PREVIEW: STARS VS. PANTHERS
Hunting for their sixth straight victory and coming off a 4-0-0 road trip through the states of Florida and Pennsylvania, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (6-1-0) return home to host Gerard Gallant's Florida Panthers (3-3-1) on Saturday night. Game time is 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams. Last Saturday in Sunrise, the Stars trailed 2-0 midway through the game but roared back at the Panthers for a Tyler Seguin breakaway goal in the second period and three goals (two by Jamie Benn and another by Seguin) in the third period to seal a 4-2 victory.
Dallas enters this game coming off a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Buoyed by a second straight stellar goaltending performance by Antti Niemi (33 saves on 34 shots), four different Stars scored -- defensemen Johnny Oduya and John Klingberg in the first period, followed by forwards Jason Spezza and Mattias Janmark in the second period --- on a night where the deadly top line trio of Benn, Seguin and Patrick Sharp (assisted on the Klingberg goal) was relatively held in check.
The Stars will be without defenseman Jason Demers for this game and Tuesday night's home match against the Anaheim Ducks. The NHL suspended Demers two games for a flagrant elbow on Pittsburgh forward Nick Bonino in the third period of Thursday's game. Demers will be eligible to return for the Oct. 29 home game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Demers suspension means that Ruff will get an opportunity to dress either Patrik Nemeth or Jamie Oleksiak for the game against Florida. Both young defensemen have been healthy scratches for each of the first seven games of the regular season.
In addition to Demers, wingers Travis Moen (upper body), Curtis McKenzie (lower body) and Patrick Eaves (lower body) are all unavailable for this game.
The Panthers enter this game coming off a 3-2 road loss in Chicago. Florida ran into penalty trouble, putting themselves shorthanded eight times. The defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks cashed in twice, turning a 1-1 deadlock into a 3-1 lead before Florida narrowed the gap back to one goal.
Off to a strong start to the season, young center Aleksander Barkov got hit in the hand while blocking a shot in the Chicago game. He left and did not return. Barkov is listed as questionable for Saturday's game against the Stars.
Former Stars right winger and future Hall of Fame shoo-in Jaromir Jagr continues his assault on the NHL record books. He leads the Panthers in scoring with eight points (five goals, three assists) on the campaign. Next up for Jagr: tying and then surpassing Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne (731 career goals) for fourth place on the NHL's all-time list. Jagr is currently at 727 career goals. He is 40 points away from tying Gordie Howe's career1,850 points for third on the all-time charts.