Stars chase franchise history as they host reeling Red Wings
The Dallas Stars will be chasing a franchise record when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
The Stars stretched their point streak to 14 games (13-0-1) with a 7-2 home win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. That's one-game shy of the franchise record 15-game point streak which was set during the 1998-99 season and saw the team post 12 wins and three ties.
Dallas went on to win its only Stanley Cup in 1999.
The 14-game point streak is the third longest in the NHL this season behind the Colorado Avalanche (17 games) and Tampa Bay Lightning (15 games).
The Stars led 5-0 early in the second period on Thursday.
"I thought we started good and we executed really good in the beginning," Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "It wasn't quite our normal game. You get up 3-0 and the dynamic kind of changes. I thought they had some pushes at times. The power play kept stinging (Edmonton) a little bit and they could never get traction.
"We talked in the second a little bit that we needed a little bit more grind. We started off the second and kind of got a little loose. I liked our effort and how we composed ourselves and got the third period back on track."
Wyatt Johnston's goal, which made it 4-0, was his 22nd power-play goal of the season. That ties Dino Ciccarelli for the single-season franchise record.
"It's cool, just try to chip in however I can. I wasn't exactly expecting to score a lot on the power play this year," Johnston said. "Our goal isn't to win all the games (remaining). It's important to win now, but we want to be winning come April, May, June. That's what we're working for."
The Stars have been eliminated in the Western Conference finals the past three seasons.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, are experiencing another March slump, with a 2-3-1 mark this month and a 4-8-1 record in their last 13 games overall. They lost 4-1 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
Detroit is hanging on to a wild-card playoff spot -- one point ahead of Boston and two clear of the bubble -- and is attempting to not let the March slide derail its playoff chances, which was the case the previous two seasons.
That the Red Wings are without their top two centers, captain Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp, for at least the next two weeks with lower-body injuries, will make it even more difficult for the team in its quest to end a nine-year playoff drought.
Larkin was injured in a 3-1 home loss to the Florida Panthers on March 6 and Copp in a disastrous 4-3 loss at the Panthers on Tuesday, in which Florida scored twice in the final 90 seconds to stun Detroit and further imperil its playoff aspirations.
"Nobody is feeling sorry for the Red Wings and nobody in the locker room should feel sorry," Detroit coach Todd McLellan said after Thursday night's loss. "We have a job to do. First thing we have to do is recover from this loss, then we have to figure out how to plug some holes."