GAME PREVIEW (3:00 PM CDT)
Coming off a resilient home win over previously undefeated San Jose, the Dallas Stars (3-3-0) begin the front half a two-game weekend road trip in California. Tonight, the Stars are in Los Angeles to take on the LA Kings (5-3-0). Game time is 9:30 p.m. Central. The match will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the former Pacific Division rivals. Last season, the Stars fared well against LA. Dallas posted a 3-1-1 record in five clashes a year ago.
Tomorrow night, the Stars are in Anaheim.
STARS OUTLOOK
The Stars broke a three-game losing streak in uplifting fashion on Thursday night, rallying from three separate one-goal deficits to capture a 4-3 win over San Jose via shootout. Dan Ellis, who has started each game since Kari Lehtonen was lost to a lower-body injury in Winnipeg, will get the start again tonight.
The Kings have been having some scoring problems of late, but still present a very tough challenge to a Stars team defense that has been less-than-impressive at times in the early going of the season. Dallas has had issues both with turnovers and coverages. The Stars have allowed three or more goals in four of their six games, which is generally not a good formula for building a winning record in today's NHL.
The Stars power play has looked good of late. Dallas has clicked on four of its last 16 power plays after getting off to a slow start in the first couple games of the season.
Dallas first-line center Tyler Seguin has registered points in each of the last five games (three goals, five assists) coming into tonight's game. In Thursday's game, second liners Cody Eakin (one goal, assist), Ray Whitney (two assists) and Alex Chiasson (one assist, game-winning shootout goal) provided some much-needed offensive support.
KINGS OUTLOOK
The Kings won three of four games on their recently completed road trip, including a 2-1 shootout win in Nashville on Thursday. Jonathan Quick was stellar in goal in the Predators game, stopping 34 of 35 shots in regulation and overtime.
Los Angeles has been winning low-scoring games of late. They've had trouble in recent games putting the puck in the net, and have been held to a single regulation goal in four of their last six games. The forwards have not tallied in the last two games, but defenseman Slava Voynov bring a two-game goal streak into tonight.
The Kings power play is in 0-for-13 slump over the last four games. Having played six of their first eight games on the road, however, the club will now have an increased opportunity to work on shoring up the trouble spots. They are in a good spot to have a winning record at this juncture and remain one of the NHL's best two-way teams when on their games; a club easily capable of reeling off an impressive winning streak once the goals start going in with regularity again.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
STARS
14 Jamie Benn - 91 Tyler Seguin - 17 Rich Peverley
13 Ray Whitney -20 Cody Eakin - 12 Alex Chiasson
43 Valeri Nichushkin - 10 Shawn Horcoff - 72 Erik Cole
16 Ryan Garbutt - 38 Vernon Fiddler - 21 Antoine Roussel
4 Brenden Dillon - 3 Stephane Robidas
33 Alex Goligoski - 55 Sergei Gonchar
24 Jordie Benn - 6 Trevor Daley
30 Dan Ellis
[1 Jack Campbell]
Scratches: Lane MacDermid (healthy), Kevin Connauton (healthy), Kari Lehtonen (IR, groin), Aaron Rome (AHL conditioning assigment), Scott Glennie (IR, knee).
KINGS
Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Daniel Carcillo - Mike Richards - Jeff Carter
Dwight King - Jarret Stoll - Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford - Colin Fraser - Jordan Nolan
Robyn Regehr - Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell - Slava Voynov
Jake Muzzin - Matt Greene
Jonathan Quick
Ben Scrivens
Scratches: Keaton Ellerby, Matt Frattin, Alec Martinez
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