Dallas Stars: Updates On Tonight’s Game In Colorado
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars begin their preseason conquest tonight in the Mile High City. Here are updates from this morning in regards to tonight’s Stars-Avalanche contest.
Time for another preseason test.
After playing and easily handling the St. Louis Blues to begin their preseason excursion, the Dallas Stars are back in action tonight against another Central Division foe. The Colorado Avalanche will play host tonight in the Mile High City as both teams search for their second victory of the preseason.
The Stars, still ailing from numerous injuries, did not show any signs of delay or uncertainty on Monday night. With a mixture of veterans and prospects in the lineup, Dallas pinned three goals on the Blues and only allowed a measly one. The offense was still flaring (even without Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin), the defense kept St. Louis in check, and the goalies played solid.
It will be interesting to see if that can translate into tonight’s contest. There are already some changes expected in the lineup. Some of the players whose spots were already filled in Monday’s game will get a chance to step in and show off their skills.
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The Dallas Stars play a total of seven preseason games this year, giving them plenty of opportunities to try out different players, lines, pairings, and combinations. Towards the last two or three games of the year will be when the lineup finally takes a consistent shape.
But up until that game, the Stars have time to test things out and see what works. Tonight will be another test run.
Per Mark Stepneski of Stars Inside Edge, these are the lines that the Stars ran in the morning skate today:
Antoine Roussel – Mattias Janmark – Brett Ritchie
Brandon DeFazio – Justin Dowling – Denis Gurianov
Remi Elie – Radek Faksa – Matej Stransky
Curtis McKenzie – Adam Cracknell – Cole Ully
As you can tell, tonight’s forward group is very young. Only six of the 12 have ever skated in a regular season NHL game before. This leaves the other six a big opportunity to pick up experience.
It’s also reassuring to see Faksa in the lineup. After battling concussion-like symptoms for 12 days or so, it appears as though he’s finally ready to take the ice again and compete.
It will also be fun to see how Mattias Janmark fares tonight at front and center on offense. His play was impressive on Monday night. Will it translate over to tonight?
Here are the projected defensive pairings:
Patrik Nemeth – Jamie Oleksiak
Esa Lindell – Andrew Bodnarchuk
There is plenty of veteran leadership and experience in the defensive ranks tonight, but competition will be floating across the blue line. Benn, Nemeth, Oleksiak, and Lindell are all competing for starting jobs on defense, so expect to see them on top of their respective games tonight.
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As for the crease, the Stars will likely go with Antti Niemi and Philippe Desrosiers. After giving Kari Lehtonen and Maxime Lagace an opportunity to prove themselves on Monday, these two are next in line. Desrosiers is currently competing for an AHL spot with Lagace and Landon Bow, and the preseason will help make the final decision on which two will start for the Texas Stars next year.
There will be no television broadcast of the game tonight, but you can listen to a live stream on the internet at ColoradoAvalanche.com. Stay tuned to Blackout Dallas for post game updates as well.