NHL – FREE PLAY: Kings (55) vs. Stars (56)

The Kings are worse than I expected at 2-5. However, they are off a 2-1 overtime road win against the Blues this past Monday. That upset victory could make the Kings a little fat and happy. The Stars are anything but that. They are in stop-the-pain mode with three straight losses.

Dallas only lost three consecutive regular-season matchups in regulation once during Pete DeBoer’s three seasons in Dallas and that was during the team’s seven-game losing streak to end last regular season.

Now Glen Gulutzan, DeBoer’s replacement, faces an early season critical juncture as the Stars have scored just five goals in their last three games after producing five goals in each of their first three games. Dallas’ offense is too strong for this to continue. I see the Stars figuring it out against this opponent.