For as well as the Dallas Stars fared on the road of late, the Arizona Coyotes have been nearly as bad on home ice.
Looking to extend their season-high road winning streak to seven games, the Stars can hand the Coyotes a sixth consecutive home defeat on Sunday.
Dallas dropped 13 of its first 17 road games this season, and were outscored 27-9 during a seven-game losing streak away from Texas, spanning Dec. 8-Jan. 15. However, since that skid the Stars have won six in a row on the road — owning a 23-11 goal advantage.
“I think we just have been trying to play how we’ve been playing at home,” said Dallas forward Roope Hintz, who’s tied for the team lead with 21 goals. “We kind of found a way in the last road trip, when we won four of the four, and I think we just have to play like that.”
Dallas opened its current three-game road stretch with a 4-1 victory at Colorado and Friday’s 1-0 shootout win at Chicago. Jake Oettinger stopped 80 of 81 shots in those two contests and has a 1.69 goals-against average and .949 save percentage while winning his last four starts.
“He’s on his game right now, and we need him,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said of Oettinger, who has started all but one of Dallas’ six games this month.
Teammate Braden Holtby has won three straight road starts, but his only start this month came during a 4-0 home loss to Colorado on Feb. 13. Holtby stopped 43 of 46 shots while Dallas won the season’s first two meetings with Arizona.
The Stars have won four in a row and 13 of the last 14 against Coyotes. That includes winning five of the last six at Arizona. Jason Robertson has a goal with two assists against the Coyotes in 2021-22 while Hintz recorded a goal in each contest.
Following a seven-day game layoff, Arizona led 3-1 late in the second period at home versus Los Angeles on Saturday, but the visitors scored the game’s final four goals to win 5-3. The Coyotes have lost nine of 11 overall and been outscored 18-10 during that five-game home slide.
“I like the level of compete from our guys,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We froze kind of (in the third period on Saturday), and have to dig deep.”
Making his fifth straight start, Arizona’s Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves on Saturday. With the Coyotes coming off their extended break, Vejmelka, who has a 4.63 goals-against average while losing seven of his last eight starts, could be in net again Sunday.
Teammate Scott Wedgewood’s most recent start came on Feb. 1, and he has a 3.09 goals-against average during a five-game home losing streak as a starter.
Wedgewood allowed seven goals on 56 shots faced while in net for both meetings with Dallas this season.
Arizona star Clayton Keller has four goals with five assists during a six-game home point streak. He has just one point in his last four at home versus Dallas.
On Saturday, the Coyotes traded key defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin and forward Ryan Dzingel to Toronto for physical winger Nick Ritchie, who has nine points in 33 games this season, and a conditional draft pick.
–Field Level Media
