{"id":792755,"date":"2018-02-09T09:08:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T14:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=792755"},"modified":"2018-02-09T09:08:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T14:08:16","slug":"gameday-56-the-stars-vs-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/gameday-56-the-stars-vs-dallas\/","title":{"rendered":"GAMEDAY 56: The Stars vs Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"
AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER. DALLAS, TX.<\/strong><\/p>\n
8:30 PM EST. ATTSN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
The Penguins head to the great state of Texas tonight to take on one of the most confusing teams in the league. Are they good, are they bad, are they fun? They look like they should be fun but they’re also coached by Ken Hitchcock. The Stars are currently on a 4 game winning streak which has propelled them safely into the 1st Wild Card spot in the West and since we don’t get to cover the Western Conference race as much here is a look at the standings:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cup favorites Chicago and Edmonton are sitting at 56 and 50 points, respectively. As you can see Dallas has a +29 goal differential which they’ve managed to do with a 9.5 shooting percentage (league average shooting percentage is 9.1%). The Stars scoring differential is due to their goals for being above league average and their goals against well below; they currently have 164 goals for and just 138 goals against (league average is 156 for both). The Stars also possess the 10th best penalty kill in the NHL with a kill rate of 82.0%, the Penguins are still 7th in the league with an 82.5% though recent injuries to Rowney and Kuhnhackl will challenge that unit. Luckily for the Pens the Stars have a middle of the pack powerplay that converts at a 20.5% rate which should allow for Sullivan to play around with new penalty killing personnel. Speaking of Penguins injuries…<\/p>\n