Dallas Stars Look To Gain Central Division Ground vs. Colorado
By Josh Clark
After winning their season opener in dominant fashion at home against the Anaheim Ducks, the Dallas Stars are back in action tonight in Colorado against the Avalanche.
It may not have been the prettiest, but a win is still a win. The Dallas Stars, though undermanned and slightly misconstrued, found a way to defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 in front of a sold out home crowd to kick off their season.
Now they will attempt to improve to 2-0-0 when they face off with the Colorado Avalanche tonight. 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 8:00 p.m. from the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO.
Records and Scores
There’s not much to report here besides the fact that the Dallas Stars won their first game of the season on Thursday and now have a record of 1-0-0 on the year.
The Avalanche, on the other hand, have not played any regular season games yet and will commence their season tonight in front of their home crowd against the Stars.
Storylines
Central Division showdowns carrying a lot of weight
The Stars are in a bit of a bind, as everyone knows. Not only are there some new players in the lineup still trying to accommodate themselves with the system, but some key injuries have forced some overall confusion through the lineup. That confusion was relevant on Thursday night.
Now Dallas will take on the Avs in the first of six Central Division contests this month. Those are a lot of points waiting to be picked up. At the end of the day, the Stars’ playoff chances do not lean on their success against Eastern Conference and Pacific Division teams. It matters primarily on their success within the Central.
If the Stars cannot snag some wins early in their division, it may cause them to slip up in the standings and they may not be given a chance to recover. It is imperative that they win divisional games, and that starts tonight against the Avs.
Has the Colorado Curse been lifted?
Over the past few years, it’s been made evident that the Dallas Stars have some serious trouble defeating the Avalanche. In the past three seasons, Dallas has produced a horrific 3-8-3 record against the Avs. One of those wins was back from December of 2013, before the Stars went on a two-year winless streak.
On the bright side, Dallas has won the two most recent meetings that occurred near the end of the 2015-16 season. But that does not matter because it’s a brand new season with two different teams. Will the Stars be able to break their bad habit and put the Avs down on their opening night? We’ll have to wait and see.
Injury report
The Dallas Stars will be without C Cody Eakin (knee) and C Mattias Janmark (knee) for longer durations. RW Ales Hemsky (groin) is making progress and looks close.
The Avalanche will be minus the services of LW Jiri Tlusty (undisclosed). At Tuesday’s practice, LW Blake Comeau (groin), C John Mitchell (hip), and RW Mikko Rantenen (ankle) all skated at full speed and looked ready and able to participate in tonight’s game. From what we can tell, they remain game-time decisions.
Projected lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves
Patrick Sharp – Jason Spezza – Jiri Hudler
Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Adam Cracknell
Lauri Korpikoski – Devin Shore – Brett Ritchie
Patrik Nemeth – John Klingberg
Colorado Avalanche
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan Mackinnon – Jarome Iginla
Mikhail Grigorenko – Carl Soderberg – Matt Duchene
Gabriel Bourque – Joe Colborne – Rene Bourque
Andreas Martinsen – Ben Smith – Blake Comeau
Francois Beauchemin – Tyson Barrie
Fedor Tyutin – Patrick Wiercioch
Next: The Importance Of Depth Forwards On The Stars
Prediction
The Dallas Stars are going to find a way to squeak by tonight in their first Central Division matchup of the year, spoiling the Avs’ home opener by a final score of 3-1.