Dallas Stars Who’s Hot, Who’s Cold?

In this weekly segment ‘Who’s Hot, Who’s Cold?’, we look at who performed well and who struggled in the previous week of action for the Dallas Stars. 

Here are the four games for the Stars last week: 

Dec. 12: Penguins 2, Stars 1

Dec. 13: Stars 4, Devils 1

Dec. 15: Stars 2, Capitals 1

Dec. 17: Hurricanes 5, Stars 4 (OT)

Who’s Hot?

Jake Oettinger

The now 24-year-old goaltender saw a bit of a dip in his numbers following his lower-body injury earlier this season. But over the past few weeks, the Otter has been everything that Dallas has needed him to be.

Last week, Oettinger played two of the four road games for Dallas, earning a 1-1-0 record and a .950 save percentage. The lone loss came in the final seconds of regulation in Pittsburgh after his team had played their road game to near perfection. He followed that up with a 45-save performance to keep Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals at bay. 

In his last four starts, Oettinger is 3-1-0 with a .931 save percentage. 

Roope Hintz

Roope Hintz continues to drive the bus offensively for the Stars. While his linemate Jason Robertson was struggling to put up points following the end of his 18-game streak, Hintz filled in the gap nicely. 

Last week, Hintz tallied two goals and one assist while holding a plus-3 rating overall. The 26-year-old leads the club with five goals and 11 points in the month of December. 

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Jamie Benn

The Bennaisance continued into last week, as captain Jamie Benn tallied two huge power-play goals for the Stars. In the game against Washington, Benn’s early third-period goal turned what was a truly poor game for Dallas into a wave of momentum that they rode to a 2-1 comeback victory in DC. 

Benn has not quite been on the pace that he was in November, but he continues to provide offense when his club needs it most. 

Jason Robertson

We knew that Robertson’s cold streak would not last long. And in reality, it only lasted about a week. 

Robertson tallied a big assist in New Jersey but really came to life with a three-assist performance in the Stars crazy tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. He kicked things off with a helper on Joe Pavelski’s first-period goal and also added the primary assist to Jani Hakanpaa, which tied the game at four in the third period. 

Robertson continues to lead the team with 23 goals and 46 points. 

Who’s Cold?

Denis Gurianov 

After playing his best hockey of the season on the home stand, Denis Gurianov has gone quiet on the road. 

In four games, Gurianov has not recorded a single point. Because of his dip in production and overall play, Pete DeBoer has opted to healthy scratch his big Russian winger for the second time this season on Monday in Columbus. 

Wyatt Johnston

The kid looked to be getting very hot, but then he got very cold. 

Wyatt Johnston has also been held off the scoresheet in all four games of the current road trip and has not tallied a point since Dec. 8. On the goal side, Johnston has not found the back of the net since Dec. 1 against the Anaheim Ducks. 

Radek Faksa

Radek Faksa was given a huge opportunity to play on the second line with Mason Marchment and Tyler Seguin. However, Faksa has continued to struggle to help the team offensively. 

The 28-year-old center has gone silent on this road trip and has not scored a goal since the day before Thanksgiving. Faksa has only recorded three goals and six points in 32 games for Dallas this season.