When: Sunday, March 2 at 5 p.m. CT
Where: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX
Watch: TNT, TruTV and MAX
Listen: 101 ESPN, Blues App
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BLUES The St. Louis Blues (29-26-6) earned their fourth consecutive win on Saturday night, routing the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 in their first game of a back-to-back.
With Saturday’s victory, the Blues extended their point streak to six games, earning 11 of 12 possible points in that span. The team also climbed within striking distance of a Western Conference Wild Card spot and sit just one point behind the Vancouver Canucks.
Following his 200th victory as a head coach, Jim Montgomery was elated with his team’s dominant performance against a talented Kings team.
“It’s very enjoyable to watch our team play as committed as they are for each other,” Montgomery said. “It’s very selfless hockey going on right now. How excited the bench gets no matter who scores, the blocked shots at the end, the unselfish changes, changing at the right time, middle lane drives, boxing out at the net, sacrificing for each other. All those things make it fun to watch right now.”
Colton Parayko struck first for the Blues on Saturday, giving him goals in back-to-back games. In the last four games, the Blues defense has contributed to a total of six goals, scoring in every contest. Pavel Buchnevich, Zack Bolduc and Dylan Holloway also each added a goal in the win.
Robert Thomas earned his 33rd assist of the season to extend his point streak to nine (four goals, nine assists), earning an assist in each game. This marks Thomas’ longest career assist streak and is the second-longest active streak in the NHL behind Tim Stutzle with 10.
Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 25 of the 26 shots, boosting his record to 5-0-1 in his last six games. In these last six games he has a 2.17 goals-against average and a.917 save percentage.
The Blues will begin a six-game road trip on Sunday when they take on a familiar face in the Central Division, the Dallas Stars, for the final time this season.
STARS The Dallas Stars (38-19-2) are coming into Sunday's matchup off a 6-2 victory over the Kings on Friday.
The Stars have a strong offensive rhythm coming into Sunday as they have netted at least four goals in each of their last six games. Additionally the Stars are one of only two teams that have not been shut out this season, along with the Chicago Blackhawks.
During Friday’s victory, the Stars’ special teams units were out in full force, scoring two power-play goals and a shorthanded tally. Dallas has the best penalty kill in the league, stopping 85.5 percent of all opponent power-play opportunities.
The Stars now have a slightly different look than when the Blues saw them last. On Feb. 1, the team acquired forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2025 first-round draft pick and conditional fourth-round pick.
Granlund, the ninth overall pick in 2010, is fourth on the Stars this season in points with 51 (15 goals, 36 assists) and has 595 career points (172 goals, 423 assists) in 879 games. Ceci is an experienced defenseman, having played 848 career games accumulating 228 points (52 goals, 176 assists) including 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) this season.
Since the last time the two teams met on Jan. 25, the Stars have posted a 7-2-1 record and currently rank second in the Central Division of the Western Conference with 78 points.
