Coming into today’s games, the Dallas Stars are two points behind Chicago and Anaheim for the last spots in the Western Conference playoffs. Each team has three games remaining, but Dallas has the easiest schedule of those three teams. The Stars will play home to Colorado, at Colorado and then finish up the season at Minnesota. Both these teams are out of the playoff race.
While the Stars most still do their part and win the games they play, they need some help from the teams that play Chicago and Anaheim.
Chicago’s next games will be home to St. Louis and then a home and away series with the third place Detroit Red Wings. The Blackhawks will play the Blues tonight so I’ll take a look at how the series has gone so far.
- The game will be played in Chicago. Chicago has a 23-16-0 record at home. The Blues have a 15-20-5 record on the road.
- The Blackhawks currently lead the season against the Blues with a 3-2-0 record. One of the wins was in overtime. Chicago leads 18-17 in the goals scored department.
- The two games played in Chicago were both won by the Blackhawks.
- Chicago is still without leading goal scorer Patrick Sharp, who has missed seven games. The Blackhawks have gone 3-3-1 in that stretch.
- The Blues have been on an absolute tear lately, winning five of the past seven. Those include a 6-1 win over Columbus, a 6-3 win over Minnesota and a 10-3 win over Detroit. Those three wins were all on the road.
The Anaheim Ducks remaining schedule will be home to San Jose and then a home and away series against the Los Angeles Kings. The Ducks play the Sharks tonight.
- The Ducks are 2-3-0 against San Jose this year. They have a 24-13-2 home record while San Jose has a 23-12-4 road record.
- Anaheim is on a two game losing streak while San Jose has won four in a row and eight of their last nine games. The Sharks have scored at least four goals in seven of those games.
