The Dallas Stars will try to extend their point streak to 10 games when they visit the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The Stars, who are 8-0-1 in their past nine games, recorded their seventh win in a row with a 2-1 shootout victory at the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
“Any time you win, however many in a row we’ve won, it just makes everyone better. Just everyone’s more fun, boys are in a great mood, coaches are in a great mood,” said Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who made 30 saves and turned aside all three shootout attempts against Montreal.
“It’s just more fun to come to the rink. We were saying today, ‘This is fun, let’s just keep doing it.’ ”
The recent success has been more notable considering the Stars are without two of their top forwards, Tyler Seguin (hip injury) and Mason Marchment (face).
“We’re obviously missing some big pieces right now,” Oettinger said. “The fact that we’re able to do that without those guys is even more impressive, and we’re going to just try and do our best until we get all the fellas back.”
The Senators haven’t made the postseason since they lost in the Eastern Conference finals in 2017, but they’re definitely in the hunt.
Ottawa begins the second half of its season three points out of the final wild-card spot in the East.
“It’s good that we’re in the position we wanted to be in,” Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot said. “You look at the standings, everybody is so tight and everything is so close. There’s not a lot of breathing room out there.”
The closest the Senators have come to a playoff berth since their last one was two seasons ago, when they finished six points behind the Florida Panthers for the final wild-card spot.
“That’s what you want, every game to matter, and to get every point you can throughout the rest of the season,” Chabot said. “It’s fun with where we’re at, and we’re focused on what we have to do.”
The Senators are coming off a satisfying 5-0 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon, a decision that ended a four-game skid (0-3-1).
“Try to get our swagger back,” Ottawa forward Shane Pinto said. “We had it a bit on the West Coast (road trip in December). We kind of lost it for a bit. Hopefully, this one builds our confidence.”
Leevi Merilainen made 29 saves against Pittsburgh for his first NHL shutout, so veteran Anton Forsberg likely will be in net against the Stars.
Forsberg is 1-2-2 in five career starts against Dallas with a .889 save percentage and 2.94 goals-against average.
Casey DeSmith likely will start the second half of the back-to-back for Dallas. He’s 4-2-2 in eight career starts against the Senators with a .916 save percentage and a 2.64 GAA.
The Senators could be down a couple of forwards against the Stars.
Noah Gregor did not play against the Penguins after he sustained a lower-body injury in a 4-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, and Cole Reinhardt sustained an upper-body injury against the Penguins in the second period and did not return.
–Field Level Media
