Dallas Stars Desperately Need Win Against NHL-Worst Sabres – Preview
The Dallas Stars will search for a win tonight against the Buffalo Sabres as they look to claw their way back into the playoff race with little time left to spare. This will be the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. The Sabres escaped with a 3-2 win against the Stars in Buffalo on February 7th, despite the Stars taking 40 shots as opposed to giving up just 26. Dallas Stars current goaltender Jhonas Enroth led the Sabres to victory back in February, stopping 38 of 40. Tonight’s 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 7:30 PM CST from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
Records and Scores
The Dallas Stars are looking to continue rolling on a hot streak that they have built up. Sadly, their strong streak is not moving them along in the playoff race much, if at all. The Dallas Stars currently hoist a record of 34-28-10 with 78 points, which is good enough for a tie for sixth place in the Central Division. They are currently tied for tenth place in the wild card race with the Avalanche and Sharks, and remain eight points out of the final wild card spot and nine out of the first spot. The sad thing is, the Stars only have ten games to go and need the teams in front of them to fly off the cliff soon before they simply fall out of mathematical contention. Not only that, but the Stars will need to continue stringing wins together. Their most recent game came as a 4-0 win and onslaught of the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night. They are 4-1-0 in their last five games, but have yet to gain ground, which could become discouraging.
The Buffalo Sabres are continuing their losing and tanking ways, not surprising anyone as they do so. The Sabres have a record of 20-45-7 with 47 points, good enough for dead last in the Atlantic Division. All they look forward to at this point is getting through the last ten games without any absurd embarrassments and getting to the draft lottery, where they will hope and pray for a shot at the first pick. The Sabres most recent game came as a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Nashville Predators. They are 1-3-1 in their last five contests, but found a way to upset the Boston Bruins, so the Stars will need to stay on their toes.
Storylines
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App Trigger
Where has this team been all season?
The Dallas Stars have put on a disappointing performance so far in the 2014-2015 season, and there’s a good chance that no one thought the Stars would be fighting for their lives at this point in the year back in early October. With another spectacular and successful offseason under Jim Nill’s belt, the Stars were rumored to be favorites for a deep Stanley Cup Playoff run. Now, it seems that a bit of a road block has appeared as the Stars have 10 games remaining and still sit 8 points out of a playoff spot with all the teams in front of them doing wonders and winning every game they need to in order to keep Dallas at the same distance. Clutch wins against Pittsburgh and Chicago that led to a 7-2-0 run over their last nine games mean almost nothing except that the Stars stay level. They will need a lot of help as well as to keep their own fire burning if they want to complete the miracle and make it back to the postseason for the second year in a row. The chances are labeled at 1.4% and any smart betting man would bet his life on the Stars failing. At this point, they have no one to blame except themselves for not stepping on the gas earlier. There is still a chance, but looking at the schedule, the time to stash away the Victory Green until September may be closer than we think or want it to be.
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Sabre Noise
Anders Lindback trolling the Dallas Stars
Anders Lindback came to Dallas on July 1st, 2014 with high hopes that a fresh start was in store for him. Instead, he played 10 games in green before being chased out by Nill and Co. Lindback did not find much success in Dallas, posting a record of 2-8-0 with his only wins being notched in less than 60 minutes of play due to a substitution for a struggling Kari Lehtonen. A save percentage of .875 and a goals against average of 3.71 followed his trade trail to Buffalo, where he was given an even fresher start: one where he had no chance at screwing up Buffalo’s hopes and dreams. With that in mind, Lindback seems to have found a groove. Through eight games with the Sabres, Lindback is 1-4-2 with a save percentage of .930 and a goals against average of 2.49. He just had his first below .900 performance with Buffalo after seven games of quality starts. Now his record is rather ugly, but that is the price of playing for the Buffalo Sabres. If Lindback is in net Monday night, it will be interesting to see how he responds with Dallas’ hopes once again lying in his hands.
Injury report
The Dallas Stars will be without D Trevor Daley (lower body), F Travis Moen (upper body), and F Valeri Nichushkin (hip). F Rich Peverley (heart) remains on non-playing IR.
The Buffalo Sabres will be minus the services of F Daniel Catenacci (suspended), D Zach Bogosian (lower body), F Patrick Kaleta (knee), G Chad Johnson (lower body), D Jake McCabe (concussion), D Mark Pysyk (undisclosed injury), F Zemgus Girgensons (ankle), D Josh Gorges (lower body), F Evander Kane (shoulder), F Cody McCormick (leg), G Nathan Lieuwen (concussion). They have an entire hospital in Buffalo dedicated to the team after seeing the severe number of injuries this year.
Projected lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Cody Eakin – Tyler Seguin
Patrick Eaves – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky
Antoine Roussel – Vernon Fiddler – Colton Sceviour
Curtis McKenzie – Shawn Horcoff – Brett Ritchie
Jyrki Jokipakka – Alex Goligoski
Patrik Nemeth – John Klingberg
Jordie Benn – Jason Demers
Kari Lehtonen
Jhonas Enroth
Buffalo Sabres
Matt Moulson – Johan Larsson – Tyler Ennis
Marcus Foligno – Phil Varone – Brian Gionta
Jerry D’Amigo – Mikhail Grigorenko – Cody Hodgson
Nicolas Deslauriers – Matt Ellis – Zac Delpe
Mike Weber – Rasmus Ristolainen
Nikita Zadorov – Andrej Meszaros
Andre Benoit – Tyson Strachan
Anders Lindback
Matthew Hackett
Prediction
The Dallas Stars will make it close, as they always do with the Buffalo Sabres, but will salvage their playoff hopes a day longer and beat the Sabres 3-2. Lehtonen will stop 27 of 29 as the Stars pour 43 shots on the other end. Let’s hope I’m right. Check back to Blackout Dallas for updates regarding post game coverage!
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