Dallas Stars and Predators want to finish with two points in their pre-holiday encounter.
With 42 points, the Stars are ahead of the Predators, who are now in fourth place and have a wild card slot in the Western Conference. The difference is only four points. The points that can be earned on Saturday will be crucial in the run-up to the 2024 section of the season, especially with the winter break and NHL roster freeze fast coming.
The Stars’ game in Nashville kicks off a short road trip of two games before they head home for a run of five straight games, starting on December 29 against the Central-leading Chicago Blackhawks.
Dallas comes in with a lot of enthusiasm after winning 4-3 in overtime against the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, matching its earlier performance against the Seattle Kraken.
The Stars snapped a seven-game losing run to the Canucks and extended their point streak to five games with goals from Matt Duchene and Thomas Harley, respectively. Duchene also recorded an assist.
The single point the Stars gave up during that run was in an overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues. Along with the Canucks and Kraken, they also defeated the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings during the streak.
With the victory over Vancouver, Harley in particular made great progress. The 22-year-old is still in good form after playing the most of the previous season with the Texas Stars in the American Hockey League.
Harley has scored a goal in three of his last four games. “Incredible the strides he’s taken in a really short amount of time,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said of Harley. “This is a great place for him to call home. You can only say so much about him for being that confident and still acting like a child.”
The visiting Predators, meantime, come into the game in strong form as well. They have triumphed in eight of their previous ten games, with their most recent success coming on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2. After Juuse Saros made 29 saves, Philip Tomasino scored twice as the team won. Gustav Nyquist and Cole Smith both scored goals.
With both teams seeing strong play from their goalies going into the game, goaltending will also be a fascinating topic. Jake Oettinger has been benched for the last four Dallas games, which have been played by Scott Wedgewood. In the meanwhile, Saros and backup Kevin Lankinen have been successful for the Predators.
On Thursday, Saros surpassed Tomas Vokoun to become the second-winningest goalie in team history with 162. He’s our skeleton, Smith remarked. We are aware that he is back there fighting for us. We have Juicy for any minor malfunctions. It was the break we needed when he made that incredible save on that breakaway in the third. And he consistently delivers tremendous results for us.”