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Stars Gameday: 12/15/16 vs. NYR

December 15, 2016, 11:09 AM ET [3 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Dallas Stars Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Home ice has been much kinder than the road to Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (12-13-6 overall, 8-4-2 at home) thus far in the 2016-17 campaign. On Wednesday night, the Stars will host Alain Vigneault's New York Rangers (20-10-1, 9-5-1 on the road). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest Plus.

The Stars enter this game coming off a 6-2 home win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. The Stars trailed 2-1 early in the third period before exploding for five unanswered goals. Antti Niemi earned the win and too first-star honors as he authored 34 saves. Dallas got goals from Stephen Johns (third of the season), Dan Hamhuis (power play, first of the season and first as a Star), Adam Cracknell (third), Patrick Eaves (11th), Jamie Benn (ninth), Radek Faksa (empty net, third).

The next challenge for the Stars will be to start to assemble a winning streak. The Stars have won back-to-back games just ones this season to date, going just 1-7-3 in games immediately following a win. Thursday's game is the second match of a five-game homestand for the Stars.

Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak has finished serving a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia Flyers' left winger Chris VandeVelde in last Saturday's matinee in Philadelphia. He is expected to return to the Dallas starting lineup for this game.

On the Dallas injury front, Curtis McKenzie is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He practiced on Wednesday after missing Tuesday's tilt. Patrick Sharp (suspected concussion), Julius Honka (upper body) and Mattias Janmark (offseason knee surgery) remain out.

The Rangers enter this game coming off a 2-1 home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Former Ranger Artem Anisimov scored what proved to the game winner. The Rangers expect to have Rick Nash (groin) available for this game. However, forwards Mika Zibanejad (lower body), Pavel Buchnevich (lower body) and Matt Puempel (concussion) remain on injured reserve.
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