Winnipeg looks for better road performance from Hellebuyck; Dallas needs secondary scoring
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DALLAS — The Dallas Stars need more offensive contributors against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at American Airlines Center on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS, CBC).
Winnipeg — which allowed 2.32 goals per game in the regular season, the fewest in the NHL — won 4-0 in Game 2 on Friday to tie the best-of-7 series.
Mikko Rantanen leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with eight goals. But the Stars haven’t gotten much from some other key forwards, such as Jamie Benn (one), Evgenii Dadonov (one), Mikael Granlund (one), Mason Marchment (one) and Matt Duchene (none).
“Winnipeg’s the best defensive team in the League,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s not going to be easy. We might not get guys lighting it up this series. We might have to win 1-0, 2-1. Sure, it’d be great if everyone was scoring, but it’s more important that we’re winning games. If that’s 1-0 and Rantanen scoring every night that goal, we’ll take it.
“But I do think that … whether we win 2-1 or 1-0, some other guys have to find a way to take a little bit of that load off of him.”
Jason Robertson, who led Dallas with 35 goals in the regular season, returned from a lower-body injury in Game 1. DeBoer said he started to look dangerous again in Game 2.
“That’s a good sign for us, because he’s one of those guys that we’re talking about that’s going to have to chip in,” DeBoer said.
Teams with a 2-1 lead in a best-of-7 series have won the series 68.8 percent of the time (391-177).
Here is a breakdown of Game 3:
Jets: Connor Hellebuyck is coming off a shutout. But he’s 0-3 with a 7.24 goals-against average and .758 save percentage on the road this postseason. He was pulled from all three of his starts at the St. Louis Blues in the first round. Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg’s No. 1 defenseman, missed Game 1 with an upper-body injury, but he had an assist and was plus-2 in 22:39 of ice time in Game 2.
Stars: Dallas will have to play at least one more game without Miro Heiskanen, its No. 1 defenseman, who has been out since Jan. 28 with a knee injury. Thomas Harley has stepped up in his absence; he leads the playoffs in time on ice (247:15) and has six points (two goals, four assists) in nine games, fourth on the Stars and tied for fourth among defensemen in the playoffs.
Number to know: 16. That’s how many wins following a loss Stars goalie Jake Oettinger has in the playoffs in his NHL career.
What to look for: Does Hellebuyck pick up where he left off in Game 2, or does he struggle on the road in Dallas like he did in St. Louis? Can the Stars get more from guys like Duchene, who led them with 82 points (30 goals, 52 assists) in 82 games in the regular season?
“I think it’s a game we can build off of. There was a lot of good things out there, as everybody knows. I think momentum in the playoffs is in-game; I don’t think it often carries over from game to game. We’ll try to look at things we did well. It’ll be a whole different animal going on the road here.” — Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey on building on Game 2
“He’s their Miro Heiskanen. That changes things. It slots people for them. It’s a big boost of confidence for their whole group. This is part of it. We’ve played without Miro now for over three months, 3 1/2 months. We’re still scratching and clawing and finding ways to hang in there.” — Stars coach Pete DeBoer on Morrissey’s return for Winnipeg and Heiskanen’s absence
Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Gabriel Vilardi
Nikolaj Ehlers — Vladislav Namestnikov — Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter — Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton
Brandon Tanev — Morgan Barron — Alex Iafallo
Josh Morrissey — Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg — Neal Pionk
Haydn Fleury — Colin Miller
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Scratched: Dominic Toninato, David Gustafsson, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Luke Schenn, Ville Heinola
Injured: Rasmus Kupari (concussion), Logan Stanley (undisclosed)
Mikael Granlund — Roope Hintz — Mikko Rantanen
Jamie Benn — Matt Duchene — Tyler Seguin
Mason Marchment– Wyatt Johnston — Jason Robertson
Oskar Back — Sam Steel — Evgenii Dadonov
Thomas Harley — Ilya Lyubushkin
Esa Lindell — Cody Ceci
Lian Bichsel — Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mavrik Bourque, Colin Blackwell, Mathew Dumba, Brendan Smith
Injured: Miro Heiskanen (knee), Nils Lundkvist (shoulder)
Status report
The Jets will use the same lineup from Game 2; Blackwell will enter for Back, a forward. … Heiskanen will not play, DeBoer said. The defenseman is considered day to day.
NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report
