As of Saturday morning, San Jose's losing streak is at 4. The low point was a 7-2 loss in Los Angeles that ended with the players holding a closed-door meeting. They answered it by scoring 1 goal in Minnesota. The front office has been shuffling the roster: center Filip Bystedt came up from the AHL's San Jose Barracuda after 4 goals and 8 points in 8 games, and defenseman Eric Pohlkamp was recalled ahead of the road trip. Sam Dickinson scored the Sharks' only goal in a 2-1 loss to Calgary. The Sharks are also without Alexander Wennberg and Igor Chernyshov, both on IR, which leaves the middle of the lineup thin.
Dallas has its own problems. Miro Heiskanen took a hit along the boards from Washington's Justin Sourdif in the 6-5 win over the Capitals, left early in the 2nd period and missed the Columbus game. That was his first missed game of the season. He's still listed as doubtful for the Sharks on the league's status report, and Saturday's injury report has him out, though the team was relieved the injury was only day-to-day. Without him, the Stars defended well in Columbus. Casey DeSmith made 29 saves and Dallas led on Mikko Rantanen's 3rd-period goal before Zach Werenski tied it with 3:14 left and Kent Johnson won it in the shootout.
The bigger question for Dallas is at home. The Stars lost 5-1 to New Jersey and 5-2 to Montreal at American Airlines Center before beating Columbus 3-1 there, so this building hasn't been much of an advantage lately. Their offense swings a lot too: 6 goals in Washington, then 1 in Columbus. A team that has managed 1 goal in 2 of its last 5 games can't count on hard work alone against a team running on fumes. Dallas still needs to get pucks past whoever starts in net for San Jose. Alex Nedeljkovic carries a 3.09 GAA and Yaroslav Askarov a 3.35. At the other end, Jake Oettinger is 9-2-0 in his career against San Jose, if Dallas goes back to him after DeSmith's night in Columbus.
The Stars are already deep into their injury list. Matt Duchene is out about 3 months after core surgery, Oskar Back is on long-term IR, and Sam Steel is day-to-day, so Dallas is short at center the same way San Jose is. With Heiskanen out again, the blue line that held up in Columbus gets another test, this time against a Sharks team that has averaged under 2 goals a game during its skid. San Jose's best shot is a fast start before the back-to-back legs give out. Dallas wants to get through the 1st period, keep things tidy and let the schedule wear the Sharks down.
Neither team is on a heater, but Dallas sits at 9-5-2 and San Jose at 7-10-1, and the Sharks have the tougher hole to climb out of. Watch the first 10 minutes. If San Jose looks a step slow, Dallas should take control of this one. If the Sharks push early, Dallas has to keep its composure without its top defenseman, and the Stars have been shaky at home lately.
