The Dallas Stars return home to take on another divisional foe, the Winnipeg Jets. After losing to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night, the Stars made a trade on Wednesday for defenseman Chris Tanev. However, Tanev will not be in the lineup tonight for the Stars as he’s traveling to Texas. The Stars will have to win tonight’s game without him. It will be challenging with all the injuries the Stars have right now. Here are the three keys of the game tonight against the Jets.
The Stars will need to shut down two players tonight, and Sean Monahan is one of them. He has been on one since joining the Winnipeg Jets earlier this season. In the nine games Monahan has played for the Jets, he has scored six goals. The Stars must prevent him from touching the puck around Jake Oettinger tonight. The last thing that the Stars need is for him to have a career game at the American Airlines Center. If the Stars can shut down Monahan tonight, they can reclaim first place in the Central Division.
The other player the Stars need to prevent from scoring is Kyle Connor. Connor is their main scoring threat this season and has 24 goals going into tonight’s game against the Stars. He cannot skate around Jake Oettinger tonight with the puck. The defense needs to step up and prevent him from scoring without Tanev in the lineup. If the Stars can prevent Connor and Monahan from scoring tonight, they have great odds to win tonight’s game.
The Stars need to forget their last game and play Texas Hockey tonight. They need to be that southern hockey team that opponents don’t want to play. The Stars need to be aggressive in front of the net, trying to put rebounds in the back of the net. Logan Stankoven seems to have that part of Texas Hockey down. If the Stars can bounce back and be the dominant hockey team they are, they should have no problem grounding the Jets tonight.
