STARS VS. SABRES GAME PREVIEW
Looking to avoid a classic "trap game" scenario and get back on the winning track, the Dallas Stars (28-22-10) will play to the Buffalo Sabres (18-34-8) at the American Airlines Center tonight. Game time is 7:00 p.m. Central. The game will be televised nationally in the U.S. on NBC Sports Network and in Canada on TSN2.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Dallas.
Back on Oct. 28, the Stars used a three-goal first period outburst and then held on for a 4-3 win Buffalo. Vernon Fiddler, Alex Goligoski, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars, while Kari Lehtonen turned back 22 of 25 shots. Matt Moulson scored twice for the Sabres, who also got a goal from former Stars forward Steve Ott. Ryan Miller stopped 25 of 29 shots for the Sabres.
Coincidentally, the previous meeting of the season was the Sabres first game after acquiring Moulson from the New York Islanders in the Thomas Vanek trade. Tonight's game is the first since Miller and team captain Ott were traded to the St. Louis Blues in a deal that sent Chris Stewart and Jaroslav Halak to Buffalo.
The Stars are coming off a 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday night. A pair of goals by Martin St. Louis helped stake the Bolts to a 3-0 lead and the Stars were not able to come all the way back after cutting the deficit to a single goal. Antoine Roussel scored his 10th of the season for the Stars, who also got a goal from Fiddler. Dallas outshot Tampa by a 41-21 margin.
The Stars are 1-1-0 since the Olympic break. Tonight's game starts an extremely grueling stretch of hockey for Dallas, who will play15 games in 27 days for the Stars, including four separate sets of games on back-to-back days.
The Stars played good hockey going into the Olympic break and a solid first game against Carolina last Thursday. However, Dallas needs to get the power play going again. The Stars are 1-for-26 on the power play over their last nine games, and have dropped to 25th in the NHL at an anemic 14.4 percent success rate.
On the flip side, the Stars have been in a penalty killing groove on both sides of the Olympic break, killing 18 of their last 19 penalties over the last six games. In so doing, Dallas has moved up to 17th in the NHL (81.4 percent) after hovering around the bottom one-third of the league in that category.
At even strength, the Stars score very slightly more than the opposition (1.01 goals/goals against ratio). That is not enough of a comfort zone to rank in the bottom half of the NHL in both ends of special teams if the Stars are to reach the playoffs.
The Sabres are a team that is playing under no pressure to win, and all the focus is on trades and front office upheaval. From a hockey standpoint, that actually makes them a dangerous opponent this time of year. Buffalo has won each of its first three games after the Olympic break. Still the lowest scoring team in the NHL for the season, Buffalo has scored a combined 12 goals in the last three games.
On the Dallas injury front, Stephane Robidas (fractured tibia) remains out, while Brenden Dillon (lower body) is questionable for tonight. For Buffalo, Tyler Ennis (nagging ailments) is questionable. Kevin Porter (lower body) is out.