Stars need to find a way to get shots through against LA

Stars (29-20-3, 61 points) vs. Kings (29-18-7, 65 points)

Todd McLellan has a history of coaching strong possession hockey.
He's at it again. The LA Kings head coach, who led San Jose on a run of six straight playoff appearances and often led the league in shot differential, has the Kings atop the league in that same category. LA is first in fewest shots against at 28.4, third in shots on goal at 35.5, and first in the league in shot differential at plus-7.1. That's impressive.
The Stars are dead even at 30.5 for and 30.5 against. That puts them in the middle of the pack on both sides and is nothing to be worried about. But when these two teams last met, LA had a 41-27 advantage in shots on goal in a 4-0 Kings win. That's certainly worth noting.
"You watch them play in the neutral zone, they're so strong defensively," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "I talk a lot about getting offense from your team defense, that team's a perfect example of it."
Dallas took a 3-2 overtime victory back in October, but the Kings had a 45-23 advantage in shots on goal in that game. Bowness said the Stars will have to work to create more offensive chances.
"They block a lot of shots," he said. "We have to run three high more, and we have to try to get them spread out. Any team that collapses around the net like they do, you've got to bring them to you. We've got to bring three high more in the offensive zone and get our D involved, let them come up to our D, which will give us a little more room down by the net."
LA is coming off a 7-0 home loss to Boston but is 7-2-0 in its past nine games. Dallas is 11-4-1 in its past 16. Both teams are battling to be one of the playoff teams in the Western Conference.

What to watch

Joel Kiviranta will be back in the lineup after sitting for two games. He's expected to skate on a line with Jacob Peterson and Alexander Radulov, and that line has had some productive shifts in recent weeks.
"We don't want him sitting too long," Bowness said. "The Peterson, Rads, Kivi line scored some big goals for us on the road trip, and we're trying to score more goals, and we're hoping that line will give us another option. And with four games coming up, we're going to need bodies and we're going to need four lines a little bit more. When you do that, you hope that fourth line can contribute something offensively."
Riley Tufte has played the past two games and brings more of a physical presence.

Lineup update

Jake Oettinger will be in net. He went 6-2-0 in February with a 1.96 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.
Here is a possible lineup:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Benn-Seguin-Gurianov
Raffl-Faksa-Glendening
Kiviranta-Peterson-Radulov
Suter-Heiskanen
Harley-Klingberg
Lindell-Hakanpaa
Oettinger
Holtby

Numbers

75.2 percent

The Kings ranks 29th in penalty kill success rate at 75.2 percent. Dallas ranks ninth in power-play success at 23.4 percent.

18-12-4

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick is 18-12-4 in his career against the Stars with a 2.42 GAA and .913 SV%.

18

Radulov has 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) in 18 career games against the Kings.

He said it

"I know we got a power-play goal Sunday], but the power play got outworked again. They're getting outworked. We'll put Faksa's line out there if we have to. I can't stand getting a power-play outworked. Our penalty killers have been good because they're outworking the other team's power play. We've got a good power play and they'll get going, we'll get going." *-- Bowness on potentially playing rookie Thomas Harley on a power play that currently is in a 1-for-18 slump.
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.*