Returning home from a two-game eastern road trip to Buffalo and Montreal. the Dallas Stars (5-6-1) take on the red hot Colorado Avalanche (10-1-0) at the American Airlines Center. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Central time. The match will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest Plus.
This is the second of five meetings between the teams this season. Back on Oct. 15 in Denver, the Avalanche skated off with a hard-fought 3-2 win.
After tonight, the Stars head back out on the road for their next three matches.
STARS OUTLOOK
The Stars played superior all-around hockey in their 2-1 loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday than in the final 40 minutes of their 4-3 win over the Sabres the previous evening. Unfortunately for Dallas, the team was unable to scratch out enough enough in Montreal 29 blocked shots by the Habs and strong goaltending by Carey Price.
Kari Lehtonen had a so-so performance by his standards in the win in Buffalo, but rebounded to form in Montreal. He will get the starting nod tonight.
The Stars power play has been very spotty this season, coming into tonight ranked 23rd overall in the NHL at a 15.4 success ratio. The team could have a hard-time against the Avs' top-ranked penalty kill (92.3 percent). Dallas is 17th on the PK at 81 percent, while Colorado is 8th on the power play at 22.2 percent.
The Stars have a healthy lineup. However, Ryan Garbutt is still serving his five-game suspension for a high hit on Anaheim's Dustin Penner.
AVALANCHE OUTLOOK
The Avs keep churning out the wins, bringing a four-game winning streak into tonight's tilt. This has been a tumultuous week for the club, however.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who is off to by far the best start of his career, turned himself into Denver police and faces criminal charges stemming from alleged domestic violence. He has been released from police custody and has made the trip to Dallas with the rest of the team.
Yesterday, the Avs traded gritty winger Steve Downie to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for veteran checking forward Max Talbot. An excellent penalty killer who led Philadelphia's forwards in shorthanded ice time per game, Talbot could help make the Av's NHL-best PK even better. Although he doesn't score many goals over the course of the regular season, Talbot can also go on periodic offensive hot streaks of three-to-five games and has a knack for scoring clutch goals among his modest overall totals.
Colorado leading scorer Matt Duchene has been on a tear as of late, scoring four goals and six points in the last four games. Overall, he has racked up nine goals and 13 points. The team has a three-way tie for second in overall scoring points between veteran Alex Tanguay (three goals, five assists), third-year pro Gabriel Landeskog (three goals, five assists) and playmaking center Paul Stastny (two goals, six assists).
On the Avalanche injury front, winger Jamie McGinn (knee) is questionable for tonight's game. Forward Cody McLeod is unavailable due to a five-game NHL suspension for hitting Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall from behind. This is the final game of McLeod's suspension.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
STARS
14 Jamie Benn - 91 Tyler Seguin - 72 Erik Cole
13 Ray Whitney -20 Cody Eakin - 12 Alex Chiasson
43 Valeri Nichushkin - 10 Shawn Horcoff - 17 Rich Peverley
28 Lane MacDermid - 38 Vernon Fiddler - 21 Antoine Roussel
Scratches: Kevin Connauton (healthy), Ryan Garbutt (NHL suspension).
AVALANCHE
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 26 Paul Stastny - 40 Alex Tanguay
90 Ryan O'Reilly - 9 Matt Duchene- 15 P.A. Parenteau
7 John Mitchell - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 25 Max Talbot
2 Nick Holden - 24 Marc-Andre Cliche - 58 Patrick Bordeleau
8 Jan Hejda - 6 Erik Johnson
44 Ryan Wilson - 5 Nate Guenin
61 Andre Benoit - 16 Corey Sarich
35 J.S. Giguere / 1 Semyon Varlamov
Scratches: Jamie McGinn (questionable) or Nick Holden (if McGinn can play), Tyson Barrie (healthy), Cody McLeod (NHL suspension).
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Central Buzz(with Peter Tessier, Bill Meltzer and John Jaeckel) Recorded 11/03/13
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