PREVIEW: STARS VS. MAPLE LEAFS

Looking to build a five-game winning streak to take into the Christmas break, the Dallas Stars (14-13-5) return home to the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (19-12-3). Game time is 6:00 p.m. CST. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.

This is the second and final meeting between the teams this season. On Dec. 2 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, the Maple Leafs lead for 59:33 of the game's 60 minutes and ultimately prevailed by a 5-3 margin.

Toronto got goals from James van Riemsdyk, Nadem Kadri, Phil Kessel (power play) and then a pair of tallies by Joffrey Lupul to pull away from the Stars. Dallas got goals from Jason Spezza, Ryan Garbutt (returning from a two-game suspension by the NHL) and Ales Hemsky to narrow three-goal margins to two. In goal, the victorious Jonathan Bernier stopped 35 of 38 shots. Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves on 40 shots in a losing effort.

Dallas has typically fared well against the Leafs in recent years when the teams meet at the AAC.
The Stars are 4-0-1 in their last five home games against the Maple Leafs.

Following the NHL's three-night schedule break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, the Stars return to action on Saturday night as they travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues. The Leafs are off until Sunday, when they start a two-night Florida road trip with back-to-back games in Sunrise against the Panthers and Tampa Bay against the Lightning.

Stars outlook

The Stars completed a sweep of their three-game western Canada road trip on Sunday with a wild 6-5 shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers. Overall, the Stars have won four games in a row and five of their last six.

Sunday's game in Edmonton was a roller coaster affair. Dallas led 2-1 after the first period, yielded four straight goals in the second period and got one back late to head to the second intermission trailing, 5-3. Dallas battled back to tie the game in the third period and force overtime and then prevailed in an eight-round shootout (3-for-8).

Still ranked at the bottom of the NHL in goals against average, the Stars showed significant improvement in team defense and had recently received outstanding goaltending from Lehtonen heading into the Edmonton game. In three of the team's five games preceding the one Edmonton, the Stars allowed one or zero (in Vancouver) goals. Not coincidentally, the only loss in the five-game stretch was a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Winnipeg.

Dallas misplaced that improved commitment to two-way play during segments of the Edmonton game. The damage could have been even worse than four second-period goals and five overall, given the number of Dallas breakdowns and prime scoring chances for the Oilers. Luckily for Dallas, the team was able to eventually right its ship and go on to get two points from a game against the NHL's weakest team.

NHL leading goal scorer Tyler Seguin notched his 24th and 25th tallies of the season in the third period of Sunday's game against the Oilers. He also assisted on team captain Jamie Benn's late second-period power play goal that started Dallas' three-goal rally. Earlier in the game, the Stars got goals by Shawn Horcoff and Erik Cole.

Lehtonen played better in Edmonton than his stat line (four goals against on 19 shots) would suggest. After Lehtonen was removed by coach Lindy Ruff at 9:19 of the second period, backup Anders Lindbäck entered the game. Lindbäck was quickly greeted by Taylor Hall's second goal of the game but went on to stop the remaining nine shots fired on his net in regulation and overtime. The big Swede stopped six of eight attempts in the shootout.

Entering Tuesday's game, Seguin's 42 points trails Philadelphia Flyers' right winger Jakub Voracek by two points in the NHL's Art Ross Trophy race. Jamie Benn is second on the club with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists).

Longtime Ottawa Senators stalwart Jason Spezza sometimes centers Dallas' second line at even strength and sometimes moves up to the top line at five-on-five. In all cases, the veteran is a fixture on the Stars' top power play unit. For the season, Spezza has 25 points (six goals, 19 assists) overall with 11 of his points coming on the power play. He trails Seguin by one point in the power play scoring category. At even strength, Spezza is minus-10 on the season.

Dallas has a lot of mobility on its blueline but perhaps not enough size and physicality. Many of the defensemen get pushed around down low in the defensive zone. On a teamwide basis, turnovers and coverage breakdowns have been too-frequent issues.

Apart from its recent surge, the Dallas goaltending has also been rather spotty at times this season. For the season, Lehtonen has a 2.99 goals against average and .904 save percentage in 27 starts. Lindbäck, who was waived and sent to the AHL for five games to recover his game prior to being recalled earlier this month, has a 4.29 GAA and .864 save percentage in four starts and two relief appearances. During his brief stint with the Stars -- one start, one relief appearance -- Jussi Rynnäs fared no better than Lindbäck (seven goals against on 44 shots).

Ryan Garbutt returned to the Dallas lineup on Sunday after serving a three-game NHL suspension -- his second banishment in less than a month -- for slew footing Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien. He had a relatively uneventful game in 10:14 of ice time but did generate four shot attempts and two shots on goal over his 17 shifts.

Fellow agitating forward Antoine Roussel will look to stir the pot on Tuesday night, as he done several times in his career in games against Toronto. For the season, Roussel has chipped in seven goals and 16 points to go along with his 67 penalty minutes.

It is also worth noting that veteran winger Erik Cole owns 13 career goals and 25 career points against the Maple Leafs. The streaky Cole has been through many battles against Toronto over the years in a career primarily spent in the Eastern Conference. Tuesday's game will be his 39th against the Leafs.

On the Stars' injury front, forwards Patrick Eaves (ankle) and Valeri Nichushkin (hip surgery) and defenseman Patrik Nemeth (severe forearm laceration from a skate cut) remain on the injured reserve list. Defenseman Alex Goligoski (15 points) has not missed a game this season but has had to take frequent maintenance days off from practice due to nagging lower-body issues.

Maple Leafs outlook

The Maple Leafs have lost three games in a row entering this game. The losing streak comes on the heels of the team reeling off a six-match winning streak.

