Rick Bowness thinks some of his guys are uncomfortable playing on the road
The Dallas Stars were blown out on Friday night against the Florida Panthers by a score of 7-1. They currently sit sixth in the Central Division and are three points back of the San Jose Sharks for the second and final wildcard spot in the Western Conference.
While they are within striking distance of a playoff spot, they need to turn things around on the road. The Stars have one of the best records in the NHL at home this season, 14-3-1, but have one of the worst road records in the entire league at 4-11-1.
Following Friday night's thrashing, Head Coach Rick Bowness told reporters that he thinks some of his players are "very uncomfortable" playing on the road.
"We have some guys who are very comfortable playing at home and very uncomfortable playing on the road," Bowness said. "It's very obvious."
When asked about what went wrong against the Panthers, he added, "There was a lot. A lot. It starts with just not being willing to compete. Starts with that. If you don't want to work, you don't want to compete, you get that."
It'll be a quick turnaround for the Stars who are back in action on the road in Tampa Bay at 7pm ET. Meanwhile, Bowness told reporters saturday that if he had the luxury of making healthy scratches, there would be some surprising names hitting the list.
Rick Bowness said if he had the luxury of healthy scratching players, which the Stars don't because of cap situation, there would be some surprising healthy scratches tonight. Instead, Stars need every eligible body to be in the lineup.— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) January 15, 2022
Bowness: Some Stars are 'very uncomfortable' playing on road https://t.co/DIEpuxT9xI pic.twitter.com/NP1hYV6fW7— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) January 15, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Peyton Krebs | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alex Tuch | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||