Dallas Stars vs Pittsburgh Penguins Opening Night Preview

The newly edited Dallas Stars will begin their 2015-2016 campaign tonight in their home opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ll aim to iron out the wrinkles that hindered them in the preseason in order to start off the new year with a two-point effort. Puck drop is at 7:30PM and the game can be viewed on Fox Sports Southwest or listened to via 1310 the Ticket.

Records and Scores

Dallas Stars

Dallas had a bit of a rough outing during their preseason games at the end of September and the beginning of this month. They ended up finishing with a (1-6-0) record when all was said and done with their most recent loss coming at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks on October 3^rd. The Stars will look to get back to their game and pull out a victory over the Penguins tonight.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins didn’t fair much better than the Stars in that they finished the preseason (3-4-0). They did, however, find line combinations that worked and others that really didn’t. Pittsburgh will aim to defeat Dallas and start the new season with a win tonight.

Story Lines

Blockbuster Trades

Tonight will be the official debut for Dallas acquisitions Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya and goaltender Antti Niemi, as well as Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel.

Sharp and Oduya come from the 2015 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks roster after they had to deal players in order to allot the cap space for the massive contracts of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Sharp has been on the second line as opposed to the expected trio of him, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, which could still be a power play option. Oduya is expected to be partnered with Jason Demers as the Stars’ second defensive pairing.

Kessel, on the other hand, comes to Pittsburgh from the highly criticized Toronto Maple Leafs. He’ll be the winger to Penguin’s captain Sidney Crosby in hopes of establishing a dynamic duo in their own right.

While not indicative of their entire season to come, tonight will show what these talented players can do in regular season action with their respective new teams.

Battle of the Crease

Dallas will see the efforts of Antti Niemi in the crease tonight based on him being the first goalie off the ice at morning skate. That doesn’t, however, mean the battle for starter is over.

Speculation indicates that Lehtonen is the long shot for the position despite having been Dallas’ starter for the last five years, but he could return to previous form and take the starting position by the reigns. The preseason wasn’t his best display, but that’s why it’s the preseason.

Niemi didn’t excel during the preseason either, but many would rank him as a better goalie right now compared to no. 32.

It’s telling that head coach Lindy Ruff chose Niemi to kick off the regular season for Dallas, but again that’s not going to be indicative of the play for the remainder of the season. Barring a horrible performance tonight, though, he could be the go-to net minder for the next few games.

Regardless of tonight’s game, Lehtonen and Niemi will continue to battle over the course of the season until one or the other becomes the established starter.