Dallas Stars Hope To Finish Big, Avalanche Central Division

Feb 4, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Dallas Stars center Jason Spezza (90) scores a goal on Colorado Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard (31) in the first half at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 4, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Dallas Stars center Jason Spezza (90) scores a goal on Colorado Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard (31) in the first half at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Dallas Stars will open their season-closing two game homestand against the Colorado Avalanche tonight in the race to beat St. Louis to the top of the Central.

After snapping a four game win streak in Anaheim on Sunday, the Stars will return home to for the second to last game of the regular season against the tricky Avalanche. Puck drop from the AAC is scheduled for 7:30 PM, and FSSW and 1310AM/96.7FM The Ticket will make sure you don’t miss a moment of the action.

Records and Scores

Your Dallas Stars, with their 48-23-9 record, are neck and neck with the St. Louis Blues with 105 points to finish first in the Central division. Heading into their fourth game this season against the Avalanche, the Stars are 1-2-0 against their opponent, with their only win being at their most recent meeting in February, a 4-3 overtime decision a la John Klingberg.

After a 4-3 loss to the Predators on Tuesday, the Avalanche was officially eliminated from the playoff runnings, but will be desperate to salvage their dignity and end a four game losing streak tonight in Dallas. Despite their 39-37-4 record, Colorado has been the aggressor in this season series, nearly always nudging the Stars out.

Storylines

And down the stretch comes Dallas

With only two games left to play in the regular season, the Dallas Stars are playoff bound! But, being the overachievers that they are, they’re still reaching for the stars and trying to run down the first place spot in the Central division. Only St. Louis truly stands between them and that achievement.

The Stars have a chance to make it theirs for good tonight. If they defeat the Avalanche and if St. Louis loses to Chicago in regulation tonight, the Dallas Stars can clinch the Central lead and the team that occupied the bottom of the standings last season will end this one at the very tip top.

Sidelined but not forgotten

Injury after injury has plagued the Stars but not kept them at bay. The real question now is who will be ready to go come playoff time? With offense and defense alike impacted by missing players, the Stars have called up Curtis McKenzie to fill the void and hopefully allow some of these injured players enough time to come back at full strength without pushing it.

Time to go pristine on the power play

The power play (or lack thereof) killed the Dallas Stars in their last game’s loss to the Ducks. Hopefully the slump can be attributed to unfavorable playing circumstances, but the real good news is that the outcome got everyone’s attention.

Ruff and the players alike recognized their errors and noted that allowing such a change in momentum while possessing the man advantage is unacceptable, and I think we’ll see the Stars doing all they can to avoid repeating that mistake tonight.

More stars: Dallas Stars Injuries Piling Up

Injury Report

The Dallas Stars could fill a whole new bench with their injured players. Good news, though: Kris Russell (foot) is probable for tonight. But  Mattias Janmark (upper body), Patrick Eaves (mid-body), Tyler Seguin (Achilles), Brett Ritchie (lower body) and Jason Demers (shoulder) will have to wait a little while longer for their own returns.

The Colorado Avalanche have a few setbacks of their own with Nathan MacKinnon (knee), Eric Gelinas (elbow), Brad Stuart (back) and Jesse Winchester (concussion) all out against the Stars tonight.

Projected Lines

Dallas Stars

Jamie BennCody EakinPatrick Sharp

Valeri NichushkinJason SpezzaColton Sceviour

Antoine RousselRadek FaksaAles Hemsky

Curtis McKenzieVernon FiddlerTravis Moen

Alex GoligoskiJohn Klingberg

Patrik NemethJordie Benn

Johnny OduyaStephen Johns

Antti Niemi

Kari Lehtonen

Colorado Avalanche

Mikkel BoedkerMatt DucheneMikhail Grigorenko

Shawn MatthiasCarl SoderbergGabriel Landeskog

Blake ComeauJohn MitchellJarome Iginla

Andreas MartinsenMikko RantanenCody McLeod

Francois BeaucheminNikita Zadorov

Erik JohnsonChris Bigras

Nick HoldenTyson Barrie

Semyon Varlamov

Calvin Pickard

Next: Dallas Stars' Playoff Pros, Cons

Predictions

We’ll go for another 4-3 win for Dallas to seal Colorado’s five losing game streak and put the Stars that much closer to owning the Central division.