Stars hope to get on track vs. suprising Avs (Oct 14, 2017)
DALLAS -- Fresh off a 4-1 loss at Nashville on Thursday night, the Dallas Stars hope returning home is the cure for what ails them.
But the only problem is Dallas (1-3-0), whose lone win of the season was 4-2 over Detroit on Tuesday, is facing the resurgent Colorado Avalanche (4-1-0), who defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Friday night in Denver.
"Everybody thinks they're the surprise team, but to me what they are is they're the team that's gone back to the way they were two years ago," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said of the Avalanche after practice on Friday. "They're dynamic, they're fast. They're good, they're really good. All their younger players and growing up mentally and they're really playing."
Colorado has won three straight thanks to the victory over Anaheim in a game where Mikko Rantanen and Sven Andrighetto each chipped in two assists.
The Avalanche didn't win three in a row all of last season.
Backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier was stellar for the Avalanche, stopping 17 of the 18 shots he faced.
It's still early, but Colorado's 4-1-0 start is an encouraging sign, especially considering last season the Avalanche had the worst record in the NHL at 22-56-4.
"It's a completely different room (than last season)," Colorado defenseman Tyson Barrie, who had the game-winner against Anaheim, said. "Our leadership group's still pretty young. We're taking on a lot more responsibility. We're having a lot of fun in here.
"I think the difference is we're showing it every night and we feel like we're going to win. I don't know what to attribute that to, but it's a good feeling."
One negative for Colorado in the win was forward Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche's top assist man with four, left the game with an eye injury after a high stick and did not return.
But Colorado coach Jared Bednar had good news about MacKinnon's status after the win.
"It looks like he's going to be OK. He took a stick in the eye and he had some vision problems immediately after, but now things have settled down and it looks like he should be good to go for tomorrow," Bednar said postgame.
Dallas could get a boost at the blue line with the likely return of veteran defenseman Dan Hamhuis, who has missed the past two games with a groin injury.
Hitchcock said after practice Friday that if Hamhuis got through morning skate fine on Saturday he would return to the lineup.
"It's good to be back. It's never fun being out. Just needed a couple of days there for things to settle down," Hamhuis said.
One common thread from the Stars' three losses to start the season is that on each occasion, Dallas has run into a hot goaltender. On Oct. 6, Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 45 of 46 shots in a 2-1 loss to the expansion Golden Knights.
It was a similar story the following night in St. Louis, where the Blues' Jake Allen stopped 38 of 40 shots in a 4-2 loss. And on Thursday, it was Pekka Rinne's turn to deny the Stars as he turned away 30 of 31 shots from Dallas.
And on Saturday night, the Stars will face another goaltending nemesis in Semyon Varlamov, who is 12-5-2 with a 2.94 goals-against-average in 19 career games against Dallas.
Dallas has scored eight goals through its first four games, but half of that total came Tuesday against the Red Wings. veteran center Jason Spezza has a good idea how he and his teammates can start righting the ship, beginning Saturday against the Avalanche.
"I think we need to show more composure at the difficult parts of the game," Spezza said. "There's going to be ebbs and flows every game. We just got to get better at having composure in those moments."
In three of the Stars' first four games, Dallas has outshot its opponent. In fact, the Stars are outshooting the opposition 150-107 this season.
Of course, as Hitchcock realizes, those numbers could be better.
"I am happy with the original chances we get," Hitchcock said. "We're way above what I thought we were capable of. What I think we work on is staying on the hunt longer. Those are the chances that we're not getting."
