GAME PREVIEW: STARS VS. BLUES
Looking to clinch their first playoff berth after five years and three successive near-misses, the Dallas Stars (39-30-11) will play host to the St. Louis Blues (52-21-7) on Friday night. Game time at the American Airlines Center is 7:30 p.m. CDT. The match will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the fifth and final meeting of the season series between the teams. The Stars have fared surprisingly well against Ken Hitchcock's club this season, posting a 2-0-1 mark over the last three games after Dallas got brutalized in a 6-1 blowout loss in the first meeting of the season. The Stars have won each of the last two games against St. Louis, with each of the games taking place over the last month.
Dallas is coming off a disappointing 3-1 home loss to Columbus in the rescheduled March 10 game. However, with the Phoenix Coyotes losing last night in regulation and the Stars holding both a game in hand and a tiebreaker advantage, Dallas can clinch the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a win tonight.
If the Stars were to lose tonight, the Coyotes would still need to beat San Jose tomorrow night to create a winner-takes-all game for the final playoff spot when the Stars and Coyotes clash head-to-head in Phoenix on Sunday.
Prior to the loss to the Blue Jackets, the Stars had been on a roll at home. They were 7-0-1 in their previous eight games at the ACC. Tonight's game is regular season home finale for Dallas.
On the injury front, Ray Whitney (lower body) and Rich Peverley (heart surgery, out for season) are unavailable for the Stars tonight. Per Stars' beat writer Mike Heika, the Stars' likely forward line combinations tonight are Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Valeri Nichushkin, Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin - Ryan Garbutt, Shawn Horcoff - Vernon Fiddler - Colton Sceviour, Erik Cole - Dustin Jeffrey - Alex Chiasson.
St. Louis has not been playing its best hockey of late, apparently finding it tough to get motivated after being well in control of the Central Division. The Blues are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games, including four straight losses coming into tonight's game.
Perhaps of greatest concern for the Blues right now is the fact that they lost first-line forward T.J. Oshie in last night's game in Minnesota; a victim of a head shot by Wild forward Mike Rupp. The Minnesota player received a match penalty but that was of little consolation to the Blues. Oshie was unable to return to the game. He is officially day-to-day but the player was left woozy after the hit.
Oshie joins two other key Blues players on the sidelines: forwards David Backes (foot) and Vladimir Tarasenko (hand) are both out of the lineup for Hitchcock's team.