Dallas Stars Prepare For Divisional Battle With St. Louis Blues
The long homestand continues for the Dallas Stars tonight when they welcome the St. Louis Blues to town. Who has the upper hand going into tonight’s game?
After experiencing a two-day break (their longest in two weeks), the Dallas Stars are back in action tonight when they welcome the St. Louis Blues to town.
The game will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Southwest (FSSW), and you can also hear it on 1310AM/96.7FM The Ticket. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
Records and Scores
The Dallas Stars come into tonight’s contest with a record of 13-14-6 and 32 points. A win tonight could potentially put them in the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Their most recent game comes as a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, snapping their ten game win streak. The Stars are 2-3-0 in their last five games.
The St. Louis Blues, on the other hand, enter tonight’s game with a record of 17-11-5 and 39 points. They currently sit third in the Central Division. Their most recent game ended in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers and they are 1-3-1 in their last five games.
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Storylines
Dallas defense taking leaps and bounds
While the Dallas Stars have slowly been reaching for a consistent .500 record over the past few weeks, their defense has been picking up the pace. In six of the past eight games, the Stars have allowed two or less goals. So far throughout this three-game homestand, Dallas has only allowed a total of five goals (four without counting an empty netter).
The defense has put on a very respectable showing over the past few games, forcing the opposing offense to the outside and rarely giving up high-quality chances.
At the beginning of the month, the Stars were sitting dead last in the NHL in terms of goals against. Since then, they have trimmed it down to 3.06 GAPG, putting them in 25th. It’s a slow process, but as long as it works.
Is St. Louis skidding?
The Blues started this year strong, but are now struggling to keep up with the pace it seems.
Since the beginning of December, the Blues have posted a record of 4-4-2. That record translates to 10 of a possible 20 points (.500 hockey in other words). To put things into perspective, the Stars are 4-5-0 this month, meaning eight of a possible 18 points.
The Blues will end a back-to-back tonight against Dallas and could definitely use the points, considering the Central Division is still a tight race.
Now would be the time to score some power play goals
The Stars have not seen much luck with their power play this year. They currently sit 20th in the NHL with a 16.5 percent scoring rate.
But if they want a win tonight, their power play will have to be in the zone. The Blues are coming in with the second best penalty kill in the league. Their PK has an 88.6 percent success rate and can easily drown out a team’s power play chance if they aren’t prepared.
The easiest way to crack down the Blues and take away their confidence tonight will be to draw penalties and score on the man advantage.
Niemi obviously between the pipes
As Antti Niemi continues his reign of dominance on home ice, it’s only fair that Dallas gives him the start yet again. It has not been typical in the recent past for the Dallas Stars to have a goaltender get on a hot streak, so they need to use Niemi as much as possible while they can.
So far this year, Niemi is 7-2-1 with a 1.81 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. This homestand, he is 2-1-0 and has allowed four goals. He owns a .960 save percentage over the span as well.
Injury report
The Dallas Stars will be minus the services of C Mattias Janmark (knee) and RW Ales Hemsky (hip), who are both on long-term injured reserve. LW Patrick Sharp (concussion-like symptoms) is still out. D Johnny Oduya (lower body) is a game-time decision.
The St. Louis Blues will be missing D Robert Bortuzzo (lower body).
Projected lines
Dallas Stars
Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Brett Ritchie
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves
Lauri Korpikoski – Jason Spezza – Jiri Hudler
Curtis McKenzie – Devin Shore – Adam Cracknell
Johnny Oduya – Jordie Benn
Antti Niemi
St. Louis Blues
Jaden Schwartz – Paul Stastny – Nail Yakupov
Robby Fabbri – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko
Alex Steen – Patrik Berglund – David Perron
Scottie Upshall – Kyle Brodziak – Ryan Reaves
Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson – Kevin Shattenkirk
Jay Bouwmeester – Colton Parayko
Prediction
This game, just like the ones before it, means a lot for the Stars. If they can take advantage of the Blues’ fatigue and play like they did against Philly, give me Dallas winning this one 4-1.
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