On paper at least, a meeting between the Maple Leafs and Stars is one with better-than-average potential for turning into a goal-scoring bonanza for one or both clubs. That's what happened when the teams played earlier this month in Toronto, and the Leafs' firepower was just too much for Dallas to handle on that night.

A Toronto versus Dallas game is one that pits the NHL's highest-scoring team against the league's bottom-ranked defensive team. However, the Leafs are no great shakes in the defensive department, either. Toronto ranks in the NHL's bottom six in goals against average.

The Leafs got shut out in their last game, getting blanked 4-0 in Chicago on Sunday night. Toronto yielded a pair of late first-period goals and never made a dent in the deficit before Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews put the game out of reach midway through the third period. Goaltender James Reimer made 30 saves in a losing cause.

It was certainly not the way Toronto wanted to start a five-game road trip that will carry the club through January 3. However, it should also be noted that the Leafs were playing for the third time in four nights (road games in Raleigh and Chicago sandwiched around a home game against Philadelphia) and were in the second half of back-to-back games. While teams can -- and do -- win the last game of such stretches, it can be a real tough feat against a top NHL club such as perennial Cup contender Chicago.

On most nights, generating offense is the least of the Leafs' concerns. When the Leafs are on their game, they often jump on opponents quickly and go from there. When scoring first in a game, the Leafs are 14-1-0 this season. When yielding the first goal, Toronto is 5-11-3.

On Saturday night against the Flyers, the Leafs lost for the first time when scoring first. Toronto held early leads of 2-0 and 3-2 but could not keep the puck out of their own net. The Leafs ended up losing in semi-blowout fashion, 7-4.

Entering Tuesday's game, Phil Kessel ranks ninth in the NHL in scoring with 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists). He is fifth in goals. Kessel has five power play goals and 14 power play points (tied for 10th in the NHL). At even strength, Kessel is minus-five. His linemate, James van Riemsdyk, has 29 points overall (14 goals, 15 assists) with a dozen power play points and a minus-six rating at even strength.

The Leafs boast six different players who have recorded at least 20 points thus far this season. In addition to Kessel and van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak (12 goals, 15 assists), Mike Santorelli (six goals, 16 assists), top blueline scorer Cody Franson (five goals, 16 assists) and Nazem Kadri (nine goals, 20 points) have all reached the 20-point mark.

Longtime Stars defenseman and team leader Stephane Robidas has compiled a plus-12 rating for the Maple Leafs this season after signing a three-year deal as a free agent over the summer. The 37-year-old defenseman, who remains a favorite among many in Dallas, has chipped in five assists while dressing in 32 games.

Robidas was officially a healthy scratch in Sunday's game against Chicago -- although there were rumblings that he's bothered by a shoulder issue -- but will be back in the lineup against the Stars. Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle told the media the veteran was simply being rested for the Dallas game after logging 22:18 against Philadelphia on Saturday.

Jake Gardiner, a healthy scratch against the Flyers, returned to the linuep and played against Chicago on Sunday (30 shifts, 22:50, four shots, minus one). If Gardiner plays in Dallas, Korbinian Holzer may move to the scratch list.

On the Toronto injury front, forward Leo Komarov (concussion) remains sidelined. Roman Polak returned in the Chicago game after missing time with a lower-body injury.


Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)

Non-shootout goals per game: Stars 2.91 (T-9th), Maple Leafs 3.29 (1st)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Stars 3.38 (30th), Maple Leafs 2.97 (24th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Stars 0.93 (21st), Maple Leafs 1.04 (14th)
Power play efficiency: Stars 15.4% (23rd), Maple Leafs 20.3% (9th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Stars 79.3% (21st), Maple Leafs 83.3% (10th)
Faceoff percentage: Stars 50.6% (13th), Maple Leafs 49.6% (17th)

Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)

STARS

14 Jamie Benn – 90 Jason Spezza – 91 Tyler Seguin
21 Antoine Roussel – 20 Cody Eakin – 16 Ryan Garbutt
72 Erik Cole – 39 Travis Morin – 80 Ales Hemsky
10 Shawn Horcoff – 38 Vernon Fiddler – 22 Colton Sceviour

33 Alex Goligoski – 3 John Klingberg
2 Jyrki Jokipakka – 6 Trevor Daley
24 Jordie Benn – 4 Jason Demers

32 Kari Lehtonen
[29 Anders Lindbäck]

Scratches: Travis Moen (healthy), Jamie Oleksiak (healthy), Patrick Eaves (IR, ankle), Valeri Nichushkin (IR, hip surgery), Patrik Nemeth (IR, severe forearm laceration).


MAPLE LEAFS

21 James van Riemsdyk - 42 Tyler Bozak - 81 Phil Kessel
26 Daniel Winnik - 43 Nazem Kadri - 25 Mike Santorelli
19 Joffrey Lupul - 24 Peter Holland - 71 David Clarkson
20 David Booth - 23 Trevor Smith - 18 Richard Panik

3 Dion Phaneuf - 4 Cody Franson
44 Morgan Rielly - 12 Stephane Robidas
51 Jake Gardiner - 46 Roman Polak

45 Jonathan Bernier
[34 James Reimer]

Scratches: Leo Komarov (concussion), Carter Ashton (healthy), Korbinian Holzer (healthy).

Join the Discussion: » 1 Comments » Post New Comment

» NHL Statement on Stars' COVID Situation

» SCF: Tampa wins Stanley Cup with 2-0 Shutout

» SCF: Stars Extend Series to a Game 6 w/ Double OT win

» SCF: Stars Have No Time to Lament What Could Have Been

» SCF: Uphill Climb Falls Short Again in Game 3