Dallas Stars @ Detroit Red Wings – Game Preview

The Dallas Stars are still looking for consistency while the Detroit Red Wings seem to have found some of late.  The two teams will meet at Joe Louis Arena tonight in Detroit.  This is the first of two meetings this season as each team won one meeting last season.  Puck drop is at 6:30pm CT and the game can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest and the NHL Network or listened to on 1310AM/96.7FM The Ticket.

Records and Scores

The Dallas Stars (9-11-5) have once again hit a losing streak as they haven’t managed to win in three straight contests.  The goals against continue to pile up as they have allowed an abysmal five goals in each of their past three games.  On Tuesday, they were beat 5-3 by the Toronto Maple Leafs and they surrendered a goal 27 seconds in and were immediately chasing the game.  Numerous defensive breakdowns lead to goals and would have been worse if not for Kari Lehtonen.  He let in some stoppable pucks, but without some of his big saves Toronto may have scored 10.  If the Stars are going to get back into the playoff race like everyone had predicted before the season started, they will need to take a big step up on defense.

The Detroit Red Wings (14-6-5) are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, prior to that they had won 6 of their last 7 games.  Currently they are sitting third in the Atlantic Division and they come into play tonight 6th in the league in goals scored per game.  The Stars defense will have their hands full once again as Detroit is scoring at will this season.  They are led by their captain Henrik Zetterberg, who is just shy of a point per game with 24 points in 25 games.

Storylines

Time to start playing defense

The second half of last season, the Stars made a run that got them into the playoffs.  A large part of that was due to the defensive play by the entire team.  It is not just the defensemen’s fault.  It is not just the goalie’s fault.  The poor defending this season rests on the shoulders of the entire team and coaching staff and I am not sure what has changed.  Most would think that John Klingberg, Jason Demers and Jamie Oleksiak would be an upgrade over Brenden Dillon, Sergei Gonchar and Kevin Connauton.  Same goes for the forward group, which added Jason Spezza, Ales Hemsky and Patrick Eaves.  Those new players and the entire team will have to start playing team defense if they want any shot at the postseason.

Veterans leading the way for Detroit

Last season, Detroit was mauled by injuries and scrapped their way to the playoffs thanks in large part to the play by the young guns such as Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar.  While those two players are once again having nice seasons, it is the old school veterans who are pacing Detroit right now.  As I mentioned above, the captain Zetterberg leads the team with 24 points.  He is followed by Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall, and Johan Franzen.  Go back four years and you will see pretty much the same thing except for some guy named Lidstrom.  Detroit battled its way to the playoffs last year with a makeshift lineup.  The Eastern Conference better look out if this team manages to stay healthy because the Red Wing veterans are looking for another Cup.

Injury Report

For the Stars, Patrick Eaves fractured his ankle on Tuesday and will be out a minimum 4-6 weeks.  Val Nichushkin (hip) and Patrik Nemeth (arm) are both out.

For the Red Wings, Justin Abdelkader (shoulder) is doubtful and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder) is out.

Projected Lines

Dallas Stars

Here were the lines the Stars were running in the morning skate:

Ja. Benn – Seguin – Horcoff

Sceviour – Spezza – Hemsky

Roussel – Eakin – Cole

Moen – Fiddler – Garbutt

Goligoski – Klingberg

Daley – Demers

Jo. Benn – Oleksiak/Jokipakka

Rynnas

Lehtonen

Detroit Red Wings

Nyquist – Zetterberg – Franzen

Tatar – Datsyuk – Helm

Jurco –  Sheahan – Weiss

Miller – Glendening – Andersson

Kronwall – Ericsson

Quincey – DeKeyser

Smith – Kindl

Howard

Mrazek

Prediction

The road back just isn’t getting any easier.  Detroit is firing on all cylinders while the Stars are struggling to get any sort of momentum going in this season.  The Goose is going to be loose tonight, as Gustav Nyquist scores two and the Red Wings beat the Stars 4-2.  Hopefully I’m wrong.

Check back here at Blackout Dallas for a postgame report!