Dallas Stars take on Columbus Blue Jackets at Home
It’s a battle of two teams in need of a win tonight in Dallas when the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets face off for the first time this season. Get all sorts of updates here.
The Dallas Stars will face-off against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at the American Airlines Center. Puck drop is set for 7pm.
Records and Scores
Dallas
The Stars have gone (2-1-1) in their first four games this season. Most recently, they lost to the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 4-3 in overtime. They’ll aim to earn a full two points in tonight’s match-up.
Columbus
The Blue Jackets have posted a (1-2-0) record in their opening three games of the season. They are playing in Dallas on the second end of a back-to-back after hosting the Chicago Blackhawks last night. Columbus beat the Hawks by a score of 3-2 in regulation. They’ll be aiming to have a similar result in Dallas tonight.
Storylines
Injury Bug Bites Again
The overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings proved costly as Dallas was without three of their twelve forwards, two for injuries, for most of the second period. Patrick Sharp suffered a head injury when he was hit by a Kings defender along the boards and tested positive for concussion-like symptoms.
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A few minutes after Sharp went to the locker room, Patrick Eaves was struck by a John Klingberg point shot in the foot and he joined No. 10. Although Eaves returned for a brief period, he didn’t play in the third or overtime and is supposed to miss tonight’s game at the least.
They join forwards Cody Eakin, Mattias Janmark, Jiri Hudler and Ales Hemsky on the Stars’ extensive injured list. With this many forwards out due to injury or illness, Dallas will have yet another new face in the line-up from the Texas Stars.
Defensive Zone Time
In their last game, the Stars were less than impressive in their own zone. They played a Kings team that hadn’t won a game yet and Dallas gave them a lot of zone time.
Some of that was due to the almost unbelievable 29 minutes of penalties Dallas had, not all of which were man advantages for the Kings. Still, allowing a team to spend a significant amount of time getting offensive chances is dangerous.
At the end of the night Kari Lehtonen faced 39 shots against, while Dallas peppered Kings goaltender Peter Budaj with only 20. If the skaters can work together to get the puck out of their zone cleanly, Dallas will have a much easier time winning. That, however, takes practice.
Injuries
Dallas Stars
The Stars will play without Cody Eakin (knee), Mattias Janmark (knee), Patrick Sharp (concussion-like symptoms), Patrick Eaves (lower-body) and Jiri Hudler (illness) tonight. Ales Hemsky (groin) is a possibility.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets won’t have David Clarkson (back), Cody Goloubef (oblique) and Ryan Murray (undisclosed) in the line-up.
Line Combinations
Dallas Stars*
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Gemel Smith
Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Jason Spezza
Ales Hemsky – Devin Shore – Brett Ritchie
Curtis McKenzie – Adam Cracknell – Lauri Korpikoski
*The forward lines will most likely change throughout the night depending upon how things go. This is the typical line-up with AHL call up Gemel Smith slotted in where Eaves normally goes.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Matt Calvert – Brandon Dubinsky – Cam Atkinson
Brandon Saad – Alexander Wennberg – Nick Foligno
Scott Hartnell – William Karlsson – Josh Anderson
Boone Jenner – Lukas Sedlak – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Markus Nutivaara – Dalton Prout
Prediction
Dallas will get an early lead against the Blue Jackets, only to see it slip away. Their over confidence will seem to get the best of them, but in the end they’ll win 4-3 in regulation.