PREVIEW 8:35 AM CST

Coming off a grind-it-out home win over the Blues on Sunday, the Dallas Stars (11-9-2) head to the Pacific Coast tonight to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings (12-7-2) at the Staples Center. The game starts at 9:30 p.m. CST and will be broadcast locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

This is the first of five meetings between the teams this season, and the first of three in Los Angeles. Last year, the teams split the six-game season season series in half, with both clubs winning once on home ice and twice on the road. Many of the matches were chippy affairs, and the same is expected tonight.

The Stars have scored three or more goals in 12 of their last 13 games. They have also yielded three or more in seven of the last nine. LA has been playing strong hockey of late after an inconsistent start to the lockout-shortened season. The Kings enter this game having won 8 of their last 10 games, including a 6-4 win over St. Louis in the first game of their current four-game homestand.

On the Dallas injury front, Derek Roy has been dealing with a groin pull but skated yesterday. Philip Larsen (head) is expected back tonight, but Aaron Rome (foot) and Ray Whitney (foot) remains out. Francis Wathier has been recalled from the AHL. For LA, defenseman Willie Mitchell is out with a knee injury.


PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

STARS (defensive pairings likely to be altered from last game)

10 Brenden Morrow - 14 Jamie Benn - 68 Jaromir Jagr
72 Erik Cole- 11 Derek Roy - 21 Loui Eriksson
18 Reilly Smith- 20 Cody Eakin - 25 Matt Fraser
24 Eric Nystrom - 38 Vernon Fiddler - 40 Ryan Garbutt

4 Brenden Dillon - 3 Stephane Robidas
43 Jamie Oleksiak - 33 Alex Goligoski
58 Jordie Benn - 6 Trevor Daley

32 Kari Lehtonen
[31 Richard Bachman]


Kings (per Dailyfaceoff.com)

23 Dustin Brown - 11 Anze Kopitar - 14 Justin Williams
25 Dustin Penner - 10 Mike Richards - 77 Jeff Carter
74 Dwight King - 28 Jarret Stoll - 22 Trevor Lewis
13 Kyle Clifford - 24 Colin Fraser - 71 Jordan Nolan

6 Jake Muzzin - 8 Drew Doughty
7 Rob Scuderi - 26 Slava Voynov
27 Alec Martinez - 5 Keaton Ellerby

32 Jonathan Quick
[45 Jonathan Bernier]

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