It’s an interconference battle on the ice between a pair of teams looking to pick up two points in the standings in the 6ix. The Dallas Stars are on the road as they make the trip north of the border as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night. Dallas comes in off a 4-1 home victory over Winnipeg in their previous contest Monday night. Toronto was knocked off by a 4-2 score at home by Arizona in their most recent game Monday night. The Maple Leafs own a 7-3 advantage in the last 10 meetings between the teams, including a 4-3 overtime victory on the road in the most recent matchup on April 7, 2022.
Dallas earned their third straight win to open the season as they took down Winnipeg at home Monday night. The Stars entered Wednesday with a 3-0-0 record and led the Central Division by one point over the Predators with two games in hand. Dallas stands tied for 5th in the league in goals per game as they average 4.33 goals per contest on the year. The Stars stand tied for 1st in goals against as they allow an average of one goal a night this season. Dallas is tied for 11th when it comes to success on the power play as they convert on 30% of their chances with the man advantage this season. The Stars are 5th in penalty killing as they successfully navigate 92.9% of their shorthanded situations on the year.
Against Winnipeg, Dallas started slow but took control of the game en route to a multi-goal victory. The Stars held a 9-8 shot advantage in the opening period and went to the dressing room tied at one after 20 minutes of play. After spotting the Jets the first goal of the game, Tyler Seguin evened the score with his first goal of the season at the 10:20 mark off assists from Ty Dellandrea and Mason Marchment. In the second period, Dallas held an 11-6 edge in shots on goal and outscored Winnipeg 2-0 to take a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. Jani Hakanpaa gave the Stars a 2-1 lead with his first of the year at 15:38 off assists from Ryan Suter and Marchment. Less than two minutes later, Joel Kiviranta made it a 3-1 game with his first of the season off an assist from Esa Lindell at the 17:28 mark. The third period saw the Stars outshot by an 11-9 margin but they scored the lone goal of the period to salt things away. Miro Heiskanen closed the scoring with his second of the year, on the power play, at 8:12 off assists from Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson. Jake Oettinger was stellar between the pipes as he stopped 24 shots for the Stars, wh o held a 29-25 edge in shots, in the victory. He’s expected to be between the pipes again for this contest.