DALLAS -- Both the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars head into
this evening matchup at American Airlines Center fresh
off 4-3 results on Thursday.
But it's the Stars (21-21-10), who lost 4-3 to Winnipeg to drop
Dallas' record within the Central Division to 8-10-4, desperately
needing these two points.
"Yeah, it'd be huge (to end this homestand with a win)," Stars
defenseman Stephen Johns, who was traded from Chicago in summer
2015, said.
"Obviously, one of the best teams in the NHL is coming in tomorrow
and it's always fun playing against them. It means a lot, obviously
a division game. We're trying to get as many points as we can here,
especially at home, and end this homestand on a good note and go on
the road trip with a really good feeling."
Dallas is 2-2-1 on its longest homestand of the season, six games.
But on Saturday, the Stars will hit the ice without one of their
top offensive cogs in veteran center Jason Spezza, who left the
loss to Winnipeg after taking a third-period hit from the Jets'
Adam Lowry.
The good news is that Spezza doesn't have a concussion, but he's
still going to miss games, the latest chapter in a Stars season
that has been largely characterized by injuries.
"He's going to miss some time," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said Friday
after an optional workout. "He's got an upper-body injury. Right
now, we don't really have a timeframe on it, but it's more than
days."
Spezza had been skating on Dallas' top line alongside the Stars'
dynamic duo of Jamie Benn, who had three points in the loss to
Winnipeg on Thursday, and Tyler Seguin, the team's lone
representative at last weekend's 2017 NHL All-Star Game.
One of the options to replace Spezza might have been veteran
forward Jiri Hudler, but he missed a good portion of the season due
to illness and has recently been out of the lineup again.
"Well, he (Hudler) just missed the last two days with a family
leave, hasn't skated, so now he's got himself in a tough situation
again," Ruff said. "It's a decision we're going to have to make.
Give him a skate today and go from there, but I think the illness
put him way behind the eight ball."
Dallas is 14-8-6 at home this season, but the Stars have yet to
defeat the Blackhawks (0-2-1).
As for the Chicago (31-17-5), it is now 13-10-1 on the road after a
4-3 win at Arizona on Thursday.
And even though the Blackhawks, who are 10-8-1 against the Central,
left the desert with two points, there were several sticking points
for coach Joel Quenneville from the win, like Chicago taking a 3-0
lead into the first intermission only to see it be a 4-3 contest in
favor of the visitors after 40 minutes.
"I thought we played a great first period, had a great start to the
game, had everything going and you give up a 5-on-3, almost get
through it and it got them going," Quenneville said postgame. "I
like how we stabilized the game in the third period."
That third period of which Quenneville speaks of was one where
Chicago kept Arizona off the scoreboard to hold on for the one-goal
win.
Besides the Blackhawks' strong third-period performance, another
big positive for their veteran coach, who has led them to three
Stanley Cup titles, was the Chicago power play, which finished
2-for-4 against the Coyotes with Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane
delivering power-play goals.
"Power play tonight did some nice things," Quenneville said. "Great
shot by (Kane), Hossa with speed in the middle. Did some good
things in the zone as well, good entries, nice to get that going. I
think that really helped us get off to a great start in the game."
While Dallas is finishing a six-game homestand, Chicago will play
game three of a six-game road trip tonight.
The Blackhawks did not practice Friday.
