G58 New Jersey Devils vs. Dallas Stars: Back to work

The Devils start their stretch run with a very difficult matchup against Pete DeBoer and the Stars.

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The New Jersey Devils return to action tonight against the Dallas Stars. Here are a few notes to get you set for the game:

Stars struggling without Heiskanen

The Stars are one of the best defensive teams in the league. However, they’re not nearly as stout without Miro Heiskanen logging monster minutes on the backend.

He suffered an injury in late January and missed the last five games heading into the break. Dallas’ defensive metrics dipped noticeably in that span.

The Stars allowed expected goals at the 5th highest clip during 5v5 play without Heiskanen. They conceded 2.94 xGA per 60 minutes in that span.

For reference, the Stars allowed 2.44 xGA per 60 over their prior 50 games. That’s a huge gap.

This isn’t to say the Stars will lay down a welcome mat in the slot and allow the Devils to tee off from high-danger areas all night. Only that they’ve become more vulnerable without their stud defenseman.

Factor in Dallas’ 2nd best defenseman Thomas Harley may not be at his best after having just one day to recover from a taxing overtime game against USA – and the celebrations that undoubtedly followed – and it’s difficult to imagine the Stars suddenly locking things down defensively.

Again, I’m not expecting open season in front of Jake Oettinger but generating offense should be easier than it otherwise would be vs. Dallas.

The captain is back