dallas’ most recent home win over Chicago, an 8-1 decision on Dec. 31.
Dallas has won four of the last five home meetings against the Blackhawks, who have just eight road victories since the start of the 2023-24 campaign. Chicago went 1-2-1 while playing its first four contests of this season away from home.
Now, the Blackhawks will embark on another extended trip following a third consecutive loss, 3-2 to Nashville on Friday night.
Connor Bedard scored his second goal of the season to put the Blackhawks up 2-0 in the middle period. Teuvo Teravainen appeared to increase their advantage, but the goal was disallowed via review for offside. Nashville then scored three unanswered goals to end the game.
“It’s a 60-minute game; I feel like we slept five to 10 minutes of that game, and they took it away from us,” Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic said.
Bedard has a team-leading eight points, one more than Teravainen.
“We’re really reading off each other,” Bedard told NHL.com about Teravainen. “We talk a lot on the bench, just little things, which helps. It’s fun to kind of keep trying to grow chemistry.”
Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots Friday for Chicago. With Arvid Soderblom bothered by an illness, Drew Commesso could make his NHL debut at goalie for the Blackhawks on Saturday. Commesso allowed seven goals on 48 shots in two games for Rockford of the American Hockey League this season.
While Casey DeSmith made 25 saves Thursday to improve to 2-1-0 with a 1.69 goals-against average, Jake Oettinger could be back in the Stars’ net for this contest. Oettinger has stopped 89 of 92 shots faced in three home starts this season.
–Field Level Media