The surging Dallas Stars will hope to keep the goals coming when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.
After being shut out at home by the Florida Panthers on Dec. 13, Dallas has scored 17 goals in its past three games. Nearly half of those came on Friday night on the second half of a back-to-back, when they routed the Anaheim Ducks 8-3.
The Stars have a 5-0 record in the second games of back-to-backs this seasons.
“We executed at a high level early,” said head coach Glen Gulutzan, who had been critical of his team’s performance the night before even as the Stars ultimately prevailed 5-3 over the San Jose Sharks. “I thought there was a good commitment to play more structured than we did last night.”
Jason Robertson will hope to keep his scoring spark lit. After three games off the scoresheet, he led the way on the offensive front with two goals and an assist in a game where all but four Dallas skaters tallied at least a point. Robertson, the Stars’ leading goal scorer (22 goals), also quadrupled his penalty minutes on the season with three minor infractions.
“Yeah, I was pretty reckless. I was trying to play hard,” Robertson said. “All lines contributed, played relatively structured, kind of limited the chances. … We’re a good team, lot of skill, so we can score goals.”
The result left Dallas second in the league in points (53), trailing only the Colorado Avalanche in the standings. The Stars have won three straight since their loss to Florida.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a much less inspiring first half of a back-to-back, surrendering multiple leads and ultimately falling 5-3 to the lowly Nashville Predators on Saturday night. Toronto’s struggle to get pucks on net continued on, managing just 22 shots on goal for the second consecutive game.
“There’s definitely a shift we got to do mentally where you never want to play not to lose,” said Nicolas Roy, who scored Toronto’s first goal 92 seconds into the game. “You want to play to win, so not sit back. I think play our game, impose our game. I think we’re playing a little too much ‘we don’t want to lose.'”
An inert power play has been at the core of Toronto’s troubles as of late, their 14.1% power-play percentage being near the bottom of the league. The Leafs retooled their top unit against Nashville, bringing youngsters Easton Cowan and Nick Robertson to play alongside Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly. The new-look grouping failed to capitalize on its only man advantage of the night.
“Yeah, it is. It’s mental, for sure,” head coach Craig Berube responded when asked if his team’s uneven play was a product of their struggles mentally. “We’ve got to get through it. We’ve got to get over that. We’ve got to make better decisions throughout the game.”
The Leafs have dropped four of their past five games. Toronto has won eight of its past 10 encounters against Dallas.
-Field Level Media
