Dallas Stars Take To Round Two, Host Blues
The Dallas Stars made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since going to the Western Conference Finals in 2008. The feat is certainly not going unnoticed, but the hard work is far from over.
Tonight the Stars will host the St. Louis Blues in a Game 1 battle of the Central Division’s best. Puck drop is set for 7p.m. and the game can be seen on NBC Sports Network.
Records and Scores
The Stars eliminated the Minnesota Wild in six games with a 5-4 victory in Minneapolis Sunday night. The series, which saw tough battles on both sides, was a first for a lot of Dallas players and proved how challenging the playoffs are.
St. Louis eliminated the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-2 Game 7 victory Monday night to move onto the second round. They almost let their 2-0 series advantage slip away when the Hawks forced a seventh match-up, but the Blues were able to find a way to win and move on.
Storylines
Seguin-Less Stars
The Dallas Stars have been led by the offensive efforts of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, but have been without the contributions of Seguin since mid-March other than a brief stint in Game 2 against the Wild.
An undisclosed lower-body injury, that has been said to be unrelated to his previous Achilles tendon cut, has made it impossible for No. 91 to skate and therefore practice with the team. It also looks like the Stars will be without half of their dynamic duo for a while, including this second round series.
Battle of the Crease
The Stars and Blues have both been benefactors of quality performances from their goalies this offseason. Kari Lehtonen won three of Dallas’ four victories against the Wild and displayed a high level of confidence in doing so.
After he faltered in Game 4 Antti Niemi was able to take over and win the game that eliminated the Wild.
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The Blues saw Brian Elliott‘s experience come into play as he started in all seven of St. Louis’ games against Chicago. He won Game 7 to push the team to the second round and is expected to start the bulk of the games against the Stars.
Dallas will aim to see the best of whichever goalie they go with, but whatever Finn is in the blue paint will have to be better than Elliott for Dallas to win a second series.
Injuries
Dallas will be without Tyler Seguin (lower-body) in tonight’s match-up.
St. Louis are expected to have a full line-up as they don’t have any injuries listed as of right now.
Line Combinations
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Cody Eakin – Patrick Sharp
Mattias Janmark – Jason Spezza – Valeri Nichushkin
Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Ales Hemsky
Colton Sceviour – Vernon Fiddler – Patrick Eaves
Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
St. Louis Blues
Jaden Schwartz – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko
Alex Steen – Paul Stastny – Troy Brouwer
Robby Fabbri – Patrik Berglund – David Backes
Steve Ott – Kyle Brodziak – Scottie Upshall
Jay Bouwmeester – Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson – Kevin Shattenkirk
Carl Gunnarsson – Colton Parayko
Prediction
The Dallas Stars will find a way to edge out the St. Louis Blues in their Round 2 opener 4-3.