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Stars Gameday: 11/16/17 @ TB

November 16, 2017, 11:49 AM ET [0 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Dallas Stars Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Ken Hitchcock's Dallas Stars (9-8-1) face a tall order on Thursday night as they head to the Sunshine State to take on Jon Cooper's scorching hot Tampa Bay Lightning (14-2-2). Game time at Amalie Arena is 6:30 PM CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.

The Stars have been a good team at home (6-2-0) in the early going of the 2017-18 season but have struggled (3-6-1) on the road. They enter this game coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Florida Panters on Tuesday.

In Sunrise, the Stars struck back for three goals after trailing the Panthers 2-0, but could not nail down the game. Dallas ended up settling for one point on a night where they were the better club for much of the game (especially in a lopsided second period). Jamie Benn scored his 9th and 10th goals of the season while Remi Elie notched his 2nd. Alexander Radulov chipped in his 10th and 11th assists on the two Benn tallies. Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 of 29 shots in regulation and OT but just one of three in the shootout. The bonus point in the skills competition was secured for Florida as Vincent Trocheck drilled a shot that hit Lehtonen's stick and knocked it from the goalie's grasp before the puck trickled through the five-hole.

With the loss, the Stars fell to 0-1-1 on their current road trip to play the three southeastern based NHL clubs. The toughest one figures to be Tampa. Overall, the Stars are winless (0-2-1) in their last three games away from the American Airlines Center.

Former Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop will get the call in goal on Thursday. He will be opposed by the young netminder who supplanted him as the Bolts' starter, Andrei Vasilevskiy.

With the Stars getting healthy again in their forward corps, the team reassigned forward Jason Dickinson to the AHL's Texas Stars on Wednesday. Defenseman Marc Methot (lower body) remains out of the Dallas lineup.

The Lightning are 7-1-1 at home to date and currently enjoy the top record in the NHL. Overall, the team has won four games in a row. The club enters this game coming off a 2-1 road win in Anaheim on Sunday. Vladislav Namestnikov and J.T. Brown tallied for Tampa, while Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 29 shots.

Thursday's match is the start of a three-game homestand for the Lightning. On the injury front, fourth line forward Cedric Paquette (lower body) is considered day-to-day.
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