Stars eye fourth straight win, host Erik Karlsson, Sharks
The Dallas Stars aim to extend their winning streak to a season-high four games and slow down red-hot defenseman Erik Karlsson on Saturday when they host the San Jose Sharks.
The Stars won three straight games to start the season and again from Nov. 1-5 before matching that total following a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
“We’re happy, but we’re never satisfied,” said Tyler Seguin, who scored twice to help Dallas improve to 6-1-1 in its last eight games.
“Once you get past Thanksgiving, it’s all about keep climbing. With our schedule right now, we’ve got to get all the points we can.”
Rookie Wyatt Johnston scored the go-ahead goal in the third period. The 19-year-old has collected four goals and an assist in his past five games.
“I think for me personally, just getting more comfortable, getting kind of more used to the game, just building chemistry with my linemates, I think that’s a really big thing,” Johnston said. “I think the past few games we’ve been improving every game, just kind of learning off of each other. Obviously, I’m playing with two really good players right now (captain Jamie Benn, Mason Marchment), so that makes it a lot easier.”
Speaking of Benn, he also scored on Thursday to extend his point streak to seven games (four goals, four assists). Benn also had two goals in Dallas’ 5-4 setback to San Jose on Nov. 11.
Jason Robertson had an assist on Thursday to extend his point streak to six games (one goal, eight assists). He had two assists in the previous encounter versus the Sharks. Robertson leads the team in goals (24), assists (28) and points (52).
Jake Oettinger made 23 saves on Thursday to improve to 8-3-0 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .924 save percentage this month.
“We were, I think, definitely the better team (Thursday), and we deserved to win that game,” Oettinger said. “Great road effort by our team. … They didn’t ask me to do anything special.”
Oettinger, however, was blitzed for five goals on just 18 shots in the first encounter with San Jose.
While the Stars are ascending, the Sharks have plummeted with five losses in their last six games (1-3-2). On Thursday, San Jose let a two-goal lead in the third period go by the boards in a 4-3 overtime setback to the Philadelphia Flyers.
“That’s something that good teams are really good at and teams that don’t win that much are not,” Karlsson said. “It’s something we have to get better at.”
Karlsson notched two assists to extend his point streak to 11 games (two goals, 16 assists), one shy of the franchise record shared by Rob Gaudreau (1992-93) and Jonathan Cheechoo (2005-06).
Karlsson also reached the 50-point plateau in just 37 games, the fastest mark for a blueliner since Hall of Famer Al MacInnis accomplished the feat in 35 games for the Calgary Flames in 1990-91.
Tomas Hertl collected two goals and an assist on Thursday. He had one of each in the previous encounter versus Dallas.
–Field Level Media
