The Dallas Stars tore through the month of March. They'll look to stay on that track and inch closer to top spot in the Central Division when they host the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
The Stars (49-21-4, 102 points) had an impressive run in March, securing a record of 11-2-2, which was the second-highest performance in the NHL for that period, just behind the St. Louis Blues' 12-2-1. To conclude March, Dallas clinched two victories against the Seattle Kraken, thus completing a successful four-game away series and extending their win streak to six games. Additionally, they have gone undefeated in their last nine matches at 7-0-2, reducing the gap between them and the leading Winnipeg Jets to merely four points, despite having one less game played.
Despite their recent dominance, Dallas believes their performance still isn’t up to par as they approach the playoffs.
"The wins matter, but we're trying to get our game ready for the playoffs," center Matt Duchene said. "We'd love to take that top seed, that's obviously a goal, but we're going to have to play great teams no matter what position we finish, and we want to make sure our game is where it needs to be. If it is, it gives us the best chance to win in the playoffs. That's the goal right now, and I think we're taking good steps toward that."
On Wednesday, Dallas was tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for having the top penalty kill percentage in the NHL, standing at an 84.7% efficiency rate during shorthanded situations. Over their last 13 games, the Stars have conceded only five goals out of 37 opponent power plays.
Roopie Hintz earned the title of NHL’s Second Star of the Week for the period concluding on March 30 following an impressive display where he accumulated nine points over four matches, all of which were multi-point performances. This 28-year-old forward boasts 27 goals along with 37 assists totaling 64 points across 68 games this season. As he aims to hit the 30-goal milestone for the fourth year running, he stands just one assist away from equalling his personal high of 38 helpers achieved last season. Furthermore, he seems well-positioned to break past the 70-point threshold for the third instance overall.
Meanwhile, the Predators are in Dallas aiming to break a four-game losing skid where they have conceded 16 goals while scoring only 8. Four of these against goals were scored in their latest match, a disappointing 8-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Trailing 4-1 at the beginning of the second period against Columbus, Nashville (with a record of 27-40-8 and 62 points) fought back with two goals scored just seconds apart, narrowing the lead to one. However, the Blue Jackets extended their advantage once more.
Coach Andrew Brunette stated, “For our team, this was a challenging match, yet we saw great effort and competitiveness out there.” He added, “We did face some difficulties due to our own mistakes. We’ve learned certain lessons from this experience, which will help us improve. Specifically, issues with managing the game and handling shifts led to problems in conceding three goals; these are areas where, being such a young squad, we must grow and develop stronger skills.”
Following four consecutive wins between March 4-11, the Predators have lost nine out of their last eleven games (2-8-1).
Ryan O'Reilly is just one goal shy of reaching 300, yet he has managed to score only once in his last 14 games, although he did contribute with five assists during this period.
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