Jake Oettinger, Stars conclude busy stretch vs. Red Wings

The Dallas Stars hope to wrap up a busy stretch of their schedule with a win against the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.

It will be the eighth game in 14 days for the Stars, who are 3-3-1 during the stretch so far.

Dallas showed some fatigue in its most recent game, falling 6-1 to the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon. The Stars have lost three of their past four games and haven't strung together back-to-back wins in nearly a month.

"I think we've got to take a hard look at it and learn from it," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said of the loss to Vegas.

The Stars are hoping Jake Oettinger will begin rounding back into the form he showed the first month of the season.

He was 8-2-1 after a 4-3 overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 14 with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage, but he has since gone 2-5-1 with a 3.66 GAA and a .874 save percentage.

"That's the job description and that's how it goes in this league," Oettinger said. "It's the most humbling position. You can't hide out there at all. When you're struggling, there's 18,000 people watching you. So I'm just going to keep working and it will come."

Oettinger has lost his past three starts, giving up 15 goals along the way, but his teammates still consider him the best goaltender in the league.

"There's a ton of belief coming from guys in this room," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. "We're not looking at him like he's letting us down by any means. It's probably the other way around. It's not one guy feeling this is on him. This is on all of us to fix."

Dallas forward Roope Hintz, second on the team in goals (10) and third in points (22), missed the loss to Vegas with an illness. His status for Monday's game is unknown. The Stars did not practice on Sunday.

"He's a big piece of this team," Pavelski said of Hintz. "You miss the size up the middle, you miss the way lines slot up and down, the way the units are. He's a great player, so we definitely miss him."

The Red Wings are coming off a one-sided loss as well, dropping a 5-1 decision to the visiting Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Detroit also lost captain Dylan Larkin to an upper-body injury after he absorbed a hit from Mathieu Joseph at 13:50 of the first period and was briefly knocked out.

"It's scary for everyone in the rink when you see someone unconscious," Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "Hard to watch, especially when it's your friend and captain. Scary for his family when you see someone down like that. Lot of emotions."

The Red Wings, who only dressed 11 forwards against Ottawa, also lost David Perron to a match penalty following Larkin's injury, leaving them with nine forwards the rest of the way.

One of those forwards was Patrick Kane, who scored his first goal for Detroit in his second game with the team.

The nine-time All-Star and three-time Stanley Cup champion underwent hip resurfacing surgery on June 1 and signed a one-year contract with Detroit on Nov. 28.