Dallas Stars @ Detroit Red Wings: Game Preview

The Dallas Stars will be looking for a bounce-back effort tonight as they finish their four-game roadtrip against the Detroit Red Wings. The Stars are hoping for a better result after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night on the road and overall not didn’t have a great evening. The Stars did score first, but were outshot throughout the game and got in penalty trouble, ultimately losing 3-1. For the Red Wings, they will enter the contest on a three game winning streak after beating Edmonton 3-0 in their last game. Detroit started the year out on fire winning their first five before then dropping six in a row. This will be the first time this season that the two conference rivals will see each other after the Stars were 3-1 against them last season.

Tonight we will see Andrew Raycroft in the net for the third time this season. He is 0-2 so far this season, but was excellent in his last start when the Stars lost to the Kings 1-0 on October 22nd. The 10-year veteran hopefully can bring another strong effort onto the ice tonight and pick up his first win. At the other end Jimmy Howard will take to the crease after getting his third shutout of the season in his last start. He has been superb for the Red Wings with a 7-3-1 record to go with his 1.63 GAA and .934 save percentage. Goals might be hard to come by for the Stars tonight and getting solid goaltending from Raycroft is a must if they hope to bring home any points from this one.

Dallas will be without Alex Goligoski after he was hit with a puck in the first period last night and did not return. The reports are that he has a broken thumb and will likely be out for four weeks. It could be a huge loss for the team as “Goose” is one of the team’s top blueliners and powerplay men. The called up Philip Larsen from the Texas Stars this morning and he should join the team tonight although he is not expected to play tonight. Larsen has been one of the Stars top prospects the last couple of seasons and so far had put up ten points in ten games down in the AHL. Mark Fistric took a puck to the throat in the middle frame and left for a while last night but is apparently okay and will play tonight. Adam Pardy, who is one of the guys that rotates into that 6th spot, will play tonight after being a scratch last night and should see a lot more ice time with Goligoski out for a while. Steve Ott will again be out because of a hip pointer but should be back this coming week when the team returns home.

Look for a low-scoring contest tonight in Detroit. The Red Wings are 5th in the league in goals against at just 2.21 and give up the least shots per game in the league at 25.9. Both teams rank in the five in the league at 5-0n-5 play and have limited opponents in scoring, so don’t be surprised if we see a 2-1 game that is decided by special teams. While the Stars PK unit started the season off hot, they have had issues of late and it has not helped that the Stars are taking penalties constantly. Last night all three goals against were scored as a result of penalties (two powerplay goals and one via a penalty shot) and that has been how teams have scored against the Stars as of late. With the defense banged up and the team at the end of a back-to-back to end the roadtrip, Dallas can not take 5-7 penalties again tonight and expect to have a good chance of winning.

The puck drops at 6:00PM CST and can be watched on TXA-21 tonight or heard on 1310AM The Ticket like normal. You can follow myself (Austin) at Twitter.com/BlackoutDallas online for updates and chatter, or follow BlackoutDallas contributors Melissa at Twitter.com/DalStarsWriter and Andrew Monrreal at Twitter.com/_Ammon.