After a day off to celebrate American Thankgiving, the NHL is back in action with 13 games on the schedule on Black Friday. One of those games sees the Toronto Maple Leafs make a rare visit to the Lonestar State to take on the Dallas Stars.
This is the first and only meeting between the two teams this season. In their lone meeting last season, Nikolai Kulemin led the way with two goals in a 4-1 Toronto victory at the Air Canada Centre on Nov. 22.
The Leafs have lost their last two trips to American Airlines Center. Their last victory in Dallas came on Oct. 22, 2003, when Toronto picked up a 3-1 win. Recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Joe Nieuwendyk, who played for both Toronto and Dallas in his career, scored the winning goal for the Leafs in that game.
Friday's tilt in Dallas marks the third game of a four-game road trip for the Maple Leafs. Their second game of the trip resulted in a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday in which six different players each had a goal. The Leafs have won two-straight only once this month, with road wins on Nov. 2 & 3.
One of the players to score in Tuesday's road win over the Lightning was Joffrey Lupul, for his eleventh goal of the season. After scoring just five times in 26 games with the Anaheim Ducks last season, it seems the trade to Toronto has done Lupul some good.
With 15 assists to add to his eleven goals this season, Lupul is tied with former Leaf Kris Versteeg for third in the league with 26 points. Lupul has been a familiar name on the scoresheet with a point in nine of his last 11 games, registering six goals and nine assists during that span.
After putting Mike Brown on injured reserve on Thursday and sending him back to Toronto for further evaluation on his undisclosed injury, the Leafs will not call up any players nor make any changes to their lineup from Tuesday's win against the Bolts.
Though he took part in his first full practice on Thursday, goaltender James Reimer is still more than a week away from returning. Slated to get the start in the Leafs' goal is Jonas Gustavsson.
The Monster stopped 27 shots in the win over Tampa to improve his record to 6-4-0 this season. In two career starts against the Stars, Gustavsson is 1-0-1 with a 2.44 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur - Tim Connolly - Nikolai Kulemin
Matt Frattin - Joe Colborne - Joey Crabb
Jay Rosehill - David Steckel - Philippe Dupuis
Defencemen
Carl Gunnarsson - Dion Phaneuf
Jake Gardiner - Luke Schenn
John-Michael Liles - Cody Franson
Goaltenders
Jonas Gustavsson
Ben Scrivens
Injured: Colby Armstrong (ankle), Mike Brown (undisclosed), Mikhail Grabovski (lower-body), Mike Komisarek (arm), Matthew Lombardi (shoulder), James Reimer (concussion-like symptoms)
Scratches: Korbinian Holzer, Colton Orr
The Dallas Stars come into Friday's game having won two in a row while they sit second in the Pacific Division, just one point behind the division-leading San Jose Sharks.
Both of Dallas' last two wins have come at home, the most recent of which came on Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. The Stars have allowed just three goals during that stretch and have an 8-3-0 record at home this season.
Those two victories put an end to a five-game losing streak for the Stars in which they were outscored 21-4 during that span. After an unlikely hot start to the season in which they went 11-3-0 and found themselves first overall in the division, that losing streak helped the Sharks and Kings to play catch up. The Sharks jumped into first and the Kings are tied with Dallas with 26 points this season.
Two players that have performed well as of late for the Stars are Loui Eriksson and Mike Ribeiro, who both have three points in their last three games. Ribeiro has scored more points against the Leafs (11G, 10A) than against any other Eastern Conference team during his career. Eriksson, meanwhile, leads the Stars with ten goals, with his goal in Wednesday's win over LA snapping a four-game goalless drought.
The Stars will be without their captain Brenden Morrow for Friday's game against the Maple Leafs. The 32-year old sat out Wednesday's win as well with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss Dallas' two-game road trip which will see them take on the Coyotes and Avalanche after Friday's home game against Toronto.
Getting the start in net for the Stars will be Kari Lehtonen. The 28-year old netminder leads the league in wins with 13 this season, most recently stopping 22 shots against the Kings. Lehtonen has also posted a 2.32 goals-against and a .928 save percentage in 17 starts.
In eight career games against the Leafs, Lehtonen is 2-6-0 with a 3.00 GAA and an .894 save percentage while also earning a shutout.
Dallas Stars Projected Lines - Subject to change
Forwards
Loui Eriksson - Jamie Benn - Michael Ryder
Steve Ott - Mike Ribeiro - Tomas Vincour
Eric Nystrom - Vernon Fiddler - Radek Dvorak
Jake Dowell - Tom Wandell - Toby Peterson
Defencemen
Stephane Robidas - Sheldon Souray
Trevor Daley - Nicklas Grossman
Philip Larsen - Mark Fistric
Goaltenders
Kari Lehtonen
Andrew Raycroft
Leafs vs. Stars gets underway at 8:30PM ET. The game will be broadcast on Sportsnet Ontario and AM640.
For up-to-the-minute Leafs news and updates, be sure to follow Ken Beckett on Twitter @KenBeckett
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