MINI-PREVIEW: STARS VS. BLUE JACKETS
The only NHL team that has yet to lose back-to-back games this season, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (22-6-2) will play host to John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (11-18-3) on Tuesday night. Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference clubs, and the lone meeting in Dallas. The teams will rematch in Columbus on Dec. 29. The teams split two games last year, with the road side prevailing each time.
Stars Outlook
The Stars have had two nights off since their last game. Dallas dominated a fatigued Philadelphia Flyers club on Friday, winning by a 3-1 final that easily could have a blowout had Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth not cranked out a spectacular 41-save effort. The next night in St. Louis, the Stars got shut out for the first time this season, falling to the Blues by a 3-0 as they were unable to solve Jake Allen on 26 shots on goal.
Antti Niemi started both games of the back-to-back against the Flyers and Blues. Kari Lehtonen is expected to get the nod against the Blue Jackets. The rest of the Stars line is expected to be the same as Saturday's game (which was also identical to the Philadelphia game with the exception of defenseman Jamie Oleksiak re-entering the lineup on the third defensive pairing over Jyrki Jokipakka).
The Stars hit a bump in the road on the power play in their games over the weekend, going 0-for-10 despite generating some good scoring chances. Overall, Dallas is in a 5-for-39 spell (12.8 percent) over the last 12 games. Record-wise, the Stars are 3-1-2 for the month of December.
Blue Jackets Outlook
The Blue Jackets have played .500 hockey (11-11-3) since Tortorella was brought in to replace Todd Richards after an 0-7-0 start to the season. The club has struggled for wins thus far in the month of December, posting a 1-3-3 record.
Tuesday's game is the second half of back-to-back games for the Blue Jackets. On Monday, rookie goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made his NHL debut and stopped 27 of 29 shots in a losing cause as Colmbus fell 2-1 in regulation. A third-period shorthanded goal by Brian Boyle proved to be the difference. Brandon Dubinsky scored the lone Blue Jackets goal.
With number one goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky sidelined for a few weeks with a groin pull, the Blue Jackets called up Korpisalo to fill the vacant roster spot. Veteran backup Curtis McElhinney is expected to get the start against Dallas.
A healthy scratch for one game in early December, left winger Scott Hartnell shares the Blue Jackets' team lead in points (22, tied with Ryan Johansen) and goals (12, tied with Boone Jenner). Brandon Saad has scored 10 goals among his 18 points.