Home, road, doesn’t matter: the Dallas Stars are a wagon
Midway through the third round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, one thing is certain: these Dallas Stars are damn good. Led by Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen, Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn, this group has looked dominant every night, especially when they’re the road team.
That much was clear Monday when the Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 to take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is Wednesday night in Edmonton, and if recency bias means anything, the Stars could come out of the game just one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Stars becoming road warriors through the playoffs, and what that means for the Oilers as they try to even up this series.
Tyler Yaremchuk: If you’re a Stars fan, you’re feeling good about Game 4 because it’s on the road. I looked up the numbers of the Stars’ home-road splits, and on home ice, Dallas is 4-5, they’re getting outscored and their penalty kill is at a 61 percent success rate.
On the road during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they’re 6-1, outscoring the opposition and they’re PK shoots up to 91 percent. Those are some key areas of success. They’re a great road team, I think a lot of credit goes to head coach Peter DeBoer, but it just goes to show that this Dallas team is a wagon.
Frank Seravalli: Road success is key, and that might be the toughest pill for the Oilers to swallow coming out of Game 3, because that was the first time Jake Oettinger gave up three or more goals on the road during this postseason. You had the Stars on the ropes through the game, but they weren’t able to shut the ddoor and stop that pushback from Dallas.
When it comes to this Stars team, the big shift for them was Roope Hintz coming back. I think that changes everything. He unlocked something in Jason Robertson, and this team is unflappable, as Oettinger never really seems rattled. They’re in a spot where they can go toe-to-toe with the Oilers and wear you down.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…