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Stars Gameday: 11/23/13 @ St. Louis

November 23, 2013, 4:24 AM ET [4 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Dallas Stars Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
STARS-BLUES GAME PREVIEW (2:30 AM CST)

Sporting an 8-3-2 record over their last 13 games but coming off a disappointing home loss on Thursday, the Dallas Stars (11-8-2) are back on the road briefly to take on Ken Hitchcock's powerhouse St. Louis Blues (15-3-3) in a Central Divison showdown. The match starts at 7:00 p.m. CST and will be broadcast locally on TXA-21.

This is the first of five meetings between the teams this season, and the first of three in St. Louis. The teams will next meet on Dec. 29 at the American Airlines Center. Last season, while the Stars were still in the Pacific Division, Dallas managed one win in three tries against the Blues.

The marquee story for tonight's game: The match marks the first game against Dallas for longtime Stars captain Brenden Morrow, who spent his entire NHL career in Big D until being traded to Pittsburgh ahead of the trading deadline last season. Morrow signed with the Blues over the summer as an unrestricted free agent. He has four goals, six points and 16 penalty minutes to date this season.

After tonight's game, the Stars will embark on a difficult three-game homestand against Anaheim on Tuesday and defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago on Friday before closing out the stretch against Edmonton on Dec. 1.

STARS OUTLOOK

The Stars have won six games in a row on the road but have been a bit frustrated at home of late. On Thursday, New York Rangers' goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stole show. The former Vezina Trophy winner turned back 41 of 43 Dallas shots to lock down a 3-2 victory.

Stephane Robidas (power play) and Alex Chiasson scored the goals for the Stars, while Cody Eakin notched a pair of assists. The previously scorching hot top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Valeri Nichushkin was kept off the scoreboard in this game but members of the line generated 10 shots on Lundqvist's net, including seven by Seguin.

Kari Lehtonen made 24 saves in a losing effort against the Rangers. His biggest highlight was stoning the dangerous Rick Nash on a third-period penalty shot moments after Chiasson's goal cut the deficit to 3-2. Unfortunately, back-to-back Rangers goals scored within the opening two minutes of the third period proved to be too much to overcome against Lundqvist. Lehtonen has been especially good in road games this season, bringing a gaudy 8-1-0 record, 1.93 goals against average and .936 save percentage into tonight's game.

Lindy Ruff's Stars would be well-advised to play disciplined hockey against Hitchcock's team. The Stars have struggled on the penalty kill of late (just 10-for-14 over the last five games) and they are going up against the team with the top-ranked power play in the NHL.

Veteran winger Ray Whitney remains day-to-day with a groin pull. He did not skate with his regular line at practice on Friday, indicating that he is likely to remain on injured reserve a little longer.

The Stars made a roster move on Friday. The club traded checking winger Lane MacDermid to Calgary for a sixth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. MacDermid played well last season after coming over from Boston in the Jaromir Jagr trade, somewhat surprisingly scoring goals in each of his first two games in a Stars' uniform before suffering an injury and dressing in only six games. This season, he struggled to get into the lineup prior to the trade and recorded two assists in six games prior to being traded.

BLUES OUTLOOK

St. Louis has been on a roll as of late, especially on home ice. The club has not lost in regulation in any of its last seven home games, capturing 12 of a possible 14 points (5-0-2) in the standings over that span. Overall, the Blues are 9-1-2 at home this season.

In divisional games, the Blues have also been dominant. The club enters tonight's game with a 6-0-1 record against Central Division opponents. St. Louis trails the Blackhawks by one point in the standings but has two games in hand.

The Blues are coming off a 3-2 road shootout win against the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

In the last game, Jaden Schwartz scored his fourth goal of the season to answer a late-first period goal by Boston's Gregory Campbell just 31 seconds after Boston took a 2-1 lead. The Bruins returned the favor in the second stanza, as Carl Söderberg replied to David Backes' ninth goal of the season in the latter portion of the period. After a scoreless third period and overtime, Alex Steen and Derek Roy scored in the shootout to give their team the bonus point from the tied hockey game.

