Playoff Push Continues as Dallas Stars Take on Tampa Bay Lightning
The Dallas Stars are coming into play tonight sitting five points out of the final wildcard position in the highly competitive Western Conference. They have played one more game than the Vancouver Canucks who currently hold the coveted spot and now is the time to make up points. Tonight’s match-up starts at 7:30PM CT and can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest or listened to via 1310 the Ticket.
Records and Scores
Dallas (23-19-8) lost their most recent game to the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout, 3-2. The Stars led the game 2-0 going into the third period with goals from Patrick Eaves and Erik Cole, but couldn’t hold on to the lead and lost the crucial extra point in the eleven-round shootout. Dallas will aim to best the Lightning as they continue to fight for a playoff position tonight.
The Tampa Bay Lightning (32-15-5) are coming into Dallas after losing to the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Tuesday night. Prior to that, however, they were winners in five of their last six games. The Lightning currently hold the first overall position in the Eastern Conference with 69 points in 52 games and will look to get back in the win column against the Stars.
Story Lines
Dissolving Leads
The Stars have made a habit this season of giving up multiple goal leads to lose crucial points and it’s a factor that is keeping them out of playoff contention. Just Tuesday night Dallas surrendered their two-goal advantage and lost in a shootout, and prior to that they have given up multi-goal leads in a handful of games. The question begs: is it just bad luck or are the Stars not playing 100% after earning a lead? The answer is both. A lot of the tying goals against are weird bounces off of the boards or pucks that just seem to find their way into the net, but the reason behind those unlucky goals is lack of effort. The Stars habitually resort to a defense-only mindset, which causes Kari Lehtonen to have to make unbelievable saves night in and night out. The team needs to collectively commit to keeping their intensity up after establishing any leads because in the NHL no lead is safe and they can’t afford to give away any more points this season.
Returning Players
Dallas’ Patrick Eaves and Erik Cole made their respective returns to the line-up and they’ve made some noise. Eaves has three goals in the four games since his return from an ankle injury that has held him to 23 games this season, while Cole scored a goal in his return after his upper body injury that kept him out of the line-up for three games. The recent health of Dallas Stars forwards gives the coaching staff more options for the multitude of line changes Lindy Ruff loves to employ, which also improves Dallas’ ability to cater their offensive lines to best opponents. Regardless of the Stars’ talent on the offensive side of the game, contributions from down the line-up will only continue to help them in their pursuit of returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring.
Injury Report
The Stars will be without Rich Peverley (heart) long-term and Valeri Nichushkin (hip) has been skating, but won’t be playing for a while.
The Lightning will play without defensemen Mattia Ohlund (knee), Matt Carle (torn abductor muscle), and Radko Gudas (knee) in the line-up tonight.
Projected Lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves
Erik Cole – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Ryan Garbutt
Shawn Horcoff – Vernon Fiddler – Colton Scevior
Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
Jyrki Jokipakka – Trevor Daley
Jordie Benn – Jason Demers
Kari Lehtonen
Jussi Rynnas
Tampa Bay
Valtteri Filppula – Steven Stamkos – Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat – Tyler Johnson – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Cedric Paquette – Jonathan Drouin
Brenden Morrow – Brian Boyle – Brett Connolly
Anton Stralman – Victor Hedman
Mark Barberio -Andrej Sustr
Jason Garrison – Luke Witkowksi
Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Prediction
The Dallas Stars will find a way to hold off the offensive power of the Tampa Bay Lightning, while simultaneously earning two points as they beat them 4-2 in regulation.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back after the tilt for post-game analysis.