First Shift 🏒
There are special games nestled into an 82-game season.
Saturday should be one of them.
The Stars are defending Central Division champions, have been picked by many in the hockey media to win the division again, and are off to a good start at 8-4-0. On the other hand, the Winnipeg Jets have been the best team in hockey to start the season with a 13-1-0 record and the top spot in the NHL in several statistical categories. So when Dallas squares off with Winnipeg in a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, the intensity will be sky high.
“This is an important one, division rival, hottest team in the league,” Benn said. “It’s never too early to count these four-point games.”
Should the Jets win in regulation, they will be 12 points ahead of the Stars in the standings. Should Dallas take it, the difference will be eight points, thus the “four-point game.” And while there is plenty of time to make up these gaps, a 12-point cushion at any point is rather significant.
“These are the games you play for,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s a four-point swing. We know the gravity of the game.”
Winnipeg has the best defensive numbers in the league, allowing 2.14 goals per game. That’s a challenge for a Stars team that is struggling to finish plays and sits 16th in scoring at 3.08 goals per game.
“I think we’re doing all the right things to score, but that’s a game where we created enough chances to score four or five,” DeBoer said after a 3-1 win over Chicago on Thursday. “We’ve got to start sticking some pucks in the net.”
Among the players who are trailing their normal pace for the Stars are Robertson (4 goals, 3 assists), Wyatt Johnston (1 goal, 5 assists) and Miro Heiskanen (0 goals, 4 assists). Breaking out against Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck could be tough. The 31-year-old leads the NHL with a 10-1-0 record, a 1.91 GAA and .932 save percentage. That’s an impressive start for a goaltender who has already won two Vezina Trophies.
In addition to battling for the top spot in the Central Division, Hellebuyck and Stars goalie Jake Oettinger are two of the leading candidates to be the No. 1 goalie for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-off in February.
“He’s been the cornerstone American goalie for a long time,” Oettinger said. “His consistency and his level of play year after year has been really impressive. Hopefully, I can cement myself to be like him.”
Oettinger is also a top five goalie at 6-2-0 with a 2.26 GAA and .922 save percentage. Just as important, he is 5-1-1 in his career against Winnipeg with a 1.99 GAA, .924 save percentage and one shutout. Hellebuyck is 11-9-5 against the Stars with a 2.67 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
“They’re off to a good start and it will be good to see where we’re at,” Oettinger said. “We’ve had success against them the last few years, so we should be confident going up there.”
Robertson has 12 points (9 goals, 3 assists) in 11 career games against the Jets, so he might be a candidate to watch for a big breakout. Either way, the Stars will know a lot more about their team around 5 p.m. on Saturday evening.
“There's still a lot of hockey to be played, but when you’re playing teams that are playing good hockey, it forces you to get to that level earlier,” said forward Sam Steel, who had a goal and an assist on Thursday.
And the earlier the Stars can “get there,” the better it will bode for the rest of the season.
