Streaking Stars begin road swing against Kings

The Dallas Stars will try to ride the momentum of a four-game winning streak when they open a four-game road trip against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.

The Stars are 4-0 since Christmas after dropping three of four heading into the break, making it a good time to improve on their 9-8-2 road record, compared to 15-6-2 at home.

After facing the Kings, the Stars visit the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, the San Jose Sharks on Saturday and finish up against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

The Kings, Ducks and Sharks are the bottom three teams in the Western Conference, but Dallas interim coach Rick Bowness knows the California teams are better than their records indicate.

"We're going to have four very tough opponents coming up," Bowness said. "It's going to be a very difficult road trip."

The Kings went 6-3-1 in the final 10 games of November but are 6-9-2 since.

Los Angeles got a boost when veteran forwards Dustin Brown (illness) and Trevor Lewis (upper-body injury) and veteran defenseman Derek Forbort (back) returned Monday night against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Kings still lost 4-2.

Kings coach Todd McLellan said inserting the three players into the lineup at the same time wasn't ideal, but Los Angeles isn't in position to stagger their returns.

"It's not something we want to do, but it's something we need to do right now, based on where we're at and what we're looking at doing," he said. "We've got to get those players in and get them up and running."

The Stars haven't played since a 4-1 win against the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Friday.

The gap between games has provided defenseman John Klingberg a window to recover after he missed the last game with a lower-body injury.

Klingberg has two goals and 16 assists in 34 games. He led NHL defensemen with 59 assists during the 2017-18 season.

"He's day to day, and we'll see how he is (Tuesday)," Bowness said.

Before embarking on the road trip, Bowness also spoke highly of center Mattias Janmark, who has five goals and nine assists in 36 games this season after compiling six goals and 19 assists in 81 games last season.

Janmark, who missed all of the 2016-17 season with a knee injury, had a scare after a knee-on-knee collision with Taylor Hall of the Arizona Coyotes late in the first period on Dec. 29.

Janmark returned to the game and helped the Stars rally from a 2-0 deficit by scoring an empty-net goal in the four-goal third period.

Janmark had a goal and an assist three days later to again help the Stars rally from a 2-0 deficit and win 4-2 in the outdoor Winter Classic against the Nashville Predators on New Year's Day.

"This is the best I've seen him play in the 1 1/2 years that I've been here," Bowness said of Janmark. "I'm happy with him because of what he's overcome with the injury, and that hit late in Arizona, and he's bounced back."

Bowness said the challenge for Janmark is not letting his high-end speed get him too far out front of the play.

"Sometimes, you have to chill out a little bit and then use your speed," Bowness said. "That's kind of what we're working with him on."

--Field Level Media