Stars at Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings have only one victory on the season and have yet to win at home or in regulation, a pattern they will try to reverse when they host the Dallas Stars on Sunday afternoon. The Stars have lost both away contests this season as they kick off a six-game road trip seeking their fourth consecutive victory in the series against the Red Wings.
The reasons for Detroit's early struggles are easy to see - the team ranks next-to-last in goals allowed and 28th in goals scored. "I don't think we have any 40-goal scorers in here but we got guys that score," Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen told reporters following Saturday's practice. "Some players we know can. But we're a team that lacks superstars. It has to come from everyone." The Stars were scraping offensively during a three-game slide, scoring just twice, but they erupted for nine goals in wins over Los Angeles and Anaheim. "If you look at a picture of what Stars hockey should look like, that's tonight," coach Jim Montgomery said after Thursday's 5-2 rout of Anaheim. "We possessed the puck, we were fast, we were physical. We defended well."
TV: 5 p.m. ET, FS Southwest Plus (Dallas), FS Detroit
ABOUT THE STARS (5-4-0): Jason Dickinson, Dallas' first-round pick in the 2013 draft, was held off the scoresheet in his first five games this season, but he had an assist versus the Kings before scoring twice and setting up another goal against Anaheim. "It obviously feels good scoring," said Dickinson, who had three goals in 38 games entering the season. "It's nice to get it out of the way and stop fighting myself in my head." Top-line forward Alexander Radulov has missed the past three games and exited Saturday's practice session early.
ABOUT THE WINGS (1-7-2): Andreas Athanasiou scored the only goal in Friday's 2-1 loss to Winnipeg to tie Dylan Larkin for the team lead with four, but no other player has tallied more than twice. Anthony Mantha had a breakout season with 24 goals in 2017-18 but he has managed only one goal to go along with two assists and is a minus-12 this season. "I can't lie about it. It's hard," said Mantha, who was reunited on a line with Larkin at Saturday's practice. "Obviously, when you don't have success, you have to dig deeper and try and keep things more simple."
OVERTIME
1. Stars G Ben Bishop, who won each of the last two games against the California teams, will make his fourth straight start Sunday.
2. Red Wings G Jimmy Howard is 9-7-2 with a 2.52 goals-against average versus Dallas.
3. Stars F Tyler Seguin leads the team with 11 points, but has only one assist in his last five games.