The Dallas Stars will try to reestablish their home-ice dominance when they host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
The Stars were 11-2-0 at home before coming out flat during a 4-1 loss to the visiting Nashville Predators on Thursday.
They will be seeking a big response in their first game against the Central Division rival Blues this season.
“We have to be a lot better at the start of next game,” Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen said. “We have to do everything better.”
In particular, the Stars will look to pressure the Blues’ defense to create offensive opportunities.
“I didn’t think we had enough chances or created enough in the whole game,” Heiskanen said. “We were too slow and too soft and didn’t end plays quick enough. Forecheck wasn’t working really well, we didn’t (force) many (turnovers). We have to be a lot sharper all over the ice.”
The only Dallas offense against Nashville came from rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel, who scored in his NHL debut.
“He showed what’s intriguing about him,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “He’s a big body and the way he got up ice on that goal, the way he skated. We like that element from our defensemen. There were some really good signs.”
Overall, the Stars have lost three of their last four games with Jake Oettinger in goal for each game.
The Blues returned from their 3-1-0 road trip through Western Canada and suffered a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. St. Louis never got into gear until the third period, when their late rally nearly forced overtime.
“Every team does it in the league,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said of the travel schedule. “That’s no excuse. It’s just they’re tougher games to play, no doubt about it. At the same time, when you have that, you just have to play smarter. We probably would like to have our first two periods back (Thursday) and manage the game a little bit better.”
The Blues repeatedly allowed odd-man rushes when forwards failed to cover for defensemen who moved deep into the offensive zone.
“We’re asking our defensemen to pinch pucks that are on walls,” said Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who is 5-2-1 since replacing Drew Bannister on the bench. “They did and they kept them in. What’s happening is our forwards got to get above (the puck). The forward that’s responsible for replacing the D, when the puck gets stopped, he’s stopping.”
The Blues took Friday off and tried to regain their legs to face the Stars.
“We’ve been in a lot of different beds,” said Blues defenseman Ryan Suter, who previously played for the Stars. “It’s tough, but every day is a new day. You wake up and you kind of forget about the past and you focus on being good that night.”
Blues center Radek Faksa, another former Star, sat out against the Sharks. But Montgomery hoped he would be able to return to face his former team.
Nathan Walker filled in as the fourth-line center in his absence and Mathieu Joseph reentered the lineup.
–Field Level Media
