Dallas Stars @ Edmonton Oilers: Preview
Greetings Stars fans and happy holidays! Here at Blackout Dallas, we’d like nothing more for Christmas than to see the Stars keep up their winning ways! The club is in Edmonton, Alberta this afternoon to take on the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place, and a win would mean a season-best four game winning streak. This will be the second of three meetings between the two teams, as the Stars took the first tilt by a score of 3-2 on Nov. 25 in Dallas. The puck will drop at 5 p.m. CST, and the game can be seen on Fox Sports SouthWest.
Records and Scores
The Dallas Stars (13-13-5) are looking to complete a perfect Canadian road trip, after winning 2-0 in Vancouver on Wednesday and 2-1 in Calgary on Friday. Kari Lehtonen has stopped 48 of 49 shots on the trip, and is expected in net this evening. A win would put the club above .500 for the first time since October, and keep them firmly in striking distance in the West. Right now, 40 points is what it takes to be in the top eight in the conference. Two points would bring the Stars’ point total to 33, and they’d have at least one game in hand against everybody except for Nashville, Vancouver, and Minnesota.
The Edmonton Oilers (7-20-6) have floundered their way to the basement of the entire NHL, and have lost 17 of their last 18. Since firing coach Dallas Eakins, they’ve lost a pair of hard-fought games, including a 3-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks in which they took a lead into the third period. They may be in the basement, but they’re gritty and should not be taken lightly.
Storylines
Dallas Stars
The big story in Big D is obviously that lately, this team has been playing up to their potential. At this point, the pre-season hype seems like a sad memory, as the team stumbled to the quarter pole and found new and creative ways to lose. On this current three game streak, Lehtonen is playing like the elite netminder we know him to be, defenseman Jordie Benn has kept the turnovers to a minimum, center Travis Morin has made a strong case to be a permanent presence, and Tyler Seguin has continued to outpace the league in scoring points. As far as playoffs are concerned, the ship is pointed in the right direction- the team just needs to catch the right wind and make up for lost time.
Another element of intrigue is the continuing saga of forward Ryan Garbutt. Now eligible to return after a second three-game suspension, it will be interesting to see if coach Lindy Ruff will suit him up. When pressed as to whether Garbutt had learned his lesson, Ruff replied, “I don’t know.” Super!
Edmonton Oilers
Interim coach Todd Nelson has rallied the troops and they’ve turned in spirited performances in his two games so far: along with the loss to San Jose, they had another near miss in a 2-1 loss at Arizona. The boys on the bench remain hungry to earn him his first win, and it’s only a matter of time before they break through.
The man to watch out for tonight is Taylor Hall. The star of the team has struggled of late, and its tough to tell if that’s the cause or effect of their poor record. He hasn’t tallied a marker in 11 games, but the last one came against… you guessed it, the Dallas Stars.
Injury Report
The Dallas Stars will be without F Valeri Nichushkin (hip) and D Patrik Nemeth (arm laceration) for extended amounts of time. F Patrick Eaves remains out for another month or so (leg). D Jordie Benn missed Friday’s game (illness) but is expected to play. F Rich Peverley remains on non-playing IR.
The Edmonton Oilers will be without D Nikita Nikitin (foot) and F Benoit Pouliot (back).
Projected lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Jason Spezza – Tyler Seguin
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Ales Hemsky
Curtis McKenzie – Travis Morin – Erik Cole
Shawn Horcoff – Vernon Fiddler – Colton Sceviour
Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
Jyrki Jokipakka – Trevor Daley
Jordie Benn – Jason Demers
Kari Lehtonen
Anders Lindback
Edmonton Oilers
Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Teddy Purcell
David Perron – Boyd Gordon – Jordan Eberle
Nail Yakupov – Anton Lander – Tyler Pitlick
Matt Hendricks – Mark Arcobello – Steve Pinizzotto
Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry
Oscar Klefbom – Mark Fayne
Brad Hunt – Justin Schultz
Ben Scrivens
Victor Fasth
Prediction
The Stars get three points from Seguin, and Lehtonen keeps up his hot streak as the Stars take it 3-1 in regulation.
Check back to Blackout Dallas for post game coverage and analysis!