Dallas Stars take on the Ottawa Senators: Official Preview
The Dallas Stars will officially start the second half of the 2014-2015 season tonight as they take on the Ottawa Senators at the American Airlines Center. Puck drop is set for 7:30PM CT and the game can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest Plus or you can listen to the call on 1310 the Ticket.
Records and Scores
Dallas (18-16-7) has proven to be a very streaky team in the past and this season is no different. They ended their 2014 campaign exactly how they wanted, but 2015 has been less than satisfactory. The Stars are (1-2-2) through their first five games of the New Year after most recently surrendering a 2-0 lead to lose to the Colorado Avalanche 4-3. The Stars currently find themselves six points out of the last wildcard position in the Western Conference. Dallas will look to start a new streak in the opposite direction tonight in order to move up in the standings.
Ottawa (17-16-8) was winless in three games until they beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 this past Saturday. Ottawa has also proven to be rather streaky this season and tends to win and lose multiple games in a row. The Senators are currently eight points out of the second wild card position in the Eastern Conference and will aim to gain ground in Dallas tonight.
Story Lines
An End to an Era
Jason Spezza was the Ottawa Senators’ second overall draft pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the next thirteen years in their organization until he was traded to the Stars last summer. Tonight’s game is the first time Spezza will face his former franchise seeing that the two teams haven’t played each other yet this season. It will no doubt be an emotional game for the thirty-one year old center, but he has the advantage of being on home ice, which will hopefully aid in his offensive production against his former team. Alex Chiasson, the main Dallas piece involved in the Spezza trade, will also play his former team for the first time in tonight’s game.
Falling Stars
Dallas looked to be getting back on track in December, but has revived old habits to make for a less than impressive start to January. The Stars have only won once this month and they’ve followed one of two paths: they have an awful start, get behind and spend the rest of the game fighting to get back in it, or they get the start they want, but don’t play the full sixty minutes and lose either one or the entire two points. Neither scenario is one the Stars will look to employ as they try to play the entire sixty minutes to earn the full two points tonight.
Injury Report
The practice on Monday in Frisco saw Dallas short at forward as Tyler Seguin (illness), Jamie Benn (undisclosed injury) and Vernon Fiddler (lower body injury) all didn’t take part and are questionable for the game tonight. All three, however, participated in the morning skate today and were in line rushes.
They add to the list of long-term injured Stars: Rich Peverley (heart), Valeri Nichushkin (hip), Patrik Nemeth (arm laceration), and Patrick Eaves (ankle).
The Senators will be without Chris Neil (knee) and Zack Smith (wrist) in their line-up.
Projected Lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn* – Tyler Seguin* – Brett Ritchie
Erik Cole – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Ryan Garbutt
Shawn Horcoff – Vernon Fiddler* – Colton Sceviour/Travis Moen
Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
David Schlemko – Trevor Daley
Jordie Benn – Jason Demers
Kari Lehtonen
Anders Lindback
*As always this is a best guess scenario that is based on previous games and the morning skate. With that said, Seguin, Benn, and Fiddler participated this morning and therefore are in the projected line-up although they may or may not play.
Ottawa Senators
Clarke MacArthur – Kyle Turris – Alex Chiasson
Mike Hoffman – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Bobby Ryan
Milan Michalek – Mika Zibanejad – Curtis Lazar
Erik Condra – David Legwand – Mark Stone
Mark Methot – Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen – Cody Ceci
Chris Phillips – Eric Gryba
Robin Lehner
Craig Anderson
Prediction
The Dallas Stars will be able to get back on track and will play a better defensive game as they beat the Ottawa Senators 3-1.
Do you think the Stars will get the two points tonight? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Also, be sure to check back for post-game analysis following the conclusion of tonight’s match-up!