Dallas Stars Finish Road Trip In LA, Desperate For A Win
It’s been a less-than-ideal road trip for the Dallas Stars. The green and white wrap up their California visit Tuesday night, clashing with the Los Angeles Kings at 9:30.
Losers in their last three games, and six of their last seven times on the ice, things have gone wrong for the Dallas Stars in just about every possible way.
On back-to-back games nights Friday and Saturday, the Stars were defeated by the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks, respectively.
Tonight, in the third and final game of their west coast stop, the Dallas Stars meet the Los Angeles Kings at 9:30. Tonight’s game will be on Fox Sports Southwest (FSSW) for all television viewers, and can be listened to on 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket.
Records and Scores
Heading into Tuesday night’s game, the Dallas Stars are 29-12-5 (63 points) on the 2015-2016 season.
Despite being in the first place spot of the Central Division for the majority of the season, Dallas now sits in second, thanks to eight losses in their last 11 games.
The Los Angeles Kings, unlike the Stars, are still atop their division, holding a commanding lead for first place in the Pacific.
The 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Champions are 28-13-3 (59 points) in their 44 games played this season.
Storylines
Road Woes
On the season, Dallas is 12-7-5 away from the American Airlines Center. However, if they are to lose tonight, it would make eight straight losses on the road for the Stars.
If You Ain’t First, You’re Last
Not only have the Dallas Stars been losing the majority of their games, but to make matters worse, the Chicago Blackhawks have taken over the top spot in the Central Division, thanks to an 11-game winning streak. The Blackhawks have played two more times than the Stars have, and only lead by three points. Obviously, there is still a lot of hockey left to be played.
They’ve won three Stanley Cups in the last six years, though. The Stars have to get back to their winning ways if they want to pass Chicago and reclaim the top spot.
Royal Flush
While the victory green haven’t actually been experiencing too much victory lately, it’s been quite the opposite for the Los Angeles Kings.
The Stars have lost eight of their last 11. The Kings have won eight of their last 11. Los Angeles is a very, very good hockey team that not many people have been talking about too much, and are serious contenders in the Western Conference.
Injury Report
On Monday afternoon, Stars defenseman Jordie Benn was placed on injured reserve due to a lower body injury, which led to the recalling of Esa Lindell from the AHL. The 21-year-old defenseman is in line to make his NHL debut tonight in Los Angeles.
For the Kings, defenseman Matt Greene (shoulder) and forward Kyle Clifford (lower body) are on injured reserve, and will be out for Tuesday’s game.
Projected Lines
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Jason Spezza
Valeri Nichushkin – Cody Eakin – Patrick Sharp
Antoine Roussel – Mattias Janmark – Ales Hemsky
Colton Sceviour – Vernon Fiddler – Patrick Eaves
John Klingberg – Alex Goligoski
Esa Lindell – Jyrki Jokipakka
More from Blackout Dallas
- Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
- Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
- Dallas Stars prospects look to wrap up tournament with a win
- Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
- Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs
Los Angeles Kings
Milan Lucic – Anze Kopitar – Tyler Toffoli
Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tanner Pearson
Trevor Lewis – Vincent Lecavalier – Marian Gaborik
Jordan Nolan – Nick Shore – Dustin Brown
Luke Schenn – Christian Ehrhoff
Prediction
The Los Angeles Kings have been hot, and the Dallas Stars have not. There’s really no other way necessary to describe it.
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It’s hard to pick Dallas right now. I think the Kings come out on top tonight, beating the Stars, 4-2.