Dallas Stars Face off Against San Jose Sharks: Preview

The Dallas Stars’ playoff hopes may be hanging on by a thread, but tonight they’ll fight for bragging rights against the San Jose Sharks who have had an equally as disappointing season after finishing last season with 111 points. The Los Angeles Kings currently hold the final playoff spot with six more points and a game in hand over the Stars. They’re playing in San Jose, so the game has a late start at 9:30PM CT. It can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest Plus.

Records and Scores

The Dallas Stars (38-31-10) got a big win against the Central Division-Leading Nashville Predators Saturday night in dramatic fashion when Cody Eakin scored on a penalty shot in overtime to earn Dallas the extra point. They’ll look for a similar effort tonight against the Sharks.

The San Jose Sharks (39-31-9) are coming in off of a 5-3 loss to the second-worst in the NHL Arizona Coyotes. San Jose sits one point ahead of Dallas, but also has extremely slim playoff hopes; however, they’ll aim to best the Stars tonight.

Story Lines

Same Old Song and Dance

Saturday night’s 4-3 overtime win over the Predators was a stereotypical game for the Stars being that they trailed, came from behind to take the lead and then subsequently saw their two-goal advantage evaporate before their eyes. It all seemed so familiar and their fate looked bleak heading into overtime after surrendering a late game-tying goal, but Dallas turned it around and didn’t quit. Instead of giving into the change in momentum Nashville had after their tying goal the Stars continued to fight for chances and got some solid saves from Jhonas Enroth to ensure the victory. If they find themselves in a similar predicament tonight, you can expect much of the same.

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In the Blue Paint

Prior to the win Saturday night a Dallas Stars back-up goalie hadn’t won a game in which he started since last March when Tim Thomas did it. Enroth secured the victory in overtime to break that unbelievable streak for Dallas. His performance, which saw him stand on his head more than once, makes tonight’s goalie decision that much more difficult. Kari Lehtonen is the go-to for the Stars, but Enroth played a pretty solid road game for Dallas and got them two points. Given Lehtonen’s play in his last two starts, both of which resulted in him being pulled, I’d expect Ruff to give Enroth another shot at the crease.

Winning for Each Other

Just because the Stars will miss the playoffs this season doesn’t mean they’re throwing in the towel. Dallas is still fighting to block shots, hit their opponents, and defend their crease because that’s what professional athletes do. They don’t aim to get the coveted draft picks or let their opponents win because they’re tired or the games don’t mean anything. Say what you will about the Stars’ play over the course of this season, but the one thing no one can say is that they give up. Regardless of the outcome of the season the boys will fight to win.

Injury Report

Dallas will be without Shawn Horcoff (illness) in the line-up. Rich Peverley (heart) is also unavailable.

San Jose won’t have Raffi Torres (knee), Scott Hannan (face), Mirco Mueller (hand), and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (lower-body).

Projected Lines

Dallas Stars

Jamie Benn – Cody Eakin – Tyler Seguin

Patrick Eaves – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky

Antoine Roussel – Vernon Fiddler – Ryan Garbutt

Travis Moen – Colton Sceviour – Valeri Nichushkin

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg

Patrik Nemeth – Trevor Daley

Jordie Benn – Jason Demers

Kari Lehtonen

Jhonas Enroth

San Jose Sharks

Joe Pavelski – Joe Thornton – Melker Karlsson

Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Tomas Hertl

Matthew Nieto – Chris Tierney – Tommy Wingels

Mike Brown – Ben Smith – Barclay Goodrow

Matt Irwin – Brent Burns

Brenden Dillon – Justin Braun

Karl Stollery – Taylor Fedun

Antti Niemi

Alex Stalock

Prediction

The Dallas Stars will get out to an early lead, but the Sharks will come roaring back to beat them 4-2.

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