The Dallas Stars will face off against the Nashville Predators on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. as the team looks to build upon a solid start to the regular season.
The Stars currently boast a record of 7-4-3 and are sitting in sixth place in the NHL Western Conference standings.
Despite the overall strong start to the season, the Stars have struggled over the past four games, compiling a record of just 1-3, with one overtime loss and two shootout losses in that stretch.
The biggest issues for the Stars to begin the season have been on offense, with Dallas ranking near the middle of the league in various offensive statistics through the first 14 games.
Dallas ranks just 17th in the NHL in total points scored with only 116 goals to open the year, while also ranking just 15th in the league in shooting percentage at only 11%.
Additionally, the Stars have averaged just 2.86 goals per game to begin the year, which ranks 19th amongst all NHL teams.
Although Dallas has struggled at times to begin the season, Stars forward Tyler Seguin said the team still has room to grow and there are aspects to be proud of early in the year.
“It’s still early. There’s been a lot of new stuff that’s been going on,” he explained, per NHL.com.
“We’ve been searching a little bit during five-on-five offense. One thing we’ve been proud of is that we’ve been pretty stingy defensively. That was a disappointing part from tonight that I’m sure we’ll talk about.”
Oddly, Dallas also ranks relatively low in many defensive statistics.
The Stars rank just 27th in the NHL with a penalty kill percentage of only 70.5%.
Similarly, the Stars’ goalies have struggled to prevent goals early in the year, with Dallas ranking only 19th in the league with a save percentage of 89.3%, resulting in the 22nd best mark for goals against at 3.21.
While the issues on both sides of the game could be seen as a negative, there are still reasons for optimism early in the season.
The Stars will continue to adjust to their new Head Coach, Glen Gulutzan, and should keep improving in many aspects on the ice.
Dallas currently sits at 7-4-3 despite the many issues the team has worked through, providing hope that this team can compete at an even higher level once it finds a consistent rhythm.