Stars at Maple Leafs
The Dallas Stars finished with the most points in the Western Conference last season and are in serious danger of being left out of the postseason in 2016-17. The Stars, who have dropped seven of their last 10 contests, are five points out of the last playoff position as they start a stretch during which they play five of six on the road by visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
“I think we all know where we are sitting,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn told reporters. “We have to dig ourselves out of the bottom of the standings here and find a way to get into the playoffs.” The Stars have lost two straight and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 as they take on the young Maple Leafs, who have begun to show some cracks on defense after the All-Star break. Toronto has lost four of its last five games (1-3-1) and surrendered 22 goals in four contests since the break after coughing up a late lead in a 6-5 overtime setback at the New York Islanders on Monday. The Maple Leafs went 2-3-1 on their just-completed road trip, which included a 6-3 loss at Dallas.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest Plus (Dallas), TSN4 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE STARS (21-22-10): Benn is enjoying his best stretch of the season with goals in four consecutive contests and five to go along with three assists during his current six-game point streak. Benn’s hot stretch pushed his total to 46 points - four shy of team leader Tyler Seguin, who shares the lead in goals with Patrick Eaves at 19. Dallas must improve on the penalty kill if it is to make a run in the final 29 games as it has given up seven power-play goals on 14 opportunities over the last six games - at least one per contest - in falling to the bottom of the league at 73.1 percent.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (24-17-10): Mitch Marner scored his third goal in four games Monday and leads the team with 45 points while fellow rookie Auston Matthews netted his team-high 24th tally. Zach Hyman recorded his third short-handed goal of the season in the loss to New York to move into a tie for the league lead in that category and rookie William Nylander scored for the fourth time in two games to give the Maple Leafs a late lead. Frederik Andersen has posted an .833 save percentage over his last five games, which could lead to backup Curtis McElhinney making his third start for Toronto on Tuesday.
OVERTIME
1. The Maple Leafs have won seven of the last nine meetings with the Stars, including a 4-1 home win last season.
2. Dallas C Jason Spezza, who has notched 31 points to tie for fourth on the team, has been placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
3. Toronto D Alexey Marchenko, who was claimed off waivers from Detroit on Saturday, could make his team debut after being scratched for two games.