The Dallas Stars are returning home for a four-game homestand to close the regular season as they face the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
On paper, the Stars are the superior team to all four opponents and play three of their final four games against non-playoff teams. Still, with their eyes set on much more than what they’ve already accomplished, head coach Pete DeBoer wants his team to stay disciplined in the details, particularly against a Buffalo team that can score in bunches.
“We were talking to our group this morning. This is a very dangerous team,” DeBoer said as he met with the media on Tuesday. “You look at their lineup — it’s a better team [and] more dangerous team than their record indicates. A lot of skill, a lot of speed, and a team that, if you’re not paying attention and don’t have detail in your game, can easily put up five or six goals on you.”
The Sabres’ offense is led by Tage Thompson, who has 29 goals and 55 points on the season. Buffalo has four players with at least 20 goals on the year. That’s not as potent as the Edmonton Oilers team that Dallas shut out at home last week, but things can happen quickly from game to game.
At 49-20-9 on the year, the Stars have a chance to win 50 games in a single season for just the fifth time in franchise history and the first time since the 2015-2016 season. The 1999 Stanley Cup championship team won 51 regular-season games, and the franchise’s all-time mark is 53 wins, set during the 2005-2006 season.
“It’s not something we’re going to put on the whiteboard before the game, but obviously, you want to set all those records,” goalie Jake Oettinger told the media Tuesday. “Ultimately, the only one that matters is if you win the [Stanley] Cup or not, but at the end of the day, you want to be remembered. This group wants to be in the history books with that ’99 team. Those are cool milestones, and hopefully, we can do that and continue to pick up milestones in the playoffs.”
The primary goals for Dallas entering the season’s final stretch remain the same: win the Central Division and the Western Conference and make a run at the Presidents’ Trophy, securing home ice throughout the playoffs.
The Stars took a significant step toward clinching the division with a 7-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, extending their lead to five points and their overall lead in the Western Conference to three points over the Vancouver Canucks. If Dallas hopes to make a run at the Presidents’ Trophy, wins during their homestand will be vital as they enter the stretch trailing the New York Rangers by three points.
With so much still on the line, DeBoer believes it can only help his team as they prepare for the postseason.
“It’s really important to play meaningful games down the stretch and have yourself ready,” he explained. “Probably the best example over the last 10 years has been Tampa and Boston, who ran away with the league, and then all of a sudden, you’re looking around and saying, ‘What happened.'”
“That’s real,” DeBoer continued. “At least [for] everyone who’s playing desperation hockey down the stretch, you don’t have to turn it back on. You don’t have to find another level come playoff time. You’re already in the moment, so I think that’s important.”
The Stars will have plenty of opportunities to seize the moment as the season closes and they prepare for another postseason run.
The Stars and Sabres (37-36-5) will drop the puck at 7 p.m. CT at the American Airlines Center.
