The Dallas Stars are in the midst of their second game in five days at home. Tonight they take on the LA Kings, who have been struggling themselves.
On Tuesday night, the Stars fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1, head coach Glen Gulutzan calling the loss “unacceptable” and “not good enough.” The loss to the Blue Jackets marks their third in a row, something they avoided doing for nearly three seasons under former head coach, Pete DeBoer. The previous to losses came against the Vancouver Canucks and the St Louis Blues.
To add insult to injury, the games aren’t the only things they have lost. Matt Duchene took a big hit by Jake Middleton when playing against the Minnesota Wild. He missed the game against the Blues, with coaching staff citing that he could have played but they chose to be cautious. Duchene returned against the Canucks, but was deemed unfit to play against the Blue Jackets and at morning skate, it was announced he would not be playing tonight against the Kings.
However, Duchene is not the only injury. Nils Lundkvist left the game against Vancouver and did not return. Gulutzan was asked about his the next day and he was listed as day-to-day but that has since been changed to week-to-week. The Stars were already missing Jamie Benn and Oskar Back.
Against the Blue Jackets, the Stars looked extremely out of sync, up and down the lineup. For the past couple games they have issues with turning the puck over while trying to break out of the Stars zone. Gulutzan stated yesterday that they have simplified their breakouts in hopes of cleaning up some of the mishaps. In conjunction with the turn overs, the play looked sloppy, with the Stars not being able to make passes to each other or having miscommunications, resulting in players not being ready when they are receving a pass.
The only roster updates this morning at morning skate was Duchene was out and Oettinger was in goal. The Stars will have to get some support from their top guys in this time where they are missing several forwards and the discombobulated lines.
Make sure you bookmark THN’s Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.
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