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Dallas Stars (12-9-4) at Chicago Blackhawks (20-4-4) 7PM Central NBCSN, TSN2, CSN-CH
THE BUZZ:
The Hawks have had the Stars number thus far this year, but that by no means diminishes the fact that the Stars are a good team. Unfortunately, they play in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, where a 12-9-4 record gets you 12th in the conference and a cup of coffee.
Chicago is 10th in the NHL on the power play, Dallas 30th. On the penalty kill, Dallas is 18th, while the Hawks have "climbed" to 28th.
For the Hawks, this game falls into the category of a "should win." But this team needs to guard against complacency and stay sharp for the tests that lie ahead.
PROJECTED LINEUPS:
Dallas
Benn-Eakin-Chiasson Cole-Horcoff-Nicushkin Whitney-Jeffery-Peverley Roussel-Fiddler-Garbutt
Goligoski-Daley Dillon-Gonchar Benn-Connauton
Lehtonen
Chicago
Sharp-Toews-Hossa Saad-Pirri-Kane Versteeg-Shaw-Brookbank Bollig-Kruger-Smith
Keith-Seabrook Oduya-Hjalmarsson Leddy-Rozsival
Crawford
All for now,
JJ