MINI-PREVIEW: STARS VS. AVALANCHE
Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (30-13-5) play host to Patrick Roy's Colorado Avalanche (25-21-3) on Saturday night. Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:00 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the second of four meetings this season between the teams this season. On Oct. 10, the Stars visited the Pepsi Center in Dallas' second game of the 2015-16 regular season. It was an ugly performance for Dallas, which went down to a 6-3 defeat. Immediately after that loss, however, the Stars went on a tear that more or less lasted until the end of the calendar year. This game is the teams' first meeting since then; they'll face off again on Feb. 4 in Denver and April 7 in Dallas.
The Stars ended a four-game winless skid on Thursday with a 3-2 home win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. The win improved Dallas' record in January to 2-5-2. With the Chicago Blackhawks (back-to-back regulation losses) have finally cooled off from a torrid stretch that saw them erase a double-digit deficit in the standings and overtake the Stars for first place in the Central Division, the Stars currently sit three points behind the Blackhawks with three games in hand. Chicago returns to action on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Stars built leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before holding on for a one-goal victory over Edmonton. Jason Spezza (16th goal of the season), Jamie Benn (27th) and defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka (second) scored for the Stars, while John Klingberg collected his team-leading 33rd assist. Winning goalie Antti Niemi stopped 23 of 25 shots.
Entering this game, the Stars boast a 18-5-0 home record. They are 12-8-5 away from American Airlines Center. The Avalache are 13-11-0 on the road.
The Avs have played generally strong hockey of late. The club brings a 7-3-0 record over its last 10 games into this tilt, and have won three in a row. On Friday, Colorado snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the St. Louis Blues. The Blues took a 1-0 lead into the final minute of regulation before Nathan MacKinnon scored to force overtime. After five scoreless OT minutes and a 65-minute tie, the Avalanche won via shootout. Gabriel Landeskog scored the lone goal of the skills competition to earn his team a bonus point.
On the injury front, the Avalanche expect to have top-pairing defenseman Erik Johnson back in the lineup on Saturday. The former first-overall draft pick missed nine games with a lower body injury. For Dallas, defenseman Jordie Benn (lower body) remains on injured reserve. Spezza and Patrick Sharp took maintenance days off from Friday's practice but both veteran forwards are expected to be in the Stars' lineup against the Avalanche.