DETROIT — The Dallas Stars are beginning to play the way they

DETROIT — The Dallas Stars are beginning to play the way they want to and the Detroit Red Wings aren’t.Detroit plays host on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena to Dallas (5-4-0) Devan Dubnyk Jersey , which has won its last two games after struggling to begin the season.After the Stars’ 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night in Dallas, Dallas first-year coach Jim Montgomery told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “If you look at a picture of what Stars hockey should look like, that’s tonight. We possessed the puck. We were fast and physical. We defended well.”Article continues below ...Dallas does not lack offensive firepower. Center Tyler Seguin is the team’s top point producer with three goals and 11 points, right winger Alexander Radulov has four goals and six assists, defenseman John Klinberg leads the Stars with five goals and has nine points, captain and left winger Jamie Benn has four goals and four assists, and center Jason Spezza has contributed two goals and eight points.“We’re trending the right way and there are going to be a few more bumps in the road,” Montgomery said. “But sooner or later we are going to get to the level of play that you saw tonight. And it’s going to be fun for the city and fun for the fans.”Detroit (1-7-2) has the NHL’s worst record after Friday night’s 2-1 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets.The Red Wings led 1-0 after a solid first period but were dominated in the final 40 minutes. They were outshot 31-13 in the second and third periods and took too many penalties in the second period.But that was a much better effort than Detroit’s 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday at Little Caesars Arena.“The compete was way better, no doubt about it Womens Eric Staal Jersey ,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “We came out in the first, I thought we carried the play and we didn’t score on chances that we had opportunities to score on. I thought we could have walked out with a better lead. So I thought the effort and compete was very good.”Only a spectacular performance by goaltender Jimmy Howard, who made 38 saves, kept Detroit in Friday night’s game.“I think Jimmy’s played really well and obviously the second period (when Winnipeg outshot Detroit 21-4) he was outstanding, outstanding,” Blashill said. “They had some real good chances and they’re real shooters and I thought he was outstanding.”Friday night was also the season debut of Detroit defenseman Mike Green, who had been recovering from a virus that attacked his liver. He was minus-1 and had five shots in 20:27 of ice time.“I thought Greener was pretty good,” Blashill said. “He hasn’t played a game in a long, long http://www.minnesotawildteamshops.com/authentic-jared-spurgeon-jersey , long time. I thought he came in and did a pretty good job.“He pushed the puck out of our zone. I thought he was good offensively, so I thought he did a good job.”The Red Wings have only 21 goals in their 10 games and two in their past two games, both scored by forward Andreas Athanasiou. Under new coach Ken Hitchcock, the Edmonton Oilers are thinking grit and grind first. That new philosophy will be tested against a strong team playing its best hockey of the season.The Oilers will try to snap the Vegas Golden Knights‘ five-game winning streak on Saturday night at Rogers Place.Since Hitchcock took over for the fired Todd McLellan on Nov. 20, Edmonton has gone 3-1-1 with four games each decided by one goal. That includes Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.Article continues below ...“That’s the Western Conference,” Hitchcock said. “You’ve got to take points out of close games. It’s a one-goal league and it’s really a one-goal conference and we don’t want to be the first to crack.”Winger Ryan Nugent-Hopkins told the league’s official website that Hitchcock is getting to team to succeed when it seemed as if the season was spinning out of control.“He’s pushing us to be our best,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “It is tough to come in a quarter of the way through the season and try to change things, but he has done a good job of reminding us the things we already know but also pushing us and keeping us honest.”While Edmonton (12-11-2) boasts Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — tied for the team lead with 13 goals each — the club has also gotten surprising production all season long from Alex Chiasson and more recently from Oscar Klefbom.Chiasson, a journeyman who joined the team just before the start of the season Jason Zucker Jersey , already has 11 goals in 19 games. Klefbom, a defenseman, registered game-winning goals against the Kings and in overtime of a 1-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.“It’s been good timing for my first two goals,” Klefbom said Thursday. “These wins feel better than we win 5-1. It gives us a lot of confidence. We should build off this and focus on the next game here because we can play way better, I think.”Hitchcock believes Klefbom can keep delivering.“I think 25 (minutes a game) to me is the floor and you’re going to see him play more and more,” Hitchcock said.Saturday’s tilt is arguably Edmonton’s biggest test under Hitchcock as Vegas (14-12-1) is reminding fans why it advanced to the Stanley Cup final as an expansion team. The Golden Knights’ surge continued with a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.“We’re just on a bit of a roll here lately so we just have to keep going,” said coach Gerard Gallant, whose team has outscored opponents during the streak by a 23-8 margin.Max Pacioretty has been the key to Vegas’ offense with six goals and three assists during the streak. The former Montreal Canadiens captain, who scored in a 6-3 win over Edmonton on Nov. 18 Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey , goes for his fourth straight multipoint game.“Patch has been good. He’s hot now, he’s getting a good feel around the net,” Gallant said.Another key is Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s yielded only 11 goals while winning six straight starts — including shutouts of the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks on back-to-back nights last Friday and Saturday.“He’s the key,” Gallant said. “When we got him in the expansion (draft) last year, we knew that he’s a difference maker and he’s a leader of our group.”Fleury is 5-0-0 with a 1.77 goals-against average, a .940 save percentage and a shutout in his last five visits to Edmonton.