DALLAS STARS NOTES:
INJURIES Man-games lost, 2023-24: 16
NAME INJURY # OF GAMES DATES
C Roope Hintz Upper body 1 Oct. 12 C Radek Faksa Upper body 4 Nov. 1-6 C Matt Duchene Upper body 1 Nov. 6 D Thomas Harley Upper body 3 Nov. 14-20 C Craig Smith Illness 2 Nov. 22-24 C Roope Hintz Illness 1 Dec. 9 G Jake Oettinger Lower body 4 Dec. 16-pres
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Stars come out of the holiday break with a road matchup against the St. Louis Blues tonight at Enterprise Center. (7 p.m. CT, Bally Sports Southwest Extra, The Ticket 96.7-FM/1310-AM). These two clubs met just 11 days ago in St. Louis in a game that saw the Blues win 4-3 in overtime. This is the third of four meetings between the two teams this season and the final contest in the Gateway City. The final head-to-head matchup will also be the regular-season finale for the Stars and Blues on April 17, 2024 at American Airlines Center.
BACK IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY – The Stars are 1-1-0 vs. the Blues this season, winning 2-1 in a shootout in the season opener at American Airlines Center on Oct. 12 and falling 4-3 in OT at Enterprise Center on Dec. 16. – Dallas enters tonight’s game with wins in five of the past five contests against St. Louis, including two of the past three at Enterprise Center. – The Stars are 119-130-56 all-time against the Blues, including a 46-80-28 mark on the road. – Captain Benn ranks second among active NHL skaters in goals (22) and third in points (22-28—50) and shares sixth in assists (28) in 53 games vs. St. Louis. Among team leaders, Benn paces the club in power-play goals (7) and shares first in game-winning tallies (3). – Forward Joe Pavelski shares second on the Stars in goals (12) and fifth in points (12-16—28) in 57 career games against the Blues. Pavelski also ranks second among active Stars in games played and paces the club in shots on goal (156). – Forward Wyatt Johnston enters tonight’s game with four goals and six points (4-2—6) in five career games vs. St. Louis. Johnston paced the club in total goals (4) and even-strength tallies (3) and ranked first in shots on goal (11) against the Blues in his rookie 2022- 23 campaign. – Forward Matt Duchene shares second on the team in goals (12) and ranks third in points (12-21—33) in 47 career games vs. St. Louis. – Forward Jason Robertson has seven points (3-4—7) in nine career games against the Blues. – Forward Tyler Seguin enters tonight’s matchup with nine goals and 29 points (9-20—29) in 43 games vs. St. Louis. – Forward Craig Smith has 17 points (4-13—17) in 46 career games against the Blues. – Defenseman Miro Heiskanen has seven assists and nine points (2-7—9) in 17 career games against the Blues. – Defenseman Ryan Suter leads active NHL defensemen in assists (33), points (7-33—40) and games played (91) against the Blues. Suter also shares second in power-play points (14) among active d-men, while he co-leads blueliners in even-strength points (26). – Goaltender Jake Oettinger has a 3-1-0 record with a 1.48 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and one shutout in four career appearances against St. Louis. Oettinger’s lone shutout came in the final game of the 2022-23 regular season, a 25-save performance in Dallas’ 1-0 victory. – Netminder Scott Wedgewood is 3-0-1 with a 2.25 GAA and .920 SV% in four career appearance vs. the Blues. – Goaltender Matt Murray has yet to face the Blues in his NHL career.
STARS STUN PREDS, SET AN NHL ‘FIRST’ – On Dec. 23 at Nashville, the Stars became the first team in NHL history to earn a win after scoring a game-tying and go-ahead goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation. – After Craig Smith (59:45) became the 13th player in franchise history to score a tying goal in the final 15 seconds of regulation in a regular-season game (last: Jamie Benn at 59:59 on March 21), Jani Hakanpää (59:56) scored the fifth-latest go-ahead goal in regulation in regular-season franchise history behind Brian MacLellan (59:59 on Jan. 27, 1988), Tyler Seguin (59:57 on Oct. 16, 2014), Shawn Chambers (59:57 on Jan. 6, 1990) and Dave Gagner (59:57 on Nov. 14, 1988). – Prior to Dallas, the latest a team had scored a game-tying and go-ahead goal in regulation also belonged to the Stars, when Mike Modano scored a game-tying goal at 59:44 and Guy Carbonneau scored the winner at 59:55 on Oct. 14, 1995.
ST. LOUIS BLUES NOTES:
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
December 24 – Assigned forward Mackenzie MacEachern to Springfield
Blues vs. Stars
• The Blues and Stars will meet for the 3rd of 4 matchups this season (last one on Apr. 17 in Dallas, which is the last game of the season) • The Blues are 1-0-1 against Dallas this season, winning their last matchup 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 16 in St. Louis, and losing in a shootout 2-1 on Oct. 12 in Dallas, the first game of the season • The Blues are 4-3-1 in their last 8 games against Dallas • Going back to the start of the 2019-20 season, the Blues are 8-4-2 in 14 games against Dallas • The Blues are 5-2-1 in their last 8 games against Dallas at Enterprise Center • The Blues have not allowed a power play goal to Dallas in 7 of their last 8 matchups, going 19 for 22 (86.4%) on the penalty kill over those 8 games (4-3-1 record) • The Blues have scored a power play goal in 6 of their last 7 home games against Dallas, going 7 for 17 (41.2%) on the power play over those 7 games (4-2-1 record)
Extra Notes
• The Blues are 15-1-0 when scoring first this season, which is the 3rd most wins in the NHL (1. Vancouver, 18) • The Blues were the last team in the NHL to not have a loss of any kind when scoring first this season (started 12-0-0) • The Blues are 14-3-0 this season when they score at least 3 goals in a game • The Blues are also 14-2-1 this season when allowing 3 or less goals • The Blues have been shorthanded 90 times this season, which is the least in the NHL (2. Toronto/Winnipeg, 96) • The Blues have scored 8 shorthanded goals this season, which shares the 2nd most in the NHL (1. Calgary, 9) • Pavel Buchnevich (2g, 1a) and Oskar Sundqvist (1g, 2a), each have 3 shorthanded points this season, which shares 6th in the NHL (1. Simon Holmstrom, 6) • Both Brayden Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich each scored 3 goals on Nov. 11 at Colorado, becoming the third pair of Blues players to score a hat trick in the same game, following Doug Gilmour and Mark Hunter (Feb. 23, 1986) as well as Kevin LaVallee and Dave Barr (Oct. 20, 1984)
