The Utah Mammoth look to extend their point streak to six games when they face the suddenly scuffling Dallas Stars on Thursday in Salt Lake City.
The Stars sit 13 points ahead of the Mammoth in the standings, but the gap has been narrowing between the Central Division rivals. Dallas is 2-4-4 in its last 10 games, while the Mammoth are 4-0-1 in their last five outings.
Utah’s most recent victory came over another red-hot team. The Toronto Maple Leafs took a 10-game point streak (8-0-2) into Tuesday’s clash in Salt Lake City, but the Mammoth outshot the Leafs 40-20 in a 6-1 rout.
Utah is 3-0-1 over the first four matchups of its season-long seven-game homestand. Before this home swing, 26 of the Mammoth’s first 43 games were on the road.
“I think we’ve talked about this stretch for a little bit, and have looked forward to getting a little bit of time at home,” Utah forward Dylan Guenther said. “So it’s nice to be getting points, and we play a really good (Dallas) team next game, so just make sure that we’re ready to go.”
The Stars are 15-5-6 in away games, posting the second-most road points (36) in the league. Utah is the final stop on a six-game road trip that has seen Dallas post a 2-2-1 record.
The grueling schedule may have caught up to Dallas in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Coming off a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, the Stars didn’t look sharp in the second half of the back-to-back, and lost to a team that had been on a nine-game winless streak (0-8-1).
While the Stars were inevitably due for a slump after their early-season dominance, coach Glen Gulutzan warned that “we have to be ready for” such “desperate” opponents like Anaheim.
“The league’s just getting tighter and tighter. … We have to keep grinding out points, and it is a grind to get points,” Gulutzan said. “You talk to anybody in the league. It’s tough night in and night out. There’s lots of parity. We’ve got to get going here a little bit.”
Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen missed Tuesday’s game due to a personal matter and is questionable for Thursday.
Jake Oettinger is expected to start against Utah. Oettinger has struggled recently with a 4.08 goals against average and .843 save percentage in his last four games, but played well in stopping 24 of 25 Kings shots Monday.
Karel Vejmelka should be back in the Mammoth’s net. Vejmelka has a league-high 21 wins with a 2.58 GAA and .900 save percentage over 35 starts.
Mikko Rantanen leads the Stars in assists (44) and points (62), while Jason Robertson has a team-leading 27 goals. Clayton Keller tops the Mammoth in assists (30) and points (43) while Guenther leads them with 23 goals.
The Stars’ elite power-play unit has gone cold, going only 2-for-20 over their last nine games. Dallas’ 28.5% power-play percentage for the season still ranks near the top of the NHL, while the Mammoth’s 15.4% mark sits near the bottom.
In their first meeting, the Stars earned a 4-3 home win Nov. 28.
