The Dallas Stars have been doing a lot of things right this season, but with 20 games in the books their 11-7-2 record puts them six points short of a postseason berth. That gap will need to be closed by improving their performance at home.
The Stars have been an underwhelming 3-2-2 at the American Airlines Center and the fact that they haven’t netted even one power-play goal at home in 24 chances is a big part of that. They are the only team in the NHL without a power-play goal at home.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” coach Lindy Ruff told the Dallas Morning News. “Overall, we need to be better on special teams as a whole. We’ll continue to work at it.”
This isn’t an entirely new situation for Dallas, but it is a uniquely odd one. In 2011-12, Dallas went 28 home games without scoring a power-play goal and ended up with just 17 in 124 opportunities, but the difference was that the Stars were just a bad power-play team overall that campaign. This time around, they have been doing fine on the road.
Dallas swept its recent three-game trip and will host the New York Rangers tonight. It’s an opportunity for the Stars to bring this season-opening slump to an end and pick up another two points to aide them in the tough Western Conference.