Jaroslav Halak got the start against the Bruins. He stopped 29 of 31 shots in regulation and overtime before turning back three of four in the shootout. Brian Elliot (3-0-1, 1.94 GAA, .921 save percentage, one shutout in four starts) could get the nod against the Stars.

As is usually the case with a Hitchcock-coached team, the Blues remain very stingy in terms of yielding scoring chances and goals. The Blues have given up just 49 goals on the season, ranking 3rd in the NHL. In the meantime, the Blues offense is quite potent. The club has scored 73 goals, ranking 5th in the League.

The Blues are especially dangerous on the power play. St. Louis enters this game with the top-ranked power play in the NHL, which has been clicking at a robust 25.3 percent for the season to date. They've been even better of late, going 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) over the team's last five matches.

Alexander Steen has exploded into late-blooming NHL stardom this season. He enters this game ranked second in the League with 17 goals and tied for 2nd with 26 points. The 29-year-old is already just seven goals away from matching his career single-season best goal total of 24 achieved in 2009-10 and 25 points from tying his 51 points the next season.

Franchise defenseman Alex Pietrangelo ranks tied for 6th among NHL blueliners this season with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in his 21 games played. He has logged an average 25:45 of ice time per game, ranking 9th in the League. Pietrangelo is a plus-five on the season to date, frequently playing against other team's top lines with roughly half of his shifts (50.4 percent) starting in the offensive zone.

The Blues boast a stacked blueline (no pun intended) even beyond Pietrangelo. Three of the team's top six point-scorers this season are defensemen. Relieved to a degree of the burden of shouldering the heaviest load on his team's defense corps, Jay Bouwmeester has produced 15 assists, 16 points and a plus-10 rating while averaging 24:29 of ice time. In the meantime, mobile back Kevin Shattenkirk has posted 14 assists and 15 points with an average 19:35 of ice time.

It is often very difficult for opponents to formulate a successful attack plan against the Blues. The forwards generally provide solid support and it is tough to carry the puck into the zone on the line rush. Meanwhile, dump-ins rarely work because the top half of the blueline is very quick in puck retrievals and skilled in making accurate breakout passes that catch forwards in stride. The Blues defensemen can also skate the puck out of trouble themselves when they need to.

On the St. Louis injury front, Patrik Berglund (upper body) is expected to play tonight. However, defenseman Jordan Leopold (finger) is out of the lineup.

PROJECTED LINE COMBINATIONS (Subject to change)

STARS

14 Jamie Benn – 91 Tyler Seguin – 43 Valeri Nichushkin
72 Erik Cole – 20 Cody Eakin – 12 Alex Chiasson
21 Antoine Roussel – 38 Vernon Fiddler –17 Rich Peverley
11 Dustin Jeffrey – 10 Shawn Horcoff – 16 Ryan Garbutt

4 Brenden Dillon – 3 Stephane Robidas
33 Alex Goligoski – 6 Trevor Daley
55 Sergei Gonchar –24 Jordie Benn

32 Kari Lehtonen
[30 Dan Ellis]

Potential scratches: Aaron Rome (healthy), Kevin Connauton (healthy), Ray Whitney (IR, groin pull).


BLUES

20 Alexander Steen - 42 David Backes - 74 T.J. Oshie
10 Brenden Morrow - 12 Derek Roy - 25 Chris Stewart
9 Jaden Schwartz - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 91 Vladimir Tarasenko
56 Magnus Pääjärvi - 40 Maxim Lapierre - 75 Ryan Reaves

19 Jay Bouwmeester - 27 Alex Pietrangelo
5 Barret Jackman - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk
28 Ian Cole - 46 Roman Polak

1 Brian Elliot / 41 Jaroslav Halak

Potential scratches: Patrik Berglund (could play tonight, upper body injury), Adam Cracknell (healthy), Carlo Coliacovo (healthy), Jordan Leopold (IR, finger).

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