In the fourth game of a five-game road trip, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (30-27-10) are in Raleigh to take on Bill Peters' Carolina Hurricanes (25-32-8) on Thursday night. Game time at PNC Arena is 6:00 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams. On Nov. 18 in Dallas, the Stars suffered a 6-4 setback.
Dallas is playing the front end of a back-to-back set of games and the middle portion of a three-in-four after earning a 2-1 regulation win in Philadelphia in Tuesday night. A first-period goal by Brett Ritchie and a game-winning third period tally by Vernon Fiddler -- both scored off transitional counterattacks -- provided the slim margin of victory as Dallas outshot the Flyers by a 30-12 margin over the final 40 minutes after getting outshot 14-9 in the first period. Kari Lehtonen stopped 25 of 26 shots to finally earn his first career victory against Philadelphia in 14 career decisions.
The Stars' effort on Tuesday was especially impressive in light of the fact that the team had to start four rookies on the blueline due to Jason Demers being ill and Trevor Daley (lower body) being injured. Additionally, top rookie defenseman John Klingberg entered Tuesday's game playing through a minor knee injury that forced him to leave Saturday's game early and then suffered an upper-body injury against the Flyers that forced him to make an early exit from a second straight game.
Klingberg and Demers are questionable for Thursday's game in Raleigh. Right winger Valeri Nichushkin (hip surgery) remains on injured reserve but has begun practicing in a non-contact jersey. Travis Moen (upper body) also remains out of the Dallas lineup.
Per Stars Inside Edge and the Dallas Morning News, the reason why Cody Eakin missed Tuesday’s game in Philadelphia was due to a "team discipline issue" and not an illness or injury. He could return against Carolina. Officially, it will be a game-time decision by Ruff.
Despite the Hurricanes' poor overall record, Carolina had been playing much better hockey since the All-Star break until a recent downturn. Entering Thursday's game, Carolina has dropped three of its last four games (1-2-1) and has not looked particularly good in the first three games of a five-game homestand.
The Hurricanes come into this game off a disappointing 4-3 home shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. The Canes held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 but were unable to close out the game in the third period with a multi-goal lead.
Justin Faulk, Victor Rask and Eric Staal scored in regulation for the Hurricanes. The team went 0-for-3 in the skills competition. Cam Ward stopped 30 of 32 shots in regulation and overtime and two of three in the shootout, while Columbus counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky had identical in-game stats before blanking the Canes' shooters in the shootout.
On the Carolina injury front, defenseman Jack Hillen (concussion) has resumed practicing with the team and is questionable for Thursday's game.