The Dallas Stars continue their East Coast road trip on Saturday and will look to turn around their recent losing skid with an early evening game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Here’s what to know about the matchup.
How to watch
When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
Sports Roundup
Where: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh
TV/Streaming: Victory+
Radio: Sportsradio 96.7/1310 The Ticket
No ‘Penguin problems’
The Stars face the Penguins (36-20-16, 2nd in the Metropolitan Division) Saturday night for the second and final time this season. The Stars defeated the Penguins in their last meeting earlier this season on Dec. 7 in Dallas (3-2 SOW).
The Stars have won seven of their last nine games played against the Penguins (7-2-0), dating back to Oct. 19, 2021. Dallas also has won three of its last four games played vs. Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena (3-1-0), outscoring the Penguins 13-5 during that span.
The Moose is loose?
On Friday the Stars announced that star forward Mikko Rantanen is expected to return to action this weekend. Whether it’s Saturday vs. Pittsburgh or Sunday vs. Philadelphia is yet to be seen.
“If it’s not Saturday, certainly it’ll be Sunday, or maybe both,” head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We’ll see how he’s feeling after today’s skate and tomorrow morning.”
Rantanen was Dallas’ leader in points up until his injury with 69 (20 goals and 49 assists) in 54 games this season.
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Duchene finding his stride
Stars forward Matt Duchene scored Dallas’ lone goal Thursday against the New York Islanders and now enters Saturday’s matchup riding a four-game point streak, tallying four points (1 goal, 3 assists) during that span. In all, Duchene has posted 36 points (14, 22) in 47 games played this season, ranking sixth on the team in scoring despite missing 25 games with an injury earlier this year.
Stars promote director of player personnel Rich Peverley to assistant GM
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Mikko Rantanen expected to return to Stars this weekend, plus an update on Sam Steel
Rantanen has not played for the Stars since the Olympics. Steel suffered an injury Thursday in New York.