If the Dallas Stars (13-7-2, 28 points) can escape Sin City with a win against the Vegas Golden Knights (14-10-0) tonight at the T-Mobile Arena, it would set a franchise record for consecutive victories and also the team’s tenth win in eleven contests.
Tonight’s game against the Golden Knights starts a road trip for the Stars which features three games in four days as the squad makes its way west to Los Angeles on Thursday, followed by a game in San Jose on Saturday.
The Dallas hot streak has pushed the Stars into a tie for fourth place with the Colorado Avalanche in the Central, just nine points behind the first-place Minnesota Wild.
In their last contest, in which the Stars tied their franchise-record winning streak of seven with a 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes at the American Airlines Center on Monday, the third period saw a goal by Jacob Peterson, his fourth of the season, and two for Jamie Benn (he also tallied an assist) which broke up a 1-1 tie through the first two frames and handed the Coyotes their third straight loss.
“We are playing some good hockey, and even through some tough periods, we are finding a way to win,” Benn, the 2014-15 Art Ross Trophy winner, said in the post-game news conference. “Everyone is contributing, and goalies are a big part of that.”
Braden Holtby was in the net for the win and stopped 18 of 19 shots the Coyotes took, pushing his record to 5-4-0 on the year.
The victory over Phoenix also pushed the Dallas home-ice winning streak to eight games, the second-longest in team history (11 is the longest streak set in 1972-73 by the then Minnesota North Stars.) Roope Hintz scored the first goal of the night (his 11th on the season) for Dallas at 13:48 of the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead before Coyote Shayne Gostisbehere knotted the contest at 1-1 early in the second.
Tonight’s game between the Stars and Golden Knights starts at 9 p.m. (CST) and can be viewed on TNT and listened to on KTCK 96.7-FM. The Golden Knights come into the contest winners of the last two games and winners of six the last ten.