Three games, three wins. The start of a successful road trip, no matter how you slice it.

Of course, the opposition hovered near the bottom of the leaderboard. None of the victories have been so convincing. But still, his six points earned out of six available points.

Tuesday night in New Jersey, the Dallas Stars have the opportunity to turn that into eight points for the road trip. And that’s how a playoff team handles outside teams looking inside.

A week ago, the speech was selling out at the trade deadline. John Klingberg, Joe Pavelski and any other unlocked or untradable assets could easily be turned into prospects and draft picks that would help in the rebuild to come. That may still be the case, but Dallas looks like a favorite for the second wild card position, and if that holds true, the Stars probably won’t be obvious sellers.

Monday night’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers had just enough #Starsing to make everyone happy. The RoboHintski line made things click; Roope Hintz opened the scoring on a breakaway on a pass from Jason Robertson and Pavelski finished things off with an empty net to put the game away.

Add a Denis Gurianov to the third-period bench, Riley Damiani getting time with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin to close out the game, and there’s just enough drama to keep Dallas the most interesting club in the NHL, at least out of the game. ice.

With Michael Raffl on injured reserve and Radek Faksa ill, the lineup is a bit on the move, but whether it’s Gurianov or Damiani getting time in the top six, the team has at least two lines that can create chances. Alexander Radulov had a solid outing with Jacob Peterson and Joel Kiviranta – producing the game-winning goal and several other dangerous chances.

New Jersey has struggled to keep the puck out of the net so far this year, but has enough talented young forwards to keep things interesting. Lindy Ruff’s Devils could make this one of the most entertaining games the Stars will play this year.

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Dallas All-Star Lineup

Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)
Jamie Benn (14) – Tyler Seguin (91) – Denis Gurianov (34)
Joel Kiviranta (25) – Jacob Peterson (40) – Alexander Radulov (47)
Tanner Kero (64) – Riley Damiani (13) – Luke Glendening (11)

Ryan Suter (20) – Miro Heiskanen (4)
Esa Lindell (23) – John Klingberg (3)
Andrej Sekera (5) – Jani Hakanpaa (2)

Braden Holtby (70)

Radek Faksa is still out with a non-Covid illness and Michael Raffl is on injured reserve. The lines above could change between now and the time of the game.

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New Jersey Devils roster

Jimmy Vessy (16) – Nico Hischier (13) – Tomas Tatar (90)
Yegor Sherangovich (17) – Jack Hughes (86) – Jesper Bratt (63)
Pavel Zacha (37) – Dawson Mercer (18) – Andreas Johnsson (11)
Janne Kuokkanen (59) – Michael McLeod (20) – Nathan Bastian (14)

Jonas Siegenthaler (71) – Damon Severson (28)
Ryan Graves (33) – PK Subban (76)
Colton Blanc (2) – Christian Jaros (83)

Akira Schmid (40)

Schmid is 0-2-0 in two NHL starts this year.

The keys to the game

Offensive zone pressure. The Devils concede goals. There’s no point in playing tight – shoot pucks towards the net and watch a few come in.

Second score line. It doesn’t have to be Benn and Seguin. Without an actual stop line, Dallas has four lines that can create an offense, given the chance.

Special teams. In the absence of penalties Monday night, this game can be balanced with several powerplays and shorthandedness. The powerplay has been solid, but the powerplay needs to intensify, especially with Faksa and Raffl out.