Embarking on the first half a home-and-home set, the Dallas Stars (15-11-5) are in Denver tonight to take the Colorado Avalanche (21-9-1) at the Pepsi Center. Game time is 8 p.m. CST. The match will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
Tonight's game is the third meeting of the season between the teams. Tomorrow night's return match at the American Airlines Center will be the fourth.
On Oct. 15, the visiting Stars dropped a 3-2 regulation decision to the then-unbeaten Avs. Rich Peverley got Dallas off to a quick start but goals by Matt Duchene and Jan Hejda -- the latter being tallied with seven seconds left in the opening period -- sent Colorado to the first intermission with a 2-1 lead. Cody Eakin tied the game with a power play goal midway through regulation but Duchene answered back a few minutes later with his second tally of the game. The Stars, who generated 41 shots for the game, staged a 17-shot assault in the third period but could not find an equalizer against Semyon Varlamov.
Two weeks later, on Nov. 1, the Avs and Stars skated to a 2-2 tie after 60 minutes before Colorado prevailed in overtime. In this match, Dallas trailed 2-0 after two periods on goals by Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog. Alex Goligoski shaved the deficit in half early in the third period before Tyler Seguin knotted the game with 3:29 left in regulation. In the extra frame, Stastny notched his second goal of the match to win the game.
Entering tonight's game, the Stars are coming off a 6-4 victory in Winnipeg that snapped a two-game losing streak.
In Winnipeg, the line of Tyler Seguin (two goals, two assists), Jamie Benn (two goals, snapping an 11-game drought) and Valeri Nichushkin (one goal) combined for five of the Stars' six goals. Sergei Gonchar racked up four assists and Colton Sceviour scored his first NHL goal. Additionally, the Stars generated power play goals by Seguin and Benn during a five-minute power play to snap the team's horrid man-advantage slump.
Checking forward Vernon Fiddler (upper body) is listed as questionable for tonight's game. Goligoski received stitches for the Anthony Peluso hit that produced the game-turning five-minute power play in Winnipeg but stayed in the game. Fellow veteran defensemen Stephane Robidas (fractured right leg) and Trevor Daley (high ankle sprain) are out.
Colorado has been an ordinary team since cooling down from their 12-1-0 start to the season. Since that time, the Avalanche have gone 9-8-1. The Avs enter this game coming off a 2-1 home shootout loss to Minnesota on Saturday.
Special teams have been a real sore spot for the Avalanche of late (the Stars can relate). Colorado is in an 0-for-26 skid on the power play over the last 10 games. Meanwhile, Patrick Roy's team has yielded 13 opposition power play goals in the last 14 games.
Varlamov will play in goal for Colorado tonight, likely opposing Kari Lehtonen. Tomorrow in Dallas, Jean-Sabastien Giguere will get the call in net. Lindy Ruff may opt to give Lehtonen the night off in favor of Dan Ellis.
On the Colorado injury front, Ryan Wilson (back spasms) is questionable for tonight's game but it likely to play tomorrow even if he's not cleared for tonight. Veteran winger Alex Tanguay (lower body) remains sidelined.
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