PREVIEW: Red Wings focused on playing tight defensive game Tuesday against the Stars.
DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings will seek to continue on their solid start to their six-game homestand when they face the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The puck drops at 7 p.m. for the Red Wings’ (24-17-5; 53 points) final game of the season against the Stars (27-13-6; 60 points), which will be aired on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). Dallas most recently defeated Detroit, 6-3, at the American Airlines Centre on December 11.
With Sunday’s 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Red Wings moved to 7-1-1 this month and have allowed three or fewer goals in eight of their previous nine games. In comparison, Detroit was 5-9-1 last month, allowing three or more goals in 13 of its 15 games.
“We always know we have it in here,” Jake Walman said. “It’s a defense-first philosophy. During that (December) stretch, it was a little difficult, with some terrible bounces. But we’re demonstrating that this is simply business as usual, how we should and can play every night.
Head coach Derek Lalonde stated that the Red Wings’ focus to defence has resulted in success since the new year, with solid goaltending also contributing.
“You don’t have to have a trained eye to see what we looked like in that December stretch,” Lalonde said in an interview. “Our opponent has a lot of easy offence compared to how we’ve been playing lately. And certainly the play of our goaltenders, with Alex Lyon playing at a high level and James Reimer giving us a tremendous road game in Toronto (on Jan. 14).”
While Patrick Kane (lower body) and Ben Chiarot (upper body) are both out versus the Stars, Lalonde indicated the two veteran skaters are working on their returns.
The Stars’ four-game road trip concludes with Tuesday’s game, following a 3-2 overtime setback to the New York Islanders on Sunday. Dallas is now third in the Western Conference’s Central Division and comes into Detroit with the NHL’s third-best goals-per-game average (3.63).
Jason Robertson (16-32-48) had 13 multi-point games this season, while Roope Hintz leads the Stars with 20 goals and has five points (three goals, two assists) in his previous five games. Dallas’ netminders, Jake Oettinger and Scott Wedgewood, have a combined 2.97 goals-against average and.902 save percentage this season.
“Just a balanced offence,” Lalonde remarked of the Stars. “If you look at their lineup, (Jamie) Benn and (Joe) Pavelski on the third line are a matchup nightmare for our lines and defensive pairings. I’m just determined to keeping it out of our net throughout the lineup. “A little different animal than what we’ve seen recently, with depth.”
