PREVIEW 3:00 AM CST
Hoping to avoid a four-game losing streak, the Dallas Stars (2-4-1) host the Phoenix Coyotes (2-4-1) tonight at the American Airlines Center. It is the front end of a home-and-home set that continues tomorrow night in Arizona. Tonight's game starts at 7:30 p.m. CST and will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the second of four meetings between the teams this season. Dallas won the regular season opener, 4-3, on home ice on the strength of a spectacular debut for future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr. The Czech legend figured in all of his new team's scoring, producing a pair of goals and a pair of assists. He capped off the night by setting up Loui Eriksson for the game-winning goal on a behind-the-back pass to his wide open teammate.
Since that time, not much has gone right for the Stars. The goaltending of Kari Lehtonen has been the lone consistent positive.
Offensively, the Stars have scored a combined nine goals in the eight games since point. Jagr has struggled through back spasms, and has not played nearly as effectively as he did in the first match. One positive has been the return of Jamie Benn since signing a new contact, but Dallas' first-line center is still trying to recover his timing.
Defensively, Dallas gives up too many quality scoring chances and relies on Lehtonen to bail them out of trouble. On most nights, Lehtonen has managed to keep the team in games but the club needs to start making other clubs work a little harder for real estate in the Dallas zone.
There has also been a big disparity between the number of penalties the Stars take, and the number of power plays they draw. Dallas has had 25 power plays to date; only six teams have had fewer man-advantage opportunities. Meanwhile, the Stars rank 27th in the NHL in terms of the number of times (35) they've played shorthanded.
Puck possession time is yet another area the Stars will be looking to improve tonight and in games to come. They can start by winning more faceoffs, as Dallas enters tonight ranked 28th in the NHL (46 percent) on draws.
Over the course of losses to Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit, the Stars have been able to stay close in games and even to forge early leads. But they have eventually gotten worn down and been significantly outplayed in third periods.
Looking to add some size and energy to the lineup, the Stars made two callups yesterday from the AHL's Texas Stars. Dallas brought up one of their top prospects, defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, as well as agitating role-player forward Antoine Roussel. Oleksiak, who made the American Hockey League All-Star game as a rookie, is set to make his NHL debut tonight.
Known for their defensively stingy ways under former Stars coach Dave Tippett, the Coyotes surprisingly rank near the bottom of the NHL in goals against average through the early stages of the 2013 season. However, the team has played a little better lately, taking three points out of games against Nashville and Edmonton before heading to Dallas.
The Coyotes expect to have former Stars goalie Mike Smith back in the lineup after missing four games with a groin pull. In addition, controversial Phoenix forward Raffi Torres will serve the final game of his NHL-mandated suspension tonight and be eligible to make his season debut in tomorrow night's rematch in Glendale.
On the injury front, the Stars remain without second-line center Derek Roy (groin) and backup goalie Cristopher Nilstorp (groin). Per NHL.com's injury report for Phoenix, the Coyotes will remain without Matthew Lombardi (upper body) and Rostislav Klesla (lower body) but the statuses of forwards Martin Hanzal (lower body) and Steve Sullivan (lower body) for tonight are not yet determined.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
STARS
21 Loui Eriksson - 14 Jamie Benn- 68 Jaromir Jagr
13 Ray Whitney - 20 Cody Eakin- 73 Michael Ryder
24 Eric Nystrom- 38 Vern Fiddler - 81 Tomas Vincour
10 Brenden Morrow - 60 Antoine Roussel - 40 Ryan Garbutt
4 Brenden Dillon - 3 Stephane Robidas
33 Alex Goligoski - 43 Jamie Oleksiak
27 Aaron Rome - 6 Trevor Daley
32 Kari Lehtonen
[31 Richard Bachman]
Healthy scratches: Tom Wandell, Philip Larsen, Jordie Benn.
COYOTES -- Will post later
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