Dallas @ St. Louis preview
Enterprise Center
Last Meeting ( Dec 14, 2024 ) St. Louis 1, Dallas 2
The Dallas Stars will be playing on little rest when they visit the St. Louis Blues on Saturday evening.
The Stars will look to build off of their 4-3 home victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
Jason Robertson remained hot, scoring two goals in the win, while Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene, and Evgenii Dadonov each tallied a pair of assists.
Robertson has 10 points (seven goals, three assists) over his past seven games and 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists) for the season.
He said he's enjoying his recent scoring surge.
"More confident, when you're just feeling better and better the puck just finds you in different situations," Robertson said. "Ever since December, I've kinda been really feeling it and thinking like these pucks are going to come and try to make the most of it as opposed to not knowing if it ever is."
Jake Oettinger made just 18 saves on Friday but came up clutch in the final minute to secure the victory for the Stars. Dallas' goalie made two crucial saves, including a robbery of Pavel Dorofeyev with just 22 seconds remaining.
Dallas entered the game with just one win over its previous four outings (1-3-0) and was held to a single goal twice during the span.
The Blues enter Saturday's contest with a 5-5 record over their past 10 games after winning 5-4 on the road vs. the Golden Knights in a shootout on Monday, before falling at home 4-2 to the same team on Thursday.
"It just wasn't good enough," the Blues' Robert Thomas said when asked about his team's performance on Thursday. "They were a better team start to finish. That's why we lost the game."
Thomas and Jordan Kyrou scored a goal apiece, but the Blues couldn't create much offense outside of their two top forwards. They were outshot 24-8 over the first two periods and 31-17 for the game.
St. Louis has lacked an offensive punch of late, being held to two goals or fewer in four of its past six games. Consistent victories is what the Blues have been missing this season. They have yet to win three games in a row but have three losing streaks of at least three games.
Joel Hofer got the start in net on Thursday in the loss to the Golden Knights, and despite collecting half the starts of fellow goalie Jordan Binnington, Hofer has just three fewer wins.
Hofer also bests Binnington this season with a 2.77 goals-against average compared with a 2.86 effort, and with a .906 save percentage (to .898).
The Stars have gotten the better of the division-rival Blues in recent years, winning six of the past eight meetings, including 2-1 in overtime in Dallas on Dec. 14.
The teams will wrap up their season series March 2 in Dallas.
--Field Level Media