PREVIEW 8:00 AM CST
The teams with the top record in the Western Conference will take on the best team in the East tonight when the Dallas Stars (11-3-0) travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins (9-3-3). The game starts at 6 p.m. CST (7 p.m. EST), and will be broadcast locally on Fox Sports Southwest and nationally on the NHL Network.
This is the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. Last year, the Stars rose to the occasion in their lone game against the Penguins, capturing a 5-2 victory. Loui Eriksson tallied a pair of goals in the game (including one on a penalty shot midway through regulation after he was grabbed on a breakaway by now-teammate Alex Goligoski). Dallas also got goals from Stephane Robidas, Steve Ott and the since-departed Brad Richards.
The game was also notable for its fisticuffs. Most notably, now-teammates, Sidney Crosby and Matt Niskanen dropped the gloves right off the next faceoff after Stars' captain Brenden Morrow fought Penguins' defenseman Kris Letang. Meanwhile, Jamie Benn had a pair of fights, first taking on Tyler Kennedy and later fighting Chris Kunitz.
Crosby will not be in the lineup tonight, but there is still plenty of intrigue for the game. Apart from being a battle between the top-ranked teams in the two Conferences, it will be interesting to see how James Neal and Goligoski fare in their first game against their former teams after being traded for one another. It will also be worthwhile to see whether Kari Lehtonen can outplay his Pittsburgh counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Stars have been on an offensive tear of late, but Dan Bylsma's Penguins have emerged as one of the best defensive teams in the NHL -- a far cry from the run-and-gun teams of the past. Pittsburgh has allowed just 2.13 goals per game so far. There will not be much operating room for Dallas, and the club will have to take good care of the puck and be patient while converting the chances they do manage to generate.
In the special teams department, the Stars would be well advised to stay out of the penalty box against a Pittsburgh team that has been dangerous (21.3 percent success) even without Crosby. The likes of Evgeni Malkin, Letang and Neal can still do plenty of damage.
The Pens have also excelled on the penalty kill so far, killing off a remarkable 93.2 percent of their disadvantages so far. The Stars' have brought up their season power play success rate to 19.2 percent but tonight's game presents a particularly tough challenge.
On the injury front, Ott (hip pointer) is out again tonight, and has been placed on IR. Morrow missed practice yesterday with a sore elbow but is likely to play tonight.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
STARS
Eriksson - Benn - Ryder
Morrow - Ribeiro - Burish
Nystrom - Fiddler - Dvorak
Wandell - Dowell - Petersen
Souray - Robidas
Goligoski - Daley
Grossman - Fistric
Lehtonen
[Raycroft]
PENGUINS
Sullivan - Malkin - Neal
Kunitz - Staal - Dupuis
Cooke - Park - Asham
Tangradi - Vitale - Adams
Martin - Letang
Orpik - Engelland
Niskanen - Picard
Fleury
[Johnson]
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The court hearing in Wilmington to approve the sale of the Dallas Stars to Tom Gaglardi will be held on Nov. 18. Once that step is completed, the sale still needs to be finalized and then approved by the NHL Board of Governors.
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