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New York Rangers: A tough match up with the Dallas Stars

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 31: Artemi Panarin #10 of the New York Rangers celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden on January 31, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 31: Artemi Panarin #10 of the New York Rangers celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden on January 31, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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DALLAS, TEXAS – MARCH 05: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers controls the puck against Ben Bishop #30 of the Dallas Stars and Brett Ritchie #25 of the Dallas Stars in the third period at American Airlines Center on March 05, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TEXAS – MARCH 05: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers controls the puck against Ben Bishop #30 of the Dallas Stars and Brett Ritchie #25 of the Dallas Stars in the third period at American Airlines Center on March 05, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

About the Stars

The fact that Dallas is in a playoff spot is remarkable considering their slow start and turbulent season. They were 1-7-1 after nine games and mired in last place in the Central Division.  They turned it around, losing only one game in regulation in their next 16.

The next hurdle was when the team abruptly fired head coach Jim Montgomery for unspecified “unprofessional conduct” on December 10.  They have gone 12-7-1 under interim coach Rick Bowness.  In early January ,Montgomery released a  statement saying he was entering rehab.

When you talk about the Dallas Stars you don’t usually refer to their limited offense.  They feature top scorers like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry.   All of them have scored 40 goals or more in the NHL and are struggling to get to 20 goals.

In their last nine games the Stars haven’t scored more than three goals in any one game. The last time they score more than four goals in a game was one November 21.   In the same time period, the Rangers have score more than four goals in a game nine times.

The Stars have transformed themselves into a top defensive team, led by the trio of Esa Lindell, John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen.  Complimented by reliable blueliners Roman Polak, Stephen Johns and Jamie Oleksiak, the Dallas defense can shut down any team and it’s no small wonder that they got to within an overtime goal of going to the Conference Finals.

Alexander Radulov and Roope Hintz lead the team in goals with 15 and Tyler Seguin leads in points with 37.  That’s the fewest in each category of any team in playoff contention.  To make things more challenging for the Stars, Hintz missed the last two games with an upper body injury and his status for tonight is unclear.

The Stars goaltending duo of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin has kept Dallas in most games.  They have a combined goals against average of 2.36 and a save percentage of .926.   Bishop was in goal for for the Dallas 3-2 overtime win over the Devils Saturday night, making 29 saves.

Rookie Joel Kiviranta scored his first NHL goal in that game with Pavelski scoring the overtime winner.  Tonight is the second of three games against metropolitan area teams with their finale tomorrow night versus the Islanders.

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