Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop has etched his name in the
franchise record books by registering three straight shutouts.
Bishop could add another line to the submission on Thursday when
the Stars visit the Minnesota Wild at Saint Paul, Minn.
The 6-foot-7 Bishop has stood tall by turning aside all 94 shots he
faced in his last three starts, including 35 in Dallas’ 2-0 victory
over Buffalo on Tuesday.
“Things are going my way right now,” Bishop said. “Going to try to
ride the high as long as I can. But I just want to get the wins. It
really doesn’t matter about the goals against.”
Bishop is the third goaltender in Stars/North Stars franchise
history to record shutouts in three straight contests, joining
Cesare Maniago (1967) and Ed Belfour (2000). His shutout streak of
204 minutes, 20 seconds trails only that of Belfour, who kept
opponents off the scoreboard for 219:26 from Nov. 17-24, 2000.
The 32-year-old Bishop has been quite stingy against Minnesota this
season, stopping 84 of 88 shots to win two of the three encounters.
He sports a 1.73 goals-against average and .938 save percentage
while splitting eight career decisions versus the Wild.
Bishop, who was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week on Monday,
is expected to split Dallas’ upcoming back-to-back set at Minnesota
and against Vegas (Friday) with former Wild goaltender Anton
Khudobin.
“It’s not only Bish, it’s Dobby (Khubodin) as well,” forward Blake
Comeau told the Dallas Morning News. “Dobby’s been outstanding
whenever he’s been in there. Whoever is in between the pipes for us
has been outstanding. We have confidence in both goaltenders, both
guys are great teammates and great people, so it’s nice to see them
have success.”
Roope Hintz has been successful of late, with the rookie posting
his first multi-goal performance by tallying twice against the
Sabres.
Hintz has four goals in his last seven games for Dallas, which
resides just two points behind third-place St. Louis in the Central
Division.
While the Stars also occupy the first wild-card spot in the Western
Conference, the Wild have dropped four of their last five games
overall (1-2-2) and eight of their last nine home contests (1-5-3)
to fall one point behind Arizona for the final playoff berth.
Minnesota was shut out for the seventh time this season following
Monday’s 3-0 setback to San Jose in the opener of its season-high
five-game homestand.
“It’s been a tough place for us this year for whatever reason,”
Wild forward Zach Parise said of playing at home. “There’s areas
that have to be way better in order for us to win games. There’s a
lot of different things that we have to do better to give ourselves
a chance.”
Parise collected a goal and an assist in Minnesota’s 3-1 victory
over Dallas on Oct. 19 and has 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in
32 career meetings versus the Stars.
Fellow forward Eric Staal has three assists in the season series
and has 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 26 career encounters
with Dallas.
Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk fell to 8-9-3 in 21 career appearances
against the Stars despite turning aside 87 of 92 shots in the
season series.