A busy Saturday night in the NHL with eleven games on the slate. The San Jose Sharks will welcome the Dallas Stars at SAP Center in one of the early games. The Stars are unbeaten in 2020, while San Jose are getting some better results after a horrible start to the season.
San Jose Sharks: beating Columbus again
One of the most disappointing teams in the NHL this season are the San Jose Sharks. Everyone was counting on a play-off ticket prior to the season, but the departure of captain and top scorer Joe Pavelski hurt them more than they expeced. The Sharks are currently in sixth place in the Pacific Division, which is probably the worst division and the deficit to third place is still nine points. Especially 152 goals against of San Jose stands out. They are allowing an average of 3.3 goals per game and that's just too many, if they want to reach the Stanley Cup-play-offs.
Logan Couture will be out for six week due to a knee injury. This is a big loss for coach Bob Boughner, as the forward is leading the charge for San Jose with 36 points (14 goals, 22 assists). Still, there were some bright spots last week. San Jose is the only team that has beaten the Columbus Blue Jackets in regulation since December 7, and they even did so twice (2-3 in Columbus and 3-1 in San Jose). In the most recent meeting, last Thursday in California, Kevin Labanc was important with a goal and an assist.
Dallas Stars: six wins a row
The Dallas Stars had a stellar, but emotional first half of the regular season. Despite good results Jim Montgomery was fired as head coach in December, but also under interim head coach Rick Bowness the results are fantastic. The Stars are seeking a seventh straight victory and as a result of their win streak they are currenntly second in the Central Division. The gap to the St. Louis Blues, who are leading in the division, is as much as seven points, but it will be a great achievement if they clinch a guaranteed play off ticket at the end of the regular season.
The Dallas Stars are playing excellent defensive at the moment, Goalie Ben Bishop and Anthony Khudobin appear to be a strong goalie tandem too. On average, Dallas allows 2.38 goals per game, which makes them the best defensive team of the NHL. Last Thursday, the hockey team recorder a 3-0 shutout victory in Anaheim against the Ducks. During their current 6-game win streak ,they didn't allow more than two goals against and a strong defense is of course a good basis to eventually reach the play-offs.
Absence of Couture will be a blow for San Jose
The Dallas Stars lost for the last time on December 22 against the Calgary Flames. The hockey team shows a lot of resilience, because except for the victory against the Ducks, the Stars were always able to come back from behind on their current winning streak. San Jose lacks real offensive power and it doesn't help when your top scorer, Couture, is injured. Dell will be in net for San Jose tonight. He has been looking better than Jones lately, but Dallas is the right favorite in my opinion with their excellent defensive play.
