Dallas Stars Looking To Start Off Right In Central vs. Colorado

The Dallas Stars came out guns ablaze Thursday night in front of their home crowd on opening night and successfully downed the Pittsburgh Penguins. Every aspect of their game was red hot and they were rewarded for it with the full two points. They will look to put together a similar performance Saturday night against the Colorado Avalanche.

This is obviously the first meeting of the two teams this season, and the Stars will look to start off their Central Division play with a win. 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 8:00 p.m. from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

Records And Scores

The Dallas Stars definitely got off on the right foot Thursday night when they knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0. In other words, the Stars are 1-0-0 with two points. Every aspect of the Stars game was on fire on opening night, and as a result they dominated the entire game. But tonight will be their first big test as they begin Central Division play in Colorado.

The Colorado Avalanche should be 1-0-0 if it were not for a monumental collapse on Thursday night. The Avalanche gave the Wild four unanswered goals in a span of 5:07 in the third period and completely surrendered a 4-1 lead. The Avalanche are 0-1-0 with no points in the season so far. They are also 0-1-0 in Central Division play.

Storylines

These Stars might have something special brewing

The Dallas Stars did a lot of things correct on Thursday night in Dallas, and as a result they look like a dominating force. Beating the Penguins and shutting down Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel is no small feat. Not to mention they lit up Marc-Andre Fleury, one of the NHL’s most consistent goalies.

The offensive production was spread throughout the lines, the power play hit a 40 percent success rate, the defense did not give up too many high-risk chances, and the goaltending of Antti Niemi was second-to-none. But can this success translate into tonight’s game and give them a jumpstart in the Central Division? That is the real question. The Stars went 8-14-7 in divisional play last year, and those numbers will not earn any team a playoff spot. We’ll see if they can manage a struggling Avalanche team tonight.

Home ice advantage to the max

The Colorado Avalanche may have started the season off on the wrong foot, but it seems they have an invisible force working in their favor against Dallas.

The Dallas Stars are 1-6-3 against the Avs since the beginning of the 2013-2014 season. But that is not the worst part. The Stars are 0-6-0 in their last six contests at the Pepsi Center, with their last win coming on February 4th, 2013 near the beginning of the lockout season. If the Avalanche have anything working for them, it is that their arena seems to be the Stars kryptonite. Not sure how successful it will be against this revamped Stars squad, but it has definitely helped them in the past.

Injury report

The Dallas Stars currently have a healthy roster besides RW Brett Ritchie (wrist) who is on non-playing IR.

The Colorado Avalanche will be missing C Jesse Winchester (concussion-like symptoms).

Projected lines

Dallas Stars

Jamie Benn – Cody Eakin – Tyler Seguin

Valeri Nichushkin – Jason Spezza – Patrick Sharp

Antoine Roussel – Mattias Janmark – Ales Hemsky

Travis Moen – Vernon Fiddler – Patrick Eaves

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg

Johnny Oduya – Jason Demers

Jyrki Jokipakka – Jordie Benn

Antti Niemi

Kari Lehtonen

Prediction

The last time the Dallas Stars beat the Avalanche in their own barn, they still had their old logo and jerseys. But that changes tonight. The Stars will once again put on a show and beat the Avalanche 3-2.

Next: Antti Niemi May Be What Stars Have Been Searching Years For

Records And Scores

Storylines

Injury report

Projected lines

Prediction

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