STARS VS. COYOTES GAME PREVIEW

In the final game before the Olympic break, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (26-21-10) are back home to take on former Stars' coach Dave Tippett and the Phoenix Coyotes (27-20-10). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:00 p.m. CST. The match will be televised locally on TXA 21.

Tonight's game marks the second meeting between the teams this week and the lone meeting in Dallas. The teams will meet again on the final night of the regular season (Sun. April 13) in Phoenix.

Four nights ago, the Stars captured a 3-1 road victory over the Coyotes in the middle game of Dallas' three-game road trip against Pacific Division clubs.

Leading Phoenix goal-score Antoine Vermette broke a scoreless tie near the midpoint of regulation with his 21st goal of the season. Dallas soon got it back on a Shawn Horcoff power play goal, and the teams skated to the second intermission tied at 1-1. In the third period, Antoine Roussel put Dallas ahead to stay at the 3:23 mark. Ryan Garbutt, who assisted on Roussel's game-winner, later added an empty net goal of his own. Kari Lehtonen turned back 27 of 28 shots, while Mike Smith stopped 37 of 39.

Following the win against the Coyotes, the Stars finished their 2-0-1 road trip with a 2-1 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks. Dallas played a generally disciplined game. They limited the usually heavy-shooting Sharks to just 21 shots on Lehtonen but generated a mere 20 of their own on Alex Stalock. Stars rookie right winger Valeri Nichushkin forged a tie in the third period to send the game to overtime and salvage a point for the game.

Overall, the Stars road trip was a success. Before the win in Phoenix and the regulation point in San Jose, Dallas opened the trip with arguably their best 60-minute of the season, blanking the high-powered Anaheim Ducks behind a 26-shutout by backup netminder Dan Ellis. Goals by Trevor Daley and Jamie Benn (empty netter in the final half-minute) supplied just enough offense to win.

To come away from such a difficult road trip with five of six points was a strong accomplishment. However, the Stars will likely spend the rest of the season riding on the bubble of the Western Conference playoffs as they attempt to continue battling back from the 1-8-1 stretch that started the 2014 calendar year.

With a regulation win tonight coupled with a Vancouver loss to Toronto, the Stars could move past the Coyotes into the eighth spot (i.e., final playoff position) in the Western Conference as the Olympic break starts.

Heading into tonight's game, former Stars forward Mike Ribeiro leads the Coyotes in both assists (25) and overall points (39). Vermette's 21 goals top the team in that department. For Dallas, Tyler Seguin (24 goals, 32 assists, 56 points in 55 games) leads the squad in every offensive category. Team captain Jamie Benn (22 goals, 28 assists, 50 points in 57 games) is not far behind.

In net, both Finnish Olympian Lehtonen (21-15-10, 2.51 GAA, .916 SV%) and Canadian Olympian Smith (19-16-9, 2.79 GAA, .912 SV%) have been workhorses for their respective clubs. Former Stars goaltender Smith is regarded as one of the top two puckhandling goaltenders in the game, along with ageless future Hall of Fame shoo-in Martin Brodeur.

There is a possibility that Thomas Greiss could be in goal for Phoenix tonight. The Coyotes are playing the second game of back-to-back matches. However, it is not uncommon for Smith to start on consecutive nights.

Last night at their home Jobing.com Arena, Phoenix blanked the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks by a 2-0 score. Smith (30 saves) made a Keith Yandle power play goal at 1:07 of the first period stand up the rest of the way. He got some insurance on a Radim Vrbata power play tally late in the second period, assisted by Ribeiro and Yandle.

Following tonight's game, Jamie Benn (Canada), Lehtonen (Finland) and Nichushkin (Russia) will depart for the Olympics with Sochi, along with Ruff (assistant coach for Team Canada). Among the Coyotes, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Sweden) and forwards Martin Hanzal (Czech Republic) and Lauri Korpikoski (Finland) are going to the Olympics along with Smith. Vrbata (14 goals, 35 points this season and a 35-goal campaign two years ago) was a rather shocking omission from the Czech team.

The Stars regular season will resume on Thursday, Feb. 27 with a home game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Coyotes pick up again the same night with a road match in Winnipeg.

Note: During the Olympic break, I will not be writing Stars blogs. After tomorrow's Dallas blog, I will be providing Olympic coverage of Team Sweden for HockeyBuzz along with maintaining a Philadelphia Flyers blog among my duties for the site. The Stars blogs will resume on Wed. Feb. 26.